The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 120 ISIS militants “were killed in clashes in and around the town of Uqayribat in the eastern Hama countryside … along with at least 35 regime troops and loyalist militiamen.”
The town is the terrorists group’s last bastion in the central province apart from a handful of small villages.
The Syrian army seized Uqayribat on Friday night, but ISIS responded with a counter-offensive Saturday that left it in control of most of the town, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
An intense barrage of artillery fire and Syrian and Russian air strikes on terrorist positions allowed army forces Sunday morning to push the insurgents back out of the town and advance on villages to the west.
ISIS has controlled Uqayribat since 2014, using it to launch attacks on Syrian territories and a strategically vital road Abdel Rahman described as “the only lifeline for the regime between Aleppo and central and southern Syria”.
“By consolidating their control of [Uqayribat] and ousting [ISIS] from the surrounding villages, regime forces could oust the organisation from the whole of Hama province,” Abdel Rahman said.
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