30 dead as Syria army clash with Daesh

BEIRUT — Clashes on Tuesday in the Syrian desert between Russia-backed Syrian army and Daesh group terrorists have killed almost 30 fighters, a Britain-based war monitor said.

Battles have been ongoing in Syria's vast desert since the start of the month, with army supported by Russian aircraft.

On Tuesday, clashes and Russian air strikes killed 13 militants, while 16 soldiers died in fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The battles centred around Ithriya, in Hama province, and further east, near where the provincial borders of Hama, Aleppo and Raqqa meet.

Mobile Daesh units have remained active in the Syrian desert since they lost the last shred of their self-proclaimed caliphate in March last year.

Intermittent fighting, mostly in the Badia, has killed more than 900 army personnel and 140 allied Iran-backed combatants since March, as well as almost 500 militants, the observatory said.

Daesh overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, declaring a proto-state there, before several campaigns in both countries led to its territorial defeat.

In August, Daesh claimed an attack that killed a Russian general near the Euphrates Valley city of Deir Ezzor.