IS kills 45 pro-regime fighters in Syria

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FE Team | Published: June 06, 2018 00:33:29

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BEIRUT, June 05 (AFP): An offensive by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in eastern Syria has left 45 pro-regime fighters dead.
A monitoring group said Tuesday the IS fighters launched the operation Sunday against Euphrates Valley villages seized last year by government forces and their allies, and have retaken four of them, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The villages are located on the road between the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor and the city of Albu Kamal, which lies further south on the border with Iraq.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said at least 26 IS fighters were also killed since "fierce" fighting started on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the global chemical weapons watchdog said Tuesday it will hold a special two-day session in late June as Britain leads a call to boost the body's powers to fight toxic arms.
The move comes after a series of poison gas attacks in the seven-year civil war in Syria, and the unprecedented use of a nerve agent unleashed on a former Russian spy in the British town of Salisbury earlier this year.