Syrian troops pushed into the ISIL group’s bastion province Raqa on Saturday for the first time since 2014, in an advance towards the country’s largest dam, a monitor said.

Syrian troops pushed into the ISIL group's bastion province Raqa on Saturday for the first time since 2014, in an advance towards the country's largest dam, a monitor said.

The Tabqa dam on the Euphrates River, 40 kilometers (25 miles) upstream from Raqa city, is also the target of a separate offensive launched by US-backed Kurdish-led forces advancing from the north late last month.

"Regime troops backed by Russian air strikes and entered Raqa province on Saturday morning for the first time since August 2014,", UK-based opposing Syrian Observatory told AFP.

According to SANA, more than 40 terrorists were killed when army units thwarted an attack for terrorists of al-Nusra Front (Qaeda branch in the Levant) and Ahrar al-Sham on military positions in the surrounding area of Ma’an town in the northern countryside of Hama.

Meanwhile, army units clashed with ISIL terrorists in the vicinity of al-Tharda mountain and Panorama area to the southern and southwestern parts of Deir Ezzor city, thwarting attack attempts against military positions.

A military source told SANA that many terrorists were killed, others injured and their weapons destroyed during the clashes.