BEIRUT/AIN ISSA: Syrian government forces and their allies have recaptured territory from the militant Islamic State group in countryside southeast of its stronghold Raqa after air strikes in the area, a pro-Damascus military media unit and war monitors reported.

The advances towards the provincial boundary between Raqa and Deir al-Zor took place late on Saturday, the media unit, run by Damascus ally Lebanese Hezbollah, and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The army seized an oil field in the Sabkha area as part of the advance.

It was a rare advance for Damascus’s forces in that area, which is close to territory controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated alliance separately fighting the IS group. It also brings government forces closer to Deir al-Zor province, another IS stronghold.

The Syrian army has active front lines with IS in western Raqa province and has made recent gains there. Incidents between the Syrian military and SDF last month raised tension between Washington and Damascus and its ally Moscow.

Separately in the north of Syria, one of the country’s most complicated battlegrounds, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are fighting US-backed Kurdish forces over control of some areas along the border, in clashes that threaten to distract from the fight against IS.

The Kurdish YPG militia, which forms the largest part of the SDF, controls much of northeastern Syria after capturing vast tracts of land from IS.

US-led coalition says more to do in Syria

The US-led coalition will have “a great deal more” to do in Syria even after defeating the militant Islamic State group in its northern Raqa bastion, a deputy commander of the coalition said on Sunday.

“Daesh is not defeated with the liberation of Raqa. The defeat of Daesh was not completed with the liberation of Mosul” in Iraq, British Major General Rupert Jones told reporters, using an Arab acronym for IS.

Speaking in the town of Ain Issa 50 kilometres north of Raqa, Jones said: “We know as an international coalition there’s still a great deal more to do here in Syria.”

He said that the US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces “have proved themselves to be a reliable counter-Daesh partner”.

“We will continue to work with the Syrian Democratic Forces to complete the defeat of Daesh,” Jones said.

The US-backed forces have successfully routed IS from several areas in Syria since their creation in 2014.

They have spent months encircling Raqa, the de facto capital of IS’s Syrian territory since 2014, and finally broke into it in early June, seizing several neighbourhoods.

But for the past week they have encountered fierce resistance from the jihadists, and progress has also been hampered by the presence of civilians trapped in Raqa city centre.

“It is every bit as tough as we expected but there’s no surprise in that so there are not currently any plans for us to divert more, to require more forces,” Jones added.

He also said the “protection of civilians” was of key concern to the coalition.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2017