MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. The Syrian army and its allies have entered a final phase of the operation to retake outskirts of the Syrian city of Abu Kamal (some 140 km from Deir ez-Zor) from the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), Syrian SANA news agency said on Saturday.

The government forces have encircled the enemies, cutting off retreat in the direction of the Syrian border with Iraq.

Syrian troops regained control of the road connecting al-Myadeen and Abu Kamal, of the former military airfield Hamdan and a train station "after inflicting heavy losses on terrorists."

The Al Mayadeen television says that the army and militias are fighting against elite units of Islamic State named Jaysh al-Khalifa. The militants use a network of underground tunnels for surprise attacks. A week ago, they managed to infiltrate into the areas earlier retaken by Syrian government forces. At present, the government troops besieged terrorists’ last strongholds.

SANA said that "army units are advancing slowly and carefully in the city streets because of the numerous mines and explosive devices that Daesh [an Arabic acronym of Islamic State] planted everywhere.".