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TERROR WARS
Syrian army battles jihadists near Palmyra
By Layal Abou Rahal
Beirut (AFP) May 11, 2016


IS in Iraq losing terrain 'every single day': US general
Washington (AFP) May 11 - The Islamic State group is losing ground in Iraq, struggling to replenish its ranks after it is attacked and is increasingly unable to mount major operations, a US general said Wednesday.

Baghdad-based Major General Gary Volesky said efforts are paying off for US-backed Iraqi security forces, who are trying to recapture vast tracts of territory seized by IS jihadists in 2014, including the key cities of Mosul and Fallujah in the Anbar and Nineveh provinces.

The jihadists' "ability to conduct large-scale offensive operations has primarily stopped," Volesky told Pentagon reporters in a video call.

"They're more on the defensive, trying to delay Iraqi security forces just to buy time."

He added that the IS group is "losing terrain every single day."

In August 2014, the United States launched an international coalition to fight back against the IS group after they captured large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Much of the work is being conducted through US-led air strikes, although coalition trainers are also helping advise and equip Iraqi forces and moderate Syrian fighters.

Volesky said that at the start of the campaign, it wasn't unusual to see dozens of jihadists attack at once, but that is less frequently the case now.

"When we used to see, you know, 50, 60, 70 fighters, now what we're seeing is five to eight, maybe 15, with a VBIED (car suicide bomber) associated."

"We're not seeing them generate these large operations. We expect it's about a two- to three-week cycle after they do an operation to be able just to try to generate enough combat power to maintain relevance, frankly."

Still, the jihadists did mount a surprise attack on May 3 in northern Iraq, when a Navy SEAL was killed while on a mission to rescue US advisers working with peshmerga forces.

And three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 94 people Wednesday. The IS group claimed all the attacks.

A government spokesman said the IS group now only controls 14 percent of Iraq, down from 40 percent.

Washington decided last autumn to increase its military support for Iraqi forces to quicken the pace of the anti-IS campaign.

Russian soldier dies after coming under fire in Syria: military
Moscow (AFP) May 11, 2016 - A Russian soldier has died in Syria after coming under fire from rebels in Homs province, a representative of Russia's Hmeimim air base told Russian news agencies on Wednesday.

The soldier, named as Anton Yerygin, "sustained serious injuries after coming under fire by rebels while escorting vehicles of the Russian coordination centre mediating between the warring sides", the unnamed official told Interfax news agency.

Yergyin died after doctors fought for his life for two days at the military hospital where he was taken shortly after the assault, the official added.

He did not specify however when the assault had taken place, or when exactly the soldier died.

The soldier will be decorated with a posthumous medal, the official said.

The death came after the body of a Russian special forces officer killed in late March close to Palmyra was flown back to his home town on May 5 in a full military ceremony.

Russia said Tuesday it had delivered bread to parts of Homs province and extended the ceasefire to one more area of the battered region.

The announcement of the latest casualty also came hours before the expiry at midnight of Wednesday of a Russian and US-brokered ceasefire in Aleppo.

Regime forces and rebels in the battleground city have already agreed to extend the truce twice.

Syrian regime forces Wednesday battled jihadists who cut a key supply route west of ancient Palmyra, after new bombardments hit Aleppo city where a ceasefire was due to expire at midnight.

The latest fighting comes as world powers prepare to meet in Vienna next week to try to revive peace talks aimed at ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the Islamic State (IS) group on Tuesday cut the main road from Homs city to Palmyra just weeks after the army recaptured the city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

A military source told the SANA official news agency that the Syrian air force had carried out strikes against IS around the main facility in the Shaer gas field, northwest of Palmyra.

A security source told AFP: "Military operations are ongoing in the Shaer gas field," which is one of the biggest in the central province of Homs.

Both sides have been battling each other in the desert around Palmyra since IS was ousted from the city in late March.

The jihadist group last week seized the Shaer gas field from the regime.

President Bashar al-Assad's troops retook Palmyra with support from Russian air strikes on March 27 -- an achievement his regime celebrated with concerts in its ancient amphitheatre last week.

But IS now surrounds Palmyra from all directions except the southwest, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that IS was within 10 kilometres (around six miles) of the city.

- Civilians killed -

In Deir Ezzor province further east, at least seven civilians were killed, including a child, in regime air strikes on an area held by IS.

They died in "regime air strikes on the Shuhail district in the east of Deir Ezzor province targeting a health facility and other areas in the district", the Observatory said.

The Russian defence ministry's coordination centre in Syria meanwhile said there had been five breaches of a ceasefire in Aleppo over last 24 hours, killing eight civilians.

The local truce -- brokered by Russia and the United States after a spike in violence in the city last month -- was set to expire at midnight on Wednesday.

The former economic hub has been divided between the regime-held west and rebel-controlled east since 2012.

The truce took effect last Thursday after a surge in fighting killed more than 300 people in the city and threatened to unravel a nationwide ceasefire between regime forces and non-jihadist rebels in force since February.

- Last obstetrician dies -

The truce has been extended twice after 11th-hour diplomatic intervention from major powers, but there was no immediate word of any new extension.

In the rebel-held bastion of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, the area's last obstetrician and gynaecologist died of wounds sustained during fighting between rebels around the city of Douma, the Observatory said.

The foreign ministry in Russia, where media reports said Wednesday one of its soldiers had been fatally wounded by rebel fire in the central province of Homs, has said global powers would gather in Vienna on May 17 to discuss the crisis in Syria.

Moscow and Washington pledged on Monday to redouble efforts to shore up the nationwide ceasefire and reach a political settlement to the conflict.

The February 27 ceasefire applies to all areas except those where IS and Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, are present.

Britain, France, the United States and Ukraine on Tuesday blocked a Russian request to add two rebel groups to a UN terror blacklist and sideline them from the peace process.

Russia had requested that Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) and Ahrar al-Sham be added to the sanctions list for their ties to Al-Qaeda and IS.

The main opposition group that has taken part in peace negotiations in Geneva counts Jaish al-Islam member Mohammed Alloush as its chief negotiator.

Since it erupted after the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011, the civil war has also pushed millions to flee the country.

burs/am/mt/ser


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