SYRIAN army troops and Kurdish militia continued to gain ground against Islamic State (Isis) yesterday, the day after the main alliance members met in Iran.

Soldiers captured the Resafa crossroads, 12 miles south of al-Tabqah, from Isis, opening the way for a drive north to the Euphrates river that would cut off the death cult’s forces in Aleppo from its stronghold of Raqqa.

Elsewhere, Kurdish YPG militia completely encircled the Isis-held town of Manbij in northern Aleppo province, although the extremists claimed to have regained territory that they had lost south of Marea, to the east.