[Peace-discuss] Islamist Militants Capture Major Syrian Military Base

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

Islamist Militants Capture Major Syrian Military Base

Description: Members of al-Qaida

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

Published 16 December 2014 (8 hours 30 minutes ago) 

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.

In a two-day battle, approximately 80 Islamist militants and 120 Syrian
soldiers were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated
Tuesday.

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.

The coalition of Islamist fighters, which included al-Nusra Front, an
al-Qaida affiliated group in
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Syrian-Rebel-Leader-Hints-Deal-With-A
ssad-Against-Islamic-State-20141209-0049.html> Syria, also captured the
Hamidiya base, a small Syrian military base south of Wadi al-Deif.

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.

On social media, Nusra Front said "Wadi Deif camp was liberated," and that
the militants were removing mines from the area.

The
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Assad-Slams-US-Airstrikes-as-Not-Seri
ous-20141203-0046.html> Syrian army had managed until Monday to hold onto
these two military bases despite heavy fighting for two years.

Earlier this year, the Islamic State group took control over a series of
government air bases in the north of Syria.

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.

 

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