ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syrian government forces have taken control of al-Boukamal, ousting ISIS from the border town for the second time this month, Syria’s state media reported.
The Syrian army declared the town liberated on November 9 after reports ISIS had withdrawn. Militants launched a counter-attack later that night however, retaking the majority of the area after days of fierce fighting.
Syria’s state news SANA reported the town was finally liberated on Sunday and the army’s engineering units are doing sweeping operations to de-mine the town so that civilians can safely return.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that violent clashes are continuing around the town.
The Observatory reported that regime forces and their allied militias lost more than 30 soldiers in the last three days of fighting for the town and more than 50 ISIS fighters were killed, including eight suicide bombers.
Al-Boukamal is in eastern Syria on the border near Iraq's al-Qaim.
After ISIS suffered a series of defeats in Deir ez-Zor, including the loss of their de facto capital of Raqqa, al-Boukamal was the last Syrian city the militant group controlled.
With the liberation of al-Boukamal, ISIS militants are expected to be hiding in small towns and villages along the border with Iraq in the Syrian desert.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis has described the Middle Euphrates River Valley as "ISIS' last stand."
Approximately 120,000 people have been displaced from al-Boukamal in recent weeks, said Linda Tom from the United Nations' humanitarian affairs office in Damascus.
The Syrian army declared the town liberated on November 9 after reports ISIS had withdrawn. Militants launched a counter-attack later that night however, retaking the majority of the area after days of fierce fighting.
Syria’s state news SANA reported the town was finally liberated on Sunday and the army’s engineering units are doing sweeping operations to de-mine the town so that civilians can safely return.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that violent clashes are continuing around the town.
The Observatory reported that regime forces and their allied militias lost more than 30 soldiers in the last three days of fighting for the town and more than 50 ISIS fighters were killed, including eight suicide bombers.
Al-Boukamal is in eastern Syria on the border near Iraq's al-Qaim.
After ISIS suffered a series of defeats in Deir ez-Zor, including the loss of their de facto capital of Raqqa, al-Boukamal was the last Syrian city the militant group controlled.
With the liberation of al-Boukamal, ISIS militants are expected to be hiding in small towns and villages along the border with Iraq in the Syrian desert.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis has described the Middle Euphrates River Valley as "ISIS' last stand."
Approximately 120,000 people have been displaced from al-Boukamal in recent weeks, said Linda Tom from the United Nations' humanitarian affairs office in Damascus.
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