Increasing pressure on government-held coastal areas north of the capital, Syrian troops have reportedly pulled out of a major air base in North Western Syria after a two-year siege by Islamist-led insurgents, Syrian state television said on Wednesday.
The Syrian military had been completely driven out of the North Western province of Idlib after the fall of the base, claimed a group monitoring the war.
The capture of the airport was aided by the fighters of the al Qaeda's Nusra Front, reports Reuters. Most of the surroundings of the Idlib province has been completed by the Nusra which is a part of a coalition of Islamist groups called the Army of Conquest.
On Wednesday, the Syrian state television reported that the army garrison that had been defending the Abu al-Duhur military airport had evacuated the post.
It has been almost two years that the airport has been under siege by the ISIS. The airport was recognized as the one of the last remaining military strongholds in Idlib province. The Muslim extremist organization has also laid siege to another major base east of Aleppo, Kweiris.
The rebels lead by Nusra has been coming closer to the government-held coastal areas north of the capital after capturing the the city of Idlib and the town of Jisr al-Shughour in the northwestern Syria since May this year. The Nusra is aided by other other insurgent groups in this operation.
While the army itself had withdrawn from the Idlib province, members of a local pro-government militia remained in two Shi'ite villages in the province, claimed Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
Foreign jihadi fighters have been allowed into Syrian territory by Turkey and they have played a vital role in the rebel gains in that area even as Syria had been accusing Turkey of financing and aiding the rebels who are aimed to topple the government.
A few days ago, ISIS extremists managed to seize the last major oilfield under Syrian government control in the vast central desert zone. After the fight began to the east of Homs and after casualties reported on both sides, the Jazal field had been shut down.
While the government forces claimed to have fought back the attack and killing 25 terrorists which included foreign jihadis, they did not mention about the Jazal oil fields. With this capture almost all the energy resources of Syria have fallen to the hands of the terrorists.
“The regime has lost the last oilfield in Syria,” said the observatory, which tracks violence through a network of sources on the ground.
Various reports and comments on the social media claimed that the oilfield was captured on Sunday.
Syria’s main natural gas fields and multimillion-dollar extraction facilities is present in the medium-sized field Jazal which lies to the north-west of the rebel-held ancient city of Palmyra.
(Source:www.reuters.com, www.smh.com.au & www.theguardian.com)
The Syrian military had been completely driven out of the North Western province of Idlib after the fall of the base, claimed a group monitoring the war.
The capture of the airport was aided by the fighters of the al Qaeda's Nusra Front, reports Reuters. Most of the surroundings of the Idlib province has been completed by the Nusra which is a part of a coalition of Islamist groups called the Army of Conquest.
On Wednesday, the Syrian state television reported that the army garrison that had been defending the Abu al-Duhur military airport had evacuated the post.
It has been almost two years that the airport has been under siege by the ISIS. The airport was recognized as the one of the last remaining military strongholds in Idlib province. The Muslim extremist organization has also laid siege to another major base east of Aleppo, Kweiris.
The rebels lead by Nusra has been coming closer to the government-held coastal areas north of the capital after capturing the the city of Idlib and the town of Jisr al-Shughour in the northwestern Syria since May this year. The Nusra is aided by other other insurgent groups in this operation.
While the army itself had withdrawn from the Idlib province, members of a local pro-government militia remained in two Shi'ite villages in the province, claimed Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
Foreign jihadi fighters have been allowed into Syrian territory by Turkey and they have played a vital role in the rebel gains in that area even as Syria had been accusing Turkey of financing and aiding the rebels who are aimed to topple the government.
A few days ago, ISIS extremists managed to seize the last major oilfield under Syrian government control in the vast central desert zone. After the fight began to the east of Homs and after casualties reported on both sides, the Jazal field had been shut down.
While the government forces claimed to have fought back the attack and killing 25 terrorists which included foreign jihadis, they did not mention about the Jazal oil fields. With this capture almost all the energy resources of Syria have fallen to the hands of the terrorists.
“The regime has lost the last oilfield in Syria,” said the observatory, which tracks violence through a network of sources on the ground.
Various reports and comments on the social media claimed that the oilfield was captured on Sunday.
Syria’s main natural gas fields and multimillion-dollar extraction facilities is present in the medium-sized field Jazal which lies to the north-west of the rebel-held ancient city of Palmyra.
(Source:www.reuters.com, www.smh.com.au & www.theguardian.com)