Syrian army reaches town on Deir al-Zor road
None
BEIRUT -- Syria's army and its allies on Saturday reached the edge of al-Sukhna, the last town held by Islamic State in Homs province and a key step in their multi-pronged offensive against the militants, a Hezbollah-run military media unit said.
Sukhna is on the main desert highway between Palmyra and the government's besieged enclave at Deir al-Zor, about 130km (80 miles) to the east.
The Hezbollah media unit earlier said the Sukhna gas field and heights above the town were within range of the army and its allies' fire.
A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that the army had similar fire control across the whole town and that most Islamic State militants there had fled.
