26 IS militants killed in Syrian airstrikes
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Damascus: At least 26 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed as a result of the Syrian airstrikes in the country's central province of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.
The Syrian warplanes conducted airstrikes over the past two days against the IS positions in the town of Okeirbat in the eastern countryside of Hama, Xinhua reported.
The obsevatory said two of the IS militants killed were commanders, and one of them was not Syrian.
It also reported Syrian airstrikes against the town of Jub al-Mazari near Okeirbat, adding that the jihadi groups shelled military checkpoints in the northern countryside of Hama with mortar shells.
Separately, intense clashes continued to rage on Saturday between the fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the IS in several towns in the surrounding of the predominantly Assyrian city of Tal Tamr in the northeastern province of Hasaka, said the observatory.
It said the IS attempted to advance toward several areas in that part of the country amid reports of losses on both conflicting sides.
The militant group recently attacked several areas in Hasaka, capturing around 200 Assyrians from their towns in that province.
Mediations between the Christian Assyrians and the IS were underway recently for the release of the abductees with no confirmed reports on their fate.
