BEIRUT: Islamic State jihadists have seized an army position in the Syrian city of Hasakeh, a monitoring group said yesterday.
On another front in Syria’s complex civil war, rebels seeking President Bashar Al Assad’s ouster captured a weapons depot in Hama province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
And in the central city of Homs, a car bombing killed seven people, the Observatory and state media said.
In Hasakeh in the northeast, “IS jihadists took over the army’s Regiment 121 (base) at Maylabiyeh” after a three-day battle, said the Britain-based Observatory.
The latest advance came a day after IS took over a Division 17 position in Raqa province, killing at least 85 regime troops there, including 50 who were executed after their capture.
But also on Saturday, the regime recaptured the Shaar gas field in Homs province in central Syria, where IS reportedly killed 270 people while taking the site.
The IS is also in a state of open war since January against rebels seeking Assad’s ouster. Yesterday, IS killed 15 Syrian rebels in an ambush as the jihadists tried to advance on Aleppo province, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
“IS is very ambitious. It wants to capture both the regime-held Kweiris airport (in Aleppo province), and ultimately Aleppo city — both the opposition and regime-held areas,” Abdel Rahman said.
On another front, rebels in Hama province captured Khattab and Rahbeh villages, taking over arms depots, Abdel Rahman said.
Rebels, he added, are now “advancing towards Hama military airport”.
The airbase is important because aircraft loaded with deadly barrel bombs regularly take off from there to attack opposition areas in Hama and Idlib provinces.
Meanwhile in Homs city, seven people were killed and 20 wounded in a car bomb attack on an Alawite district, said the Observatory.
Immediately after the blast, several home-made rockets hit the neighbourhood.
AFP
