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BEIRUT: The Syrian military has mounted air strikes against Daesh militants and clashed with the militants in central Syria, the pro-Damascus Al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The flare-up in the area of Al-Sukhna, between Palymra and Deir Ezzor, on Monday points to the foothold the ultra-hardline Islamist group still has west of the Euphrates even as US-backed fighters are poised to seize its last enclave east of the river.
The Syrian air force mounted “a number of air strikes targeting Daesh movements in the eastern Badiya, specifically on one of the dirt roads leading to the town of Al-Sukhna and southeast of the town,” Al-Watan said, citing a military source.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been laying siege to Daesh’s last enclave east of the Euphrates, the village of Baghouz, for several weeks.
Some 200 of the militants surrendered in Baghouz after a ferocious battle at the weekend, but around 1,000 may still be holding out, a spokesman for the US-backed Syrian force battling them said on Monday.
While the group’s defeat at Baghouz would mark a milestone in the fight against Daesh, the group is expected to remain an insurgent threat inside Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian army recaptured Sukhna from Daesh in 2017 as it pushed the militants back across central Syria in an advance along the crucial desert highway from Palmyra to Deir Ezzor.
However, some of its fighters remained in the rugged desert areas around and have carried out attacks on army positions and convoys, a pro-Damascus source has said.