Beirut--Islamic State group jihadists, emboldened by a string of battlefield victories, advanced Thursday to the gates of the Syrian city of Hasakeh after intense fighting with regime troops.
Despite nine months of US-led air strikes, the militants have made new territorial gains in recent weeks, seizing areas including the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and the capital of Iraq's vast Anbar province.
Now "IS is 500 meters (550 yards) away from the entrance of Hasakeh, after fierce clashes against regime forces south of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.
He said IS had seized all military posts in that area of northeastern Syria, including an unfinished prison building and a power plant, after at least six suicide bombers struck on Wednesday.
Regime helicopters meanwhile dropped barrel bombs on jihadist positions, he said.
If IS seizes Hasakeh it would be the second Syrian provincial capital to fall under its control, after Raqa, the group's bastion in northern Syria.
It would also be the third provincial capital lost by the regime. The northwestern city of Idlib was seized by rebels in March.
Iran and Iraq have deployed thousands of fighters in Syria in recent weeks to help the regime defend Damascus and its surroundings, a security source told AFP on Wednesday.
"Around 7,000 Iranian and Iraqi fighters have arrived in Syria over the past few weeks and their first priority is the defence of the capital. The larger contingent is Iraqi," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Iran is a key ally of the Syrian government, and it has provided Damascus with financial and military support.
But in recent months, the Syrian government has lost territory in several parts of the country to both IS and rebel groups including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
AFP
