The Syrian Arab Army and ‘al-Hashd al-Sha’abi’, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), recaptured a 100 square kilometre area (38.6 square miles) on the Syrian-Iraqi border on Tuesday September 19, Al-Masdar News reports.

The capture means the SAA and its allies now control the stretch between the al-Waleed and Al-Qa’im, forcing the self-proclaimed Islamic State group into a bottleneck between the Iraqi and Syrian forces.

“This is approximately our sixth day at the Al-Waleed crossing between Iraq and Syria, we are heading northwards now to Al-Qa’im, in parallel to the Syrian forces who are undertaking the left flank left to us now which is still going on," said one soldier.

"We liberated about a hundred kilometres from Al-Waleed towards Al-Qa’im.”