Syrian army soldiers, supported by allied fighters, have managed to repel attacks by Daesh Takfiri terrorists on a number of military positions in the country’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.
A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency, SANA, on Saturday that government troops and their allies managed to thwart the militant assaults in al-Thardat area on the road linking Mayadin city to the provincial capital city of Dayr al-Zawr.
The source added that dozens of Daesh terrorists were killed during fierce clashes with Syrian forces. Three car bombs and a considerable amount of munitions were destroyed and an armored vehicle was seized as well.
Meanwhile, an unnamed source in Dayr al-Zawr operations command said Syrian army soldiers and allied forces were clearing areas near the roadway connecting the cities of Palmyra and Dayr al-Zawr.
“Some Daesh terrorists fled … after the attack was repelled. Now the army and allied forces are chasing the enemy and clearing the areas near the highway,” the source said.
Daesh overran large parts of Dayr al-Zawr province, including its many oil fields, in mid-2014 as it seized swathes of land in Syria and neighboring Iraq.
By early 2015, the Takfiri terrorists were in control of some parts of Dayr al-Zawr city and besieged the remaining parts, which were under government control. It is estimated that 100,000 people remain in the government-held parts of the city.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that more than 10,000 people may be living in the Daesh-held parts of Dayr al-Zawr.
Al-Manar cameraman slain in Homs
Meanwhile, a cameraman for Lebanon-based al-Manar television network has been killed while covering advances by Syrian army troops and allied fighters from popular defense groups against foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants in Hmeimeh area on the outskirts of the western city of Homs.