SYRIA’S army made lightning advances against Isis yesterday, threatening to leapfrog the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) south of Raqqa.

Troops pushed 15 miles south-east from recently taken areas on the Euphrates river to Bir Nabaj and reached the Ithriyah road, south of the Tabqah dam, which is held by the SDF. Later reports said the army had taken the ar-Rusafa road junction south of Tabqa.

But it was unclear whether the government forces’ plan was to strike east towards the town of al-Rusafa itself, west into Hama province to surround a large pocket of Isis territory or south towards Palmyra to join the offensive towards al-Sukhnah.