ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Syrian Army has announced the liberation of Maskaneh, the last major ISIS-controlled populated area of Aleppo province, according to the conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The offensive to push out ISIS militants from the town began approximately 20 weeks ago and the Syrian Army entered Maskaneh two weeks ago.
Maskaneh is located west of Lake Assad, about 80 kilometres southeast of Aleppo city.
According to Sana, the state run news agency, a military source confirmed that army units have regained full control of the 2nd and 3rd water pumping stations as well as electricity generators of the al-Khafseh water pumping station in the eastern area of Aleppo province.
ISIS remains in control of a few villages and desert areas in the east and southeast of the province, Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP.
Although Aleppo is divided between the Syrian regime and rebel fighters and has been a major battlefield in the country’s more than six years of civil war, it has mostly escaped rule by ISIS, unlike Raqqa.
The city of Raqqa, the extremist group’s de facto capital, is under partial siege by the SDF who launched their operation to take the city last November. First stages of the offensive focused on clearing rural areas and villages north of the city and the Euphrates River. Most recently, the SDF retook strategic sites west of the city: Tabqa Dam and town, the majority of Mansoura town and Baath dam.
The final stage of taking Tabqa was accelerated after some 70 ISIS militants accepted SDF terms to surrender, “which included the dismantling of IEDs surrounding the dam, the surrender of all ISIS heavy weapons, and the forced withdrawal of all remaining fighters from Tabqa City,” the global coalition confirmed in a published statement last month.
The UN estimates there are about 230,000 civilians living in Raqqa city. Their safety is under scrutiny as the US-led coalition is facing heated criticism for increasing numbers of civilian casualties due to airstrikes.
The offensive to push out ISIS militants from the town began approximately 20 weeks ago and the Syrian Army entered Maskaneh two weeks ago.
Maskaneh is located west of Lake Assad, about 80 kilometres southeast of Aleppo city.
According to Sana, the state run news agency, a military source confirmed that army units have regained full control of the 2nd and 3rd water pumping stations as well as electricity generators of the al-Khafseh water pumping station in the eastern area of Aleppo province.
ISIS remains in control of a few villages and desert areas in the east and southeast of the province, Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP.
Although Aleppo is divided between the Syrian regime and rebel fighters and has been a major battlefield in the country’s more than six years of civil war, it has mostly escaped rule by ISIS, unlike Raqqa.
The city of Raqqa, the extremist group’s de facto capital, is under partial siege by the SDF who launched their operation to take the city last November. First stages of the offensive focused on clearing rural areas and villages north of the city and the Euphrates River. Most recently, the SDF retook strategic sites west of the city: Tabqa Dam and town, the majority of Mansoura town and Baath dam.
The final stage of taking Tabqa was accelerated after some 70 ISIS militants accepted SDF terms to surrender, “which included the dismantling of IEDs surrounding the dam, the surrender of all ISIS heavy weapons, and the forced withdrawal of all remaining fighters from Tabqa City,” the global coalition confirmed in a published statement last month.
The UN estimates there are about 230,000 civilians living in Raqqa city. Their safety is under scrutiny as the US-led coalition is facing heated criticism for increasing numbers of civilian casualties due to airstrikes.
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