SYRIAN troops and Turkish invaders have all but cut off Isis terrorists in the northern town of al-Bab, state media said yesterday.

Syria’s Sana news agency said soldiers had captured Eweisheh hill, south-east of al-Bab in northern Aleppo province, cutting the extremists’ supply line to their stronghold in Raqqa.

Invading Turkish troops and their allies of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) alliance of rebel factions were still trying to take control of Bazaa, just east of al-Bab.

The advances brought the Syrians and Turkish forces within miles of each other as they race to capture al-Bab, which lies on a strategic crossroads, from Isis.

Taking al-Bab would achieve the Turkish goal of stopping the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and allied militia from uniting their two main areas of control in Afrin and east of the Euphrates.

For Syria it would provide a bulwark against a new FSA offensive on Aleppo and a springboard to drive east along the south bank of the Euphrates towards Raqqa, also the target of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces’ campaign, backed by the US.

East of Raqqa, troops defending the besieged city of Deir Ezzor fought off another large Isis assault on Sunday night.

Last week Damascus reiterated its rejection of the Turkish invasion as illegal in a letter to the UN security council. Driving Isis from Aleppo province would eliminate Turkey’s pretext for invasion — fighting the death cult.

Experts from Russia, Turkey, Iran and the UN gathered in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana yesterday for the first meeting of the joint operational group on implementing the ceasefire deal struck there last month.

That deal was meant to lead to peace negotiations in Geneva on Wednesday, but last week UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura postponed the talks until February 20, asking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to make more concessions.

Yesterday FSA political officer and Al-Monitor freelance reporter Asaad Hanna tweeted that the insurgent delegation was boycotting the Astana meeting.

“We still insisted on our demands, real ceasefire then political transition to move Assad out,” he said.