DAMASCUS, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian troops on Wednesday killed as many as 81 fighters of the Islamic State (IS) militants in the country's northern province of al-Hasakah and the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the state news agency SANA reported.
Eleven IS fighters, including a Jordanian and an Egyptian, were killed by the Syrian government troops in the town of Huwaijet Saqer in Deir al-Zour, said SANA, adding that the troops also destroyed armored vehicles and pick-up trucks outfitted with machine guns at the outskirts of the Bu-Omar area near the military airbase of Deir al-Zour.
The IS has been on a crushing offensive to capture the airbase, which is the last lifeline for the government troops in that oil-rich province, where large swathes have fallen to the IS this year. Still, the IS has so far failed to storm the Deir al-Zour airbase.
Separately, the Syrian military forces killed 70 IS fighters and destroyed their weaponry in the areas of Tal Qasayeb and Tal Ghazal in the countryside of the predominantly Kurdish city of al-Qamishli in al-Hasakah province, according to SANA.
Intense clashes have been raging over the past week between the IS and the Syrian troops as well as the Kurdish militants of the People Protection Units (YPG) in the southern countryside of al-Hasakah, according to activists.
Over 190,000 people have been killed and millions of others displaced inside and outside the country as a result of the Syria crisis, which has become more complicated when radical groups capitalized on the chaotic situation to achieve territorial gains.
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