In this task, you are given two sentences in the English language (Sentence 1 and Sentence 2). Your task is to identify the connecting word between the two sentences.
Q: Sentence 1:Between 31 October and 1 November , the Army seized between five and seven villages from HTS . Sentence 2:Meanwhile , HTS reportedly seized two villages from ISIL , forcing ISIL to retreat to its three remaining villages in the area .
A:
meanwhile