The Lebanese Al-Manar television channel reported on Thursday that army forces had clashed with ISIS militants in a southeastern area of Homs Province in western Syria, killing an unknown number of terrorists there.

Al-Manar also said that a ISIS leader had been killed after missile and artillery attacks were carried out by Syrian forces and fighters with the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement near the al-Zamrani crossroads in the town of Jaroud Qara and the western al-Qalamoun region.

Syria’s official SANA news agency said that army forces had launched heavy raids against terrorist positions near Jabal al-Tharda, al-Banurma, and Madrasa al-Siyaqa in the southern area of Dayr al-Zawr city.

There were also reports of heavy clashes between Syrian forces and ISIS terrorists in Dayr al-Zawr’s western areas near al-Junaynah.

In the operation, Syrian soldiers managed to kill a number of terrorists, while destroying two vehicles equipped with machine guns, as well as a stolen oil tanker on the al-Taim field road near the al-Shoula village. Syrian forces reportedly blockaded the area.

Meanwhile, Syria's popular forces allied with the army countered efforts by ISIS militants to make gains in the southwestern city of Suwayda, while seizing their weapons there.

They also made more gains and killed militants in Palmyra city’s western regions.

The latest developments come a day after military analysts at IHS Jane's said in a report that ISIS had lost 22 percent of territory it had gained in Syria and neighboring Iraq since the beginning of 2015.

Columb Strack, senior analyst at IHS, said that ISIS was “increasingly isolated, and being perceived as in decline.”

Syria has been grappling with a foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. More than 470,000 people have been killed in the turmoil, according to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research; Press TV reported.

S/SH 11