Syria army engages Daesh terrorists in Hama amid gains

Syrian government forces have engaged in intense fighting with Daesh terrorists in the central province of Hama as the army continues to make more gains in the fight against the Takfiri group.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that the recent round of fighting in Hama is concentrated in the Okeirbat area, which was taken back from Daesh on Thursday.

The Syrian Central Military Media said government forces are targeting Daesh positions with artillery and rockets.

Syrian troops, under the cover of Russian air raids, have been on the offensive in central Syria against the Daesh terror group for weeks.

Civilian causalities in Dayr al-Zawr

Meanwhile , the Observatory said more than 24 civilians have been killed as a result of possible US-led air raids against what are said to be Daesh targets in the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr on Thursday.

The rights group says 13 of the killed were children.

Taking the latest fatalities into account, the monitoring group said the civilian death toll from both US-led and Russian strikes have reached 53.

Earlier this month, the Syrian government forces broke the three-year-long Daesh siege on Dayr al-Zawr city, the provincial capital of the oil-rich province of the same name.

Russia has been conducting air raids against Daesh and other terrorist outfits in Syria at the Damascus government’s request since September 2015. Russia has also maintained a naval group in the Mediterranean since the start of its anti-terror campaign in Syria.

US-Russia talks on Syria

In another development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call on the Syria crisis with his American counterpart Rex Tillerson.

Lavrov and Tillerson spoke late on Thursday and discussed cooperation in their attempts to resolve the Syrian crisis with an emphasis on de-escalation zones, the Russian foreign ministry said.