Air strike kills Daesh commander in Syria

Beirut: The Syrian army has killed an Daesh commander in an air strike in central Syria that killed more than two dozen members of the ultra-hardline group, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

The Daesh commander was identified as one of the group’s self-declared provincial governors by Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war using sources on the ground.

Daesh supporters circulated a statement on Twitter announcing the “martyrdom” of the commander, Deeb Hedijan Al Otaibi, together with photos showing him dead and alive.

Al Otaibi was also identified as Abi Ammar Al Jazrawi, likely to be his nom de guerre.

The Observatory said a total of 26 Daesh militants were killed in the air strike near the town of Hamadi Omar, some 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the city of Hama.

Syrian state media said a convoy of dozens of military vehicles had also been destroyed in the air strike.

Meanwhile, Daesh launched a fierce assault Saturday in a bid to gain control of a strategic town in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province, a monitoring group said.

The Daesh offensive on the Hasakeh town of Tal Tamr “has advanced in several surrounding areas,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP.

“Kurdish fighters supported by Assyrian militia have fought them off in Tal Nasri,” just south of Tal Tamr, killing at least eight IS fighters, he said.

Two civilians were also killed.

Assyrian Christian fighters withdrew from some areas to Tal Tamr itself to join Kurdish forces defending the town, said Osama Edward, head of the Sweden-based Assyrian Network for Human Rights.

“This is the most violent offensive on the town in a long time,” he told AFP.

Since it began its onslaught in the province on February 23, Daesh has gained control of at least 10 villages around Tal Tamr, which lies about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the Turkish border and is under Kurdish control.

If Tal Tamr falls, Daesh would dominate a key road in Hasakeh province that links to their bastion to the east in Iraq’s second city of Mosul.

In February, Daesh kidnapped 220 Assyrians from areas neighbouring the town, prompting 5,000 people to flee the countryside in fear of the militant advance.

Before Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, there were roughly 30,000 Assyrians in the country, out of about 1.2 million Christians.

In Hama province, a “special operation” by government forces destroyed dozens of vehicles in a Daesh military convoy, Syrian news agency SANA said.

Quoting an unnamed security source, the agency said Syria’s air force struck the vehicles, killing among others Deeb Al Oteibi, one of Daesh’s self-declared provincial governors.

The Observatory said there were regime air strikes in the area on Friday and Saturday, but it was not clear when the commander had been killed.

Most of the central province is under the control of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime, but significant areas, including the suburbs of the provincial capital, are held by Daesh and other rebel groups.