Regime ousts IS from all of Hama province

The Syrian army and allied fighters drove the Islamic State group from their last positions in the central province of Hama yesterday after heavy fighting, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, said IS was no longer present anywhere in the province for the first time in three years.

The army, backed by ally Russia, launched a campaign against IS in Hama in early September, capturing some 50 villages and the strategic town of Uqayribat, the Observatory said.

"On Wednesday, regime forces managed to take control of all the last remaining villages in the hands of Daesh (IS) in eastern Hama province after more than a month of fierce clashes between the two sides," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The monitor said more than 400 IS fighters and nearly 190 Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen had been killed in the fighting, reported AFP.

There was no immediate announcement in Syrian state media, but the Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, reported that "the army has taken complete control of eastern Hama province."

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday accused the US and its allies of orchestrating "deadly provocations" against Russian troops in Syria.

Moscow has complained about what it has says are suspiciously friendly ties between US-backed militias, US special forces, and Islamic State in Syria and accused Washington of trying to slow the advance of the Syrian army, reported Reuters.

Russia said yesterday it had killed 12 field commanders of al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, adding the group's top leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani had lost an arm and was in a "critical condition."