BEIRUT -- U.S.-backed Syrian fighters on Saturday captured the country's largest gas field from the Islamic State group in an eastern province that borders Iraq as they race with government forces to capture the energy-rich region, a senior official with the group said.
Nasser Haj Mansour of the Syrian Democratic Forces said the Conoco gas field and plant came under full control of the group Saturday morning after days of fighting with the extremists. He added that Syrian Democratic Forces fighters also captured the nearby al-Izba gas field.
Another Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman, Brig. Gen. Talal Sillo, said battles in the area left 65 Islamic State fighters dead while more than 100 gunmen surrendered. He added that the Islamic State had been controlling the Conoco site since 2014.
Sillo said Syrian fighters marched toward the field from the nearby village of Khsham under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.
[THE ISLAMIC STATE: Timeline of group’s rise, fall; details on campaign to fight it]
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war in Syria with activists inside the country, reported later that the fighters took full control of the field in the province of Deir el-Zour. It said Islamic State fighters are counterattacking to retake the field.
Also Saturday, Walid Moallem, Syria's foreign minister, told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly that his country is "marching steadily" toward the goal of rooting out terrorism -- and "victory is now within reach."
He pointed to "the liberation of Aleppo and Palmyra," the end to the siege of Deir el-Zour by the Islamic State extremist group, "and the eradication of terrorism from many parts of Syria" by the Syrian army and its supporters and allies, including Russia and Iran.
In his speech, Moallem heaped praise on the army and the country's allies and looked ahead to victory, though fighting still continues in many areas.
"I am confident that when this unjust war on Syria is over, the Syrian army will go down in history as the army that heroically defeated, along with its supporting forces and its allies, the terrorists that came to Syria from many countries and received large support from the most powerful countries of the world," he said.
Syrian Democratic Forces fighters have been marching on the east bank of the Euphrates River in Deir el-Zour while Syrian troops are gaining in areas on the west bank of the river under the cover of Russian airstrikes. Last week, Syrian troops crossed into parts of the east bank but have concentrated their operations mostly on the west.
Deir el-Zour is a province rich in oil and gas and both sides have been racing to reach the fields. The next main target will be al-Omar oil field that is Syria's largest and is also on the east bank of the Euphrates, and Syrian government forces also are speeding to capture it. Oil revenue is badly needed for future reconstruction of Syria, which has been plagued by war since 2011.
On Thursday, Russia warned against targeting its special forces in Deir el-Zour raising concerns over direct clashes between rival forces backed by Moscow and Washington fighting for the region.
The warning was followed by an acknowledgment from the Pentagon of an unprecedented face-to-face meeting between Russian and American military leaders, which occurred inside or near Syria, to address the rising tensions.
Russia has been a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and joined the war two years ago, tipping the balance of power in his favor.
Elsewhere, in the northwestern province of Idlib, Russian airstrikes Saturday killed at least 20 people, a day after a Russian submarine in the Mediterranean fired cruise missiles at insurgents in the province.
The Observatory said the airstrikes on the village of Tel Mardikh killed 28 members of the Failaq al-Sham insurgent group. It said that search operations for survivors under the rubble are still underway.
The Ibaa News Agency, the media arm of the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, said that more than 20 people were killed in the airstrike on the village without saying whether they were civilians or militants.
Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer and Jennifer Peltz of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/24/2017