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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria trying to retake gas field |
| 2014-07-20 |
| Syrian government forces have launched a counterattack to recapture a gas field seized by the Islamic State group, activists say, even as the death toll from three days of fighting there rises to 270. The intense fighting in the Shaer field, which lies in the desert region of Palmyra in the central province of Homs, has been among the deadliest battles between government forces and the Islamic State group since the start of the Syrian uprising more than three years ago. Fighters from the Sunni-led rebel group have in the past few weeks seized a huge chunk of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border, where they declared a self-styled caliphate. They also have captured much of Syria's oil-rich eastern province of Deir Az Zor. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian special forces launched an attack late on Friday on the Shaer field and have regained parts of it. A Homs-based activist who goes by the name of Beibares Tellawi confirmed that troops attacked fighters from the group. "The fighting today is mostly hit-and-run attacks," Tellawi said via Skype. "Large numbers of [President Bashar] Assad's forces are attacking the field." The Syrian Observatory said that the number of troops, guards and workers killed in the gas field since it was captured on Thursday has risen to 270, adding that some were captured and killed by Sunni rebels. Tellawi said the death toll was at least 200. |
| Posted by:Steve White |