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.
On Thursday, the Syrian, Russian and Iranian defence ministers met in the Iranian capital Tehran to discuss the progress of the war.
Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani attacked continued attempts by states supporting extremist insurgents to dictate terms to Damascus.
“Nobody but the Syrians themselves has the right to decide the governing system and the future rulers of Syria,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed the need to stop the flow of terrorists and weapons to Syria via Turkey.
Speaking during a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh in Moscow, Mr Lavrov repeated his calls for a clear separation of Western-backed insurgents from UN-designated terrorist groups Isis and the Nusra Front.
“Many months have passed since the UN security council approved decisions of the Syria Support Group,” he said.
“This is more than enough time for any armed formation to make its choice: join the regime of cessation of fire or not.”
