Syrian government troops push against IS in country's north

Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, center, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, and Russia's Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov attend a meeting in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, Turkey, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Turkey's military says the Turkish, U.S. and Russian chiefs of military staff are meeting in southern Turkey to discuss developments in Syria and Iraq. The meeting comes amid renewed Turkish threats to hit U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish targets in the northern Syrian city of Manbij. (Turkish Military, Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, center, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, and Russia's Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and their delegations attend a meeting in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, Turkey, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Turkey's military says the Turkish, U.S. and Russian chiefs of military staff are meeting in southern Turkey to discuss developments in Syria and Iraq. The meeting comes amid renewed Turkish threats to hit U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish targets in the northern Syrian city of Manbij. (Turkish Military, Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – Syria's military and an activist group say government forces and their allies are approaching a main water pumping station controlled by the Islamic State group in the country's north.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media says troops are now just miles from the station, which supplies the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, with water.

The advance is part of a days-long offensive against IS in northern Syria, backed by Russian airstrikes. Taking the water station would ease Aleppo's water shortage.

Meanwhile, Turkish, U.S. and Russian chiefs of military staff were meeting in southern Turkey on Tuesday to discuss the developments.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed the advance near the town of Deir Hafer, the Jarrah air base and the Khafseh pumping station.