The ISIS group no longer has a presence in Syria’s Aleppo province after withdrawing from a series of villages where regime forces were advancing, a monitor said on Friday.
“ISIS withdrew from 17 towns and villages and is now effectively outside of Aleppo province after having a presence there for four years,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Regime forces had been advancing on a sliver of southeastern Aleppo province around a key highway linking Hama province to the southwest and Raqqa province further east.
his file photo taken on March 30, 2017 shows a Syrian government forces fighter walking under Islamic State (IS) group graffiti in a house in Deir Hafer on the eastern outskirts of Aleppo on March 30, 2017. AFP
Abdel Rahman said regime forces seized control of the road late Thursday night, prompting the remaining ISIS fighters to flee.
A Syrian military source in rural Aleppo confirmed the withdrawal.
“The military operation is ongoing and ISIS withdrew from the Aleppan countryside towards rural territory in Hama and Raqqa,” the source told AFP.
“The Syrian army is clearing out the last few meters,” the source added.
Since early 2015, multi-front offensives against ISIS have eaten away at territory the group held in Aleppo province.
US-backed Kurdish and allied Arab fighters ousted the militants from Kobane on the Turkish border in 2015 and from the key city of Manbij last year.
Rebels backed by Turkey seized the town of Al-Bab in February, and Syrian government troops have steadily chipped away at ISIS towns in the south of the province.
In neighboring Raqqa province, a US-backed offensive is bearing down on the provincial capital of the same name, which has served as the militants’ de facto Syrian capital.
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