Category: Syria

A resident of the Syrian town of Tabqa celebrates by waving the Islamist flag after Islamic State fighters took over a regime air base nearby. Reuters BEIRUT—The extremist group Islamic State captured a major air base in Syria in the northeastern province of Raqqa, driving out regime forces and gaining full control of an entire province for the first time in the country’s civil war. The takeover of the Tabqa air base on Sunday follows setbacks in neighboring Iraq, where U.S. airstrikes since Aug. 8 succeeded in beating the group back in several areas in the north. The base had been the last foothold for forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Raqqa. Islamic State fighters over the past month drove regime forces from the headquarters of the Syrian Army’s 17th Division and another base for the 93rd Brigade of the same division. The loss of the air base […]

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GENEVA — The number of dead in Syria’s civil war more than doubled in the past year to at least 191,000, the United Nations human rights office said Friday. The agency’s chief, Navi Pillay, bluntly criticized Western nations, saying their inaction in the face of the slaughter had “empowered and emboldened” the killers. In its third report on Syria commissioned by the United Nations, the Human Rights Data Analysis Group identified 191,369 deaths from the start of the conflict in March 2011 to April 2014, more than double the 92,901 deaths cited in the group’s last report, which covered the first two years of the conflict. “Tragically, it is probably an underestimate of the real total number of people killed during the first three years of this murderous conflict,” Ms. Pillay said in a statement that accompanied the report, which observed that many killings in Syria were undocumented. The […]

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BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Islamic extremists have launched an attack on a major air base in northeastern Syria, aiming to seize the last position held by the Syrian government in a province that is an Islamic State stronghold. The attack on the Tabqa air base had been expected for weeks. Islamic State fighters have tightened their siege of the sprawling facility in recent days, capturing a string of nearby villages. The group has virtually eliminated the military’s presence in the Raqqa province, with the exception of Tabqa. Wednesday’s attack was announced on militant websites. It was also reported by the Raqqa Media Center, an activist collective, which reported fierce clashes around the facility accompanied by government airstrikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the clashes.

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A Syrian man outside the rubble of a building after an alleged bombing by Syrian government forces on Monday in Aleppo. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images REYHANLI, Turkey—Syrian government forces have nearly encircled Aleppo, preparing a siege to wrest control of the city from rebels in what would be the biggest blow yet to the three-year uprising. The fall of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and economic hub before the fighting, could also bolster the ranks of Islamic State militants who continue to make gains across the country, as defeated members of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army switch to their side. Rebel commanders in Aleppo say they are stockpiling goods as aid groups step up food deliveries—crates of lentils, rice, ketchup and baby formula—seeking to prevent the same kind of mass starvation that forced them to surrender the much smaller city of Homs in May. Losing Homs, once dubbed the capital of […]

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BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State insurgents have seized several towns and villages from rival Islamist groups in the Syrian province of Aleppo, opening the way for further westward advances, an organization monitoring the war in Syria said on Wednesday. Already in control of large areas of northern and eastern Syria, Islamic State’s latest gains include the towns of Turkmen Bareh and Akhtarin, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, reported. Islamic State’s advance in Syria has accelerated since the group seized control of the Iraqi city of Mosul in June, declaring a caliphate in areas under its control in a bid to redraw the borders of the Middle East. Diplomats and rebels said the Syrian government, which is fighting rebels across the country, launched attacks on towns run by the group only after its militants advanced into neighboring […]

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Syrian state media have shown President Bashar Assad praying in Damascus at the start of a major Muslim holiday amid reports of an unprecedented high toll among his troops battling Islamic extremists. State TV showed Assad performing prayers in Damascus’ Khair mosque early Monday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says about 1,240 soldiers and other Assad loyalists have been killed in the past 10 days, mostly in fierce battles with fighters from the al-Qaida-breakaway Islamic State group and other rebels in northern Syria. The dead soldiers and allied militiamen are among more than 1,800 people reportedly killed in the same period – a record number of deaths since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. Syria’s three-year civil war has so far killed more than 170,000 people.

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Syrian state media have shown President Bashar Assad praying in Damascus at the start of a major Muslim holiday amid reports of an unprecedented high toll among his troops battling Islamic extremists. State TV showed Assad performing prayers in Damascus’ Khair mosque early Monday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says about 1,240 soldiers and other Assad loyalists have been killed in the past 10 days, mostly in fierce battles with fighters from the al-Qaida-breakaway Islamic State group and other rebels in northern Syria. The dead soldiers and allied militiamen are among more than 1,800 people reportedly killed in the same period – a record number of deaths since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. Syria’s three-year civil war has so far killed more than 170,000 people.

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The Syrian army has recaptured a gas field east of the central city of Homs that was seized by fighters from Islamic State earlier this month, according to state media and opposition activists. Syrian television showed footage of soldiers running and deploying in a vast desert area which it said was the Shaer gas field in the desert region of Palmyra. Mahmoud al-Homsi, an activist opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s government, confirmed to Al Jazeera via Skype from Homs that the army was now in control of the field. The Syrian army, in a statement on Sunday, said it retook the field after a "precise operation in which dozens of terrorists were killed". However, a source from the Islamic State said the fighters pulled out after destroying the gas field’s equipment and capturing at least 15 tanks and dozens of rockets which were used to guard the facility. "We […]

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More than 100 people were killed in two days in a continuing fight between government forces and militants for control of a gas-production facility east of Homs, according to opposition activists and media outlets aligned with the regime. Among the casualties as of Sunday evening were at least 65 members of the regime’s forces, according to Syrian opposition activists, while the rest were fighters from the extremist group Islamic State. The fighting erupted after gunmen from Islamic State mounted an attack late Wednesday on the Al-Shaer gas field and production facility, located in the desert about 150 miles northeast of the capital Damascus. Over 270 guards, workers and members of a pro-regime paramilitary group known as the National Defense Force were killed in the initial attack and subsequent executions carried out by Islamic State militants, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an […]

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More than 100 people were killed in two days in a continuing fight between government forces and militants for control of a gas-production facility east of Homs, according to opposition activists and media outlets aligned with the regime. Among the casualties as of Sunday evening were at least 65 members of the regime’s forces, according to Syrian opposition activists, while the rest were fighters from the extremist group Islamic State. The fighting erupted after gunmen from Islamic State mounted an attack late Wednesday on the Al-Shaer gas field and production facility, located in the desert about 150 miles northeast of the capital Damascus. Over 270 guards, workers and members of a pro-regime paramilitary group known as the National Defense Force were killed in the initial attack […]

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