Syrian army seizes oilfield from Daesh in east — state TV

Syrian government forces stand next to a destroyed bridge on a road between the Kabajeb and Al-Shula on the southwestern outskirts of Deir al-Zor on September 8, 2017, during the ongoing battle against Daesh. (AFP)

BEIRUT: The Syrian army and its allies recaptured an oilfield from Daesh near the eastern city of Deir Al-Zor on Saturday in further advances against the militants, state TV reported.
Government forces also seized part of a main highway running from Deir Al-Zor down to the city of Al-Mayadeen, to which many Daesh militants have retreated, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
The Syrian army this week broke through Daesh lines to reach a government-held enclave of Deir Al-Zor besieged for years by the jihadists, and is fighting to reach a nearby air base which Daesh still surrounds.
On Saturday, the army and militias fighting alongside it seized the Teym oilfield in desert south of Deir Al-Zor, state TV said. Deir Al-Zor is in an oil-rich area of Syria.
To the east of Teym and south of the air base, government forces also recaptured part of the main road running from Deir Al-Zor to Al-Mayadeen, downstream along the Euphrates river and closer to the Iraq border, the Observatory reported.
The British-based monitoring group said that advance would block potential Daesh reinforcements from Al-Mayadeen.
The advances put yet more pressure on Daesh’s shrinking caliphate, which once stretched across northern and eastern Syria, and northwestern Iraq.
In Syria, the group holds much of Deir Al-Zor province and half the city, as well as a pocket of territory near Hama and Homs in the west of the country.