Syria army reaches edge of IS-held town of al-Bab

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syria's army advanced on Friday, February 10 to the outskirts of a key Islamic State group bastion that is also being targeted by Turkey's army and allied forces, a monitor said, according to AFP.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime soldiers and allied fighters were now 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from al-Bab in northern Syria.

The Observatory said the forces had made "important progress" and taken a village near the town, the jihadist group's last major stronghold in the northern province of Aleppo.

Al-Bab is being targeted by both regime forces and an alliance of Turkish troops backed by Syrian rebel forces.

The town has been besieged since Monday, when government forces advancing from the south cut off a road leading into al-Bab.

Turkish troops and allied forces have been advancing towards the town from the north, east and west.