64 dead in Syria regime, IS clashes

Fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and the Islamic State group has killed 64 combatants in Raqa province over a 24-hour period, a monitoring group said yesterday.

The clashes come with the army pressing an advance through Raqa, in northern Syria, towards neighbouring Deir Ezzor, the only remaining province of the war-ravaged country still in the hands of IS jihadists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the fighting had claimed the lives of 38 jihadists and 26 pro-regime combatants since Tuesday morning.

It takes to 145 the overall death toll in six days of fighting in villages on the banks of the Euphrates River in the east of Raqa province, near Deir Ezzor.

IS said in a statement on Tuesday that its members had killed dozens of regime combatants in "intense fighting lasting hours".

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the regime was fighting to secure a foothold in Raqa province "in order to advance in Deir Ezzor".

The jihadists have laid seige to government forces and civilians in the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor since 2015.