Summary
Syrian troops ousted Daesh (ISIS) militants Friday from Deir al-Zor, a major city in eastern Syria, while Iraqi forces retook Al-Qaim, the group's last big town across the border in Iraq, in simultaneous assaults that dealt further territorial losses to the retreating militants.
It is also the largest city to be recaptured by the Syrian government from Daesh.
Mayhoub described it as the "last phase" of the military's camp aign toward the annihilation of Daesh in Syria.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi forces also retook the nearby Husaybah border crossing with Syria, according to the prime minister's office.
Al-Qaim, about 320 kilometers west of Baghdad in the Euphrates River Valley, has been used by Daesh to move fighters and supplies between the two countries at the height of the caliphate, when Daesh held nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.
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