DAMASCUS, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army and allied fighters completed a siege on the Islamic State (IS) militants in 2,000 square km of desert in the central province of Homs, a military source told Xinhua on Thursday.
The military forces fully captured the strategic Dahek mountain and Khirbet Tala as well as Wadi Abu Qilleh in the northeastern countryside of Homs on Thursday, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The new advance has enabled the Syrian army to lay a siege on IS in a desert area of 2,000 square km in the remote eastern countryside of Homs.
The Syrian army and allied fighters have been advancing to siege IS in the desert from two directions. The first is through the eastern countryside of Homs, particularly after they captured the city of Al-Sukhnah; the second is advancing from the southern countryside of Raqqa province, namely from the city of Rasafeh.
The advancing troops from Sukhneh and from Rasafeh met after capturing the aforementioned areas in the desert, laying thus a siege on the IS militants.
This siege is the second to take place, as most recently the Syrian forces laid a siege on IS-held areas in the nearby central province of Hama, more specifically in the areas under the control of IS in the northern countryside of Hama.
The currently underway military operations in the Syrian desert aim to reach the key Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria, near Iraq, as part of the military will to break the IS siege on the city and reach the besieged civilians and soldiers inside.
So far, the Syrian army has been airdropping food and aid to the besieged people of Deir al-Zour due to the suffocating years long siege by the terror-designated group.
To the south, the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and the Syrian army are tightening the noose on IS in the barrens of Qara in the western Qalamoun region near Lebanon, the military source said.
He added that the troops captured several hilltops and crossings in that mountainous region, where the Syrian army and Hezbollah have been on a crushing offensive to end IS presence on the borderline between Lebanon and Syria since Aug. 19.
