Syrian army, allied forces seize strategic desert area

Government widens control over key highway

This Thursday, May 25, 2017 photo provided by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows Syrian government troops taking up positions during fighting with Islamic State group militants, in the Syrian province of Homs. Syrian government-controlled media and a war monitor said on Saturday, May 27, 2017 that the Syrian troops and allied militia have pushed back Islamic State group militants and rebel fighters in a wide offensive in the country's southern desert. (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)
This Thursday, May 25, 2017 photo provided by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows Syrian government troops taking up positions during fighting with Islamic State group militants, in the Syrian province of Homs. Syrian government-controlled media and a war monitor said on Saturday, May 27, 2017 that the Syrian troops and allied militia have pushed back Islamic State group militants and rebel fighters in a wide offensive in the country's southern desert. (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

BEIRUT -- Syrian troops and allied militia have pushed back Islamic State militants and U.S.-backed opposition fighters, gaining control of a large swath of territory in the country's strategic southern desert, the government-controlled media and a war monitor said Saturday.

Also Saturday, the U.S.-led coalition leading the campaign against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria's northeast acknowledged that it conducted airstrikes near the Islamic State-controlled town of Mayadeen last week, targeting the group's "propaganda facilities."

In an emailed statement, the coalition said it is looking into reports that the airstrikes killed more than two dozen civilians, but added that the claims were "unsubstantiated" and lacked "specificity or evidence."

With the Syrian troops' advances, the government and allied troops secured an area nearly half the size of neighboring Lebanon. The strategic juncture in the Syrian desert aids government plans to go after the Islamic State in Deir el-Zour, one of the militants' last major strongholds in Syria. The oil-rich province straddles the border with Iraq and is the group's last gate to the outside world.

The government and its allies have restored government control over mineral and oil resources, including the phosphate mines in Khneifes, once controlled by the Islamic State.

The state-controlled Syrian Central Military media said the advances secured over 3,100 square miles in the desert area, widening the government's control south of Palmyra in Homs province and the highway linking the ancient city to the capital, Damascus.

The area was the backyard of territories once controlled by Islamic State militants -- linking Palmyra, the Jordanian border area, the Islamic State's de facto capital Raqqa, and the oil-rich Deir el-Zour.

The swath of desert, parts of which were in rebel hands, also abuts Damascus and its suburbs. With their gains, the government and allied forces have isolated anti-government rebel fighters in the desert area east of Damascus, denying them advances toward the strategic Homs desert area.

The multipronged offensive has been ongoing for more than two weeks and caused tension in the area, prompting a U.S. airstrike on Syrian government and allied troops near the border with Jordan.

The opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government and allied troops on Saturday seized al-Ilianiya, an area controlled by Syrian opposition fighters, backed by the U.S. and western countries, in the desert near the border with Jordan. The Observatory said the government seized over 3,700 square miles since the offensive began earlier this month.

The advances also pave the way for the government and its allied troops to press toward the Islamic State stronghold of Sukhna, a key node in the push toward the province of Deir el-Zour, said Mozahem al-Salloum, of the activist-run Hammurabi Justice News network that tracks developments in eastern Syria.

The crowded battlefield has been a scene of escalating friction in recent weeks, as the government and its allies pushed their way farther south, where rebel fighters backed by the U.S. military also operate. U.S. warplanes struck a convoy and a base of Syrian and allied troops May 18, in the first such battlefield confrontation between U.S. and Syrian forces since the conflict began in 2011.

U.S. officials said the Syrian advances posed a "threat" to its troops and allies fighting the Islamic State in the area.

Meanwhile, in Damascus, the Syrian government blamed the U.S.-led coalition for airstrikes that Syria said killed 35 civilians late Thursday in Mayadeen in Deir el-Zour province. The Syrian government called on the U.N. to condemn the airstrikes, saying they are "illegitimate" and should come to a halt.

Activists said those killed in the late-night airstrikes included family members of Islamic State fighters.

"We are aware of the unsubstantiated allegations of civilian casualties resulting from these strikes, however, many of the reports lack specificity or evidence," the U.S.-led coalition said by email. It said it is assessing the allegations as part of their routine review of all such claims.

The coalition said its airstrikes Thursday and Friday targeted Islamic State media facilities, "the number one driver of [Islamic State]-inspired external attacks" around the world.

"[The] destruction of these ISIS targets degrades their ability to project terror," the statement said, using an acronym to refer to the Islamic State.

Activists have reported that Islamic State members fleeing Raqqa and Mosul, in Iraq, have found refuge in Mayadeen -- the town some say could become the new Islamic State capital as Raqqa comes under attack.

Information for this article was contributed by Albert Aji of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/28/2017

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