Continuous fighting in areas in Al-Sukhnah Desert east of Homs

Homs Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: violent clashes are still taking place between regime forces supported by militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities on one hand, and the members of ISIS on the other, in areas in Al-Sukhnah Desert, and the clashes are accompanied by exchange of shelling  between the both parties on the clash area, amid intensive bombing by regime forces and warplanes on areas controlled by the organization and confirmed information about the ability of regime forces to achieve advancement in the area, and take the control of mountains and positions used to be controlled by the organization.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that the regime forces were able to achieve a new advancement in the area and control Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi located east of the road of al-Tayba – Sukhnah as well as two other areas near it, within the continued operation by the regime forces to achieve more advancement in the area, and reduce the size of areas controlled by the organization in the Syrian desert, and carrying out the largest besiege against the organization, and information about casualties du e to the shelling, clashes, artillery and aerial strikes and exchange of targeting in the clash areas between both parties, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also published on the 19th of August 2017 that the de-escalation agreement in Syria completes its 15th week on a row, since its implementation on the 6th of May 2017  in the areas extending from Idlib to Daraa including the areas controlled by the rebel and Islamic factions and excluded the areas controlled by ISIS, while the ongoing agreement witnessed an escalation of military operations by the regime forces against ISIS in the Syrian Desert and other nearby areas, achieving an advancement at the expense of the organization in 6 provinces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the military operations of the regime forces against the “Islamic State” organization in the Syrian areas, as the regime forces managed to restore control of tens of thousands of square kilometers, and they approached to end the presence of “Islamic State” organization in two new provinces, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented that the regime forces and their allied militiamen of Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese, Afghan and Palestinian nationalities, and with the air cover of Russian and the regime’s warplanes, managed to restore control over an area of about 34 thousand square kilometers of the areas controlled by the organization in Syria. The regime advanced in all of this area at the expense of the organization, and this advancement took place since the beginning of May 2017 until today the 18th of August 2017 in the province of Aleppo, Rif Dimashq, Homs, Hama, al-Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor. During this period, the regime forces advanced at the expense of the organization in addition to their control over 5 thousand square kilometers of the Syrian territories at the expense of the rebel and Islamic factions, and thus the total area in which the regime forces advanced since May 2017 until now is more than 39 thousand square kilometers, as the presence of the organization has been completely ended in the province of Aleppo, while the organization still controls areas in Homs, Hama, and the countryside of al-Raqqa, and the regime forces-held areas has become more than 77 thousand square kilometers of the whole area of the Syrian territories, with a control percentage of about 42% of the geographical area of Syria.