IS attempts to advance toward Deir al-Zour's airbase: activists

The Islamic State (IS) militants on Thursday advanced and captured parts of a strategic town in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour in a bid to reach the Syrian airbase in that oil-rich province, a monitoring group reported.

The IS fighters were able to progress and capture parts of the al-Jafra town, which is controlled by the Syrian government troops and located close to the Deir al-Zour military airbase, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the IS militants are attempting to reach the gates of the airbase, adding that if the IS succeeded to capture al-Jafra, the Syrian troops in the nearby town of Hwaijat Saqer would be trapped as the capture of Jafra would deprive them from retreating toward the airbase.

The Observatory claimed some groups of the government forces had already withdrawn from Hwaijat Saqer toward the airbase of Deir al-Zour as a result of the IS progress.

Meanwhile, the Observatory said the Syrian air force carried out 10 airstrikes against the IS positions in Deir al-Zour on Thursday, five of which targeted the IS fighters in Hwaijat Saqer.

The monitoring group said 19 government soldiers were killed overnight in a suicide bombing near the airbase.

It said the causalities include Syrian government soldiers and members of the National Defense Forces, a pro-government militia.

The blast was followed by intense fighting, during which seven IS militants were killed.

IS militants have captured considerable swathes of Deir al-Zour, an oil-rich province bordering Iraq, in recent months.

The Syrian crisis has been dragging on since 2011 with no sign of abating, despite international efforts to bring it to a close.

The conflict has got more complicated when ultra-radical groups, like the IS and the Nusra Front, joined the fight to serve their own interests in the war-torn country, where over 190,000 people were reportedly killed and millions of others displaced. Enditem