Daesh militia hit by Syrian, Libyan forces

Daesh militias were attacked by Syrian and Libyan forces in two different places on Saturday.
Russian-backed Syrian troops pushed into the terror group’s bastion province Raqqa Saturday, threatening to catch the terrorists in a pincer movement as US-backed Kurdish-led fighters advance from the north.
A top Libyan commander loyal to the UN-brokered government said his forces have pushed into a Daesh stronghold in central Libya and are now fighting extremists on the streets of Sirte.
The lightning advance from the southwest with Russian air support brought the army to within dozens of kilometers of the Euphrates Valley town of Tabqa, site of the country’s biggest dam, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said.
The dam, some 50 km upstream from the terrorists’ de facto Syrian capital Raqqa city, is also the target of the Washington-backed offensive which Kurdish-led fighters launched late last month.
Regular army troops were backed by militia newly trained by the regime’s ally Russia, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
In Libya, Col. Mohammed Al-Ghasri said the advance came under the cover of heavy airstrikes. 
Libyan forces, mainly militias from the western city of Misrata, have been advancing on Sirte, the main Daesh bastion in Libya and the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, for the past 25 days.
Al-Ghasri says the plan is to impose a siege on the city to prevent Daesh men from fleeing. He added that Sirte is a warzone and warned civilians to stay away from the troops or they would be considered a target.

Source: Arab News