US-backed Syrian rebels capture airport in key IS-held town

The New Syrian Army [NSA] advanced to within five kilometres (three miles) of the centre of Albu Kamal, pushing in from both the northwest and southwest.

In coordination with Iraqi forces on the other side of the border, the NSA cut through a key supply line at Albu Kamal crossing seized by IS militants in mid-2014.

"The NSA and supporting forces captured al-Hamdan airport, five kilometres northwest of Albu Kamal with air support from the coalition," The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Syrian rebels launched an offensive on the town in the oil-rich eastern Deir Az-Zour province on Tuesday to server a vital supply route that connects IS-held territories in eastern Syria and Iraq's Anbar province.

As NSA forces edged closer, IS beheaded five young men in the town it accused of working with the US-backed rebels, the Syrian Observatory said.

The militant group is facing growing pressure from US-backed offensives on its bastion cities in both Syria and Iraq.

In northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters have edged into the IS stronghold of Raqqa with air cover by coalition warplanes.

In neighbouring Iraq, authorities declared at the weekend that they were fully in control of the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

Fallujah, in Anbar province, was one of the last cities held by IS in Iraq.

IS has lost the major towns and cities of the province but still controls areas in Anbar's far west, near the Syrian border.