Syrian regime forces on Sunday regained control over the city of Albu Kamal, located in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, on the Iraqi border.
A military source said that units from the Army controlled the entire city following fierce clashes with the remaining ISIS militants who escaped to the north of the Euphrates River.
"Syrian troops and allied forces took full control of Albu Kamal, and are removing mines and explosives left by ISIS," the military source in Deir Ezzor told AFP on Sunday.
A week ago, ISIS militants controlled Albu Kamal, only few days before being removed from the city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the majority of ISIS fighters withdrew from the last city they controlled in Syria, while fighting continued in the perimeter of Albu Kamal.
It said that several people from both sides were killed and injured during the past 3 days.
On Sunday, a mortar shell in Albu Kamal killed Iranian Brig. Gen. Khayrallah Samadi, a leading official at Faylaq al-Quds, a unit linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Reuters reported that most of the forces battling ISIS in Syria and Iraq have said they expect it to go underground and turn to a guerrilla insurgency using sleeper cells and bombings.
Meanwhile, preparations were ongoing to announce the new lineup of the High Negotiations Committee, to include both the Cairo and Moscow platforms, in addition to other parties.
The new lineup should be completed in a meeting expected to be held next Wednesday and Thursday in Riyadh.
In a telephone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat from Paris, Monzer Makhos, a spokesman for the HNC, said that the target of the Riyadh meeting is to reach a formula that could vastly represent the Syrian opposition and to grant the Committee more power in managing negotiations.
“The meeting aims to expand the body of the HNC,” he said.
Makhos expected the new Committee to include around 150 members.
