ISIS militants return to Albu Kamal amid clashes

ISIS militants have retaken nearly half of Albu Kamal in eastern Syria in a counter-attack on what had been the last significant town under their full control, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday. "ISIS started counter-attacking on Thursday night and retook more than 40 percent of the town of Albu Kamal," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based monitor, told Agence France Presse.

Syrian regime forces and allied fighters, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, had recaptured the town, which lies on the border with Iraq in the eastern Deir Ezzor province, from the militants on Thursday. Albu Kamal lies at the heart of what used to be the sprawling "caliphate" the extremist organization declared in 2014 over swathes of Iraq and Syria.

"The militants went back in and retook several neighborhoods in the north, northeast and northwest," Abdel Rahman said. "ISIS is trying to defend its last bastion.Meanwhile, the US-led coalition told Reuters on Friday that it does not have "any releasable information concerning the whereabouts" of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

A military media unit run by Hezbollah said on Friday that Baghdadi was reported present in Albu Kamal during the operation to clear it. The military unit did not say what had happened to Baghdadi, give further details or identify its sources.

In the same context, The Syrian Democratic Forces Militia affirmed, on Wednesday, capturing several villages east of the Euphrates River, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, Egyptian website Youm 7 reported.

The media outlet revealed that the Syrian Democratic Forces Militia managed to capture a number of villages east of the Euphrates River, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, after violent clashes with the Islamic State terrorist group in the vicinity of al-Basira Town and al-Sabkha Town.

Furthermore, the Syrian Democratic Forces militia broadcasted a video documenting the advance of its forces into the road leading to the city of Albukamal, in Deir Ezzor Province, the last stronghold of the Islamic State in Syria.

The province of Deir Ezzor is currently witnessing two military operations, one carried out by the Syrian regime, backed by Russia, on the western banks of the Euphrates River (the cities of Deir Ezzor and Albukamal), while the second is carried out by the SDF militia, backed by the US, on the eastern banks.

It is noteworthy that the US-led international coalition that was formed to fight the Islamic State militants vowed to continue backing the Syrian Democratic Forces, in order to drive out the Islamic State group from Syria.

In Deir Al Zour, Nearly 252 thousand Syrian refugees have fled from the eastern and western countryside of Deir Ezzor due to the military operations, sources told Enab Baladi News on Tuesday.

The sources informed that about 252 thousand persons fled from the villages of the eastern and western countryside of Deir Ezzor toward the villages located east of the Euphrates River.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported, early on November, that 104 civilians, including 29 children from Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, were killed by the international coalition operations against the Islamic State group.

The network also documented the killing of 44 civilians, who were killed by what it called extremist Islamic groups, in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor.

It is noteworthy that dozens of civilians were either killed or wounded in the last few days, due to heavy shelling conducted on the villages of the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor that accompanied the advance of al-Assad forces into the area.