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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Islamist Militants Capture Major Syrian Military Base<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=600 height=340 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D01953.61464700" alt="Description: Members of al-Qaida"></span><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Members of al-Qaida's Nusra Front gesture as they drive in a convoy touring villages, which they said they have seized control of from Syrian rebel factions, in the southern countryside of Idlib. | Photo: Reuters<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Published 16 December 2014 (8 hours 30 minutes ago) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>As the EU met to support U.N. plans to halt fighting in Aleppo, Syria, the Syrian army lost control of a major military base to Islamist militants.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In a two-day battle, approximately 80 Islamist militants and 120 Syrian soldiers were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The coalition of militants captured a Syria’s Wadi al-Deif military base Monday, which is next to Syria's main north-south highway that links Aleppo and Damascus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The coalition of Islamist fighters, which included al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida affiliated group in <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Syrian-Rebel-Leader-Hints-Deal-With-Assad-Against-Islamic-State-20141209-0049.html"><span style='color:blue'>Syria</span></a>, also captured the Hamidiya base, a small Syrian military base south of Wadi al-Deif.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the Syrian army had been engaged in battles in Hamidiya after “carrying out redeployment” in the region and had killed “several terrorists” in Wadi al-Deif area. SANA also reported Tuesday that more than 60 “terrorists” had been killed by the Syrian army in Deir al-Zor province, hundreds of miles east of Idlib.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>On social media, Nusra Front said “Wadi Deif camp was liberated,” and that the militants were removing mines from the area.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Assad-Slams-US-Airstrikes-as-Not-Serious-20141203-0046.html"><span style='color:blue'>Syrian army</span></a> had managed until Monday to hold onto these two military bases despite heavy fighting for two years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Earlier this year, the Islamic State group took control over a series of government air bases in the north of Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The EU met in Brussels Monday to work out ways to help implement a U.N. proposal for a cease-fire in Aleppo, in northern Syria. They agreed to provide basic services and humanitarian aid if the plan proposed by Staffan de Mistura, U.N. special envoy to Syria, to stop the fighting in Aleppo was put into action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>