Assad forces take 40 villages in Syria on Thursday

Forces affiliated to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were able to take control of 40 villages in northern Syria on Thursday, after a campaign of airstrikes targeting Islamic State sites caused them to withdraw somewhat from the area.

A state-run Syrian television station broadcast footage of the 40 villages which it claimed to have taken, according to Arabic news site Arabi21.

UK daily The Times also reported on Friday that Assad forces had been able to make significant gains in areas around the capital Damascus, while the world is distracted covering US airstrikes against IS sites further north.

In the wake of the government gains, Islamic Front spokesperson Abdel Rahman Saleh said that "the airstrikes have helped the Assad regime."

"Regime forces have begun implementing a military campaign in al-Hasaka", a far north-eastern governorate of Syria on the border with Turkey.

He said in a statement that US-led airstrikes in the area had enabled Assad's forces to make gains in the region.