AFP, Beirut :
Syrian troops and Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State group from Hasakeh on Tuesday, more than a month after the jihadists attacked the northeastern city, a monitoring group said.
On the political front, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura is due to brief the Security Council today.
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien is also set to visit Damascus next month to try to negotiate greater access to millions of people who need aid.
Throughout its rise to power during 2013 and its announcement of an Islamic “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria last summer, IS has presented itself as unstoppable.
The ultra-radical Sunni group has used terror and mass executions to help seize territory in Syria’s north, including the group’s de facto capital in Raqa, and east, where it has captured most of resource-rich Deir Ezzor province.
But in recent months, it has experienced a series of defeats at the hands of Kurdish militia in northern and northeastern Syria. The jihadists’ only major victory was its May capture of the ancient town of Palmyra.
Now the IS assault on Hasakeh city, which began on June 25, has ended in defeat after 33 days. “The Syrian army pushed IS out of Zuhur, the last neighbourhood where it was present in Hasakeh city, on Tuesday”.
Syrian troops and Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State group from Hasakeh on Tuesday, more than a month after the jihadists attacked the northeastern city, a monitoring group said.
On the political front, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura is due to brief the Security Council today.
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien is also set to visit Damascus next month to try to negotiate greater access to millions of people who need aid.
Throughout its rise to power during 2013 and its announcement of an Islamic “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria last summer, IS has presented itself as unstoppable.
The ultra-radical Sunni group has used terror and mass executions to help seize territory in Syria’s north, including the group’s de facto capital in Raqa, and east, where it has captured most of resource-rich Deir Ezzor province.
But in recent months, it has experienced a series of defeats at the hands of Kurdish militia in northern and northeastern Syria. The jihadists’ only major victory was its May capture of the ancient town of Palmyra.
Now the IS assault on Hasakeh city, which began on June 25, has ended in defeat after 33 days. “The Syrian army pushed IS out of Zuhur, the last neighbourhood where it was present in Hasakeh city, on Tuesday”.
