(MENAFN- The Peninsula) BEIRUT: The Syrian army and its alliesrecaptured an oilfield from Islamic State near the eastern cityof Deir al-Zor on Saturday in further advances against themilitants, state TV reported.
Government forces also seized part of a main highway runningfrom Deir al-Zor down to the city of al-Mayadeen, to which manyIslamic State militants have retreated, the Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights monitoring group said.
The Syrian army this week broke through Islamic State linesto reach a government-held enclave of Deir al-Zor besieged foryears by the jihadists, and is fighting to reach a nearby airbase which IS still surrounds.
On Saturday, the army and militias fighting alongside itseized the Teym oilfield in desert south of Deir al-Zor, stateTV said. Deir al-Zor is in an oil-rich area of Syria.
To the east of Teym and south of the air base, governmentforces also recaptured part of the main road running from Deiral-Zor to al-Mayadeen, downstream along the Euphrates river andcloser to the Iraq border, the Observatory reported.
The British-based monitoring group said that advance wouldblock potential Islamic State reinforcements from al-Mayadeen.
The advances put yet more pressure on Islamic State'sshrinking caliphate, which once stretched across northern andeastern Syria, and northwestern Iraq.
In Syria, the group holds much of Deir al-Zor province andhalf the city, as well as a pocket of territory near Hama andHoms in the west of the country.
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