(VOVWORLD) - Syrian government and allied forces have taken the last major town in Homs province from the Islamic State, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday, as the army advances toward militant strongholds in the east of the country.
A number of IS gunners were killed and their weapons were destroyed in the town of al-Sukhna, 50 km northeast of the ancient city of Palmyra. The Syrian government troops are heading west and have passed the administrative frontier of Deir al-Zor province.
 Syrian army soldiers. AP |
Also on Saturday, Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units killed nine IS militants in a fierce clash near the border with Syria. The Hashd Shaabi fighters, backed by artillery, repelled the attack of dozens of IS militants at a military outpost and forced them to retreat to their bases in Syria. The clashes and the artillery shelling killed nine IS militants and wounded four others, destroying three IS vehicles.