Syria's army and its allies are racing towards their enclave in the Euphrates city of Deir al-Zor, seeking to free it after years of Islamic State siege as jihadist defences collapse.
Deir al-Zor's provincial governor, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters in a phone interview that he expects the army to arrive at the city within hours and that some people there had taken to the streets to demonstrate their happiness.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has focused this year on the campaign in Syria's desert, striking eastwards in a multi-pronged assault to restore Deir al-Zor, where Islamic State has held half the city and all the land around since 2014.
Sunday's advance brought the army and its allies to about 10 km from the city, said the military media unit run by the army's ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the army had advanced even farther, reaching the border of the besieged garrison's army camp on the western edge of Deir al-Zor.
Intense fighting is taking place as the army attempts to break through Islamic State lines to join up with the besieged garrison, the Observatory reported.
