Syrian forces retake over 80% of Day al-Zawr from Daesh: Group

Syrian government forces have reportedly liberated more than 80 percent of the eastern city of Day al-Zawr from the control of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that 81 percent of Day al-Zawr was now under the control of Syrian forces.

Daesh overran large parts of Dayr al-Zawr Province, including its many oil fields, in mid-2014 as it seized swathes of land in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

By early 2015, the Takfiri terrorists were in control of some parts of the city of Dayr al-Zawr and had besieged the remaining parts. Syrian government forces and their allies last month broke that siege.

The UK-based observatory said on Tuesday that Daesh had lost control of 10 strategic areas in eastern Syria in the past 48 hours.

According to the report, the Syrian army and its allies, backed by Russian and Syrian aerial cover, gained control of the town of Albu Leil and Muhassan City and their surrounding areas in Day al-Zawr Province.

The recapture means the area stretching between the cities of Dayr al-Zawr and Mayadin, which was liberated from Daesh on Saturday, is now under the control of the Syrian government.

The Syrian military operation reportedly forced Daesh terrorists to withdraw from the western bank of the Euphrates to the river’s eastern bank. An unspecified number of terrorists were also killed during the ground and aerial attacks on their position on the western bank of the Euphrates.

The group earlier reported that the Syrian forces had taken control of the villages of Zabari, Sa’lu, Toub, and al-Aliat, northwest of the region of Bouqras, which itself was retaken by the Syrian army on Monday.

Kurdish forces reach heart of Raqqah

Meanwhile, the Daesh Takfiris are also reportedly on the verge of losing the northern city of Raqqah — their “capital” in Syria — to US-backed militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF reportedly captured an infamous public square used by Daesh to perform brutal executions and beheadings in Raqqah.

Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, said the militants had taken the al-Naim (Paradise) Square from Daesh terrorists on Monday.

He said that the capture came after clashes at the square that had started on Sunday as Daesh had put up a fight.

After it became the site of brutal executions by Daesh, the square quickly became known as Jahim (Hell) Square.

The SDF spokesman also said that he expected the city to fall “within a few days.”

On June 6, the SDF said it had launched an operation aimed at pushing Daesh out of Raqqah.

Raqqah, which lies on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, was overrun by Daesh terrorists in March 2013. The Daesh terrorists still control nearly 10 percent of the city.

The developments come a few days after a deal was reached between the SDF and a US-led coalition on the one side and Daesh terrorists on the other to allow the terrorists out of the city and move them to the neighboring Dayr al-Zawr Province, where Syrian government forces are already fighting Daesh.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.