Nearly 200 dead as Syria bases lost to Al-Qaeda: Monitor

"There were at least 100 dead on the regime side and 80 among the attackers, killed in clashes, bombardments and by mines," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Nearly 200 combatants on both sides were killed in 24 hours when the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda took two government bases in Idlib province, a monitoring group said on Tuesday (Dec 16).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain but gleans its information from a wide network of activists and medics on the ground, said Al-Nusra Front attackers also captured more than 100 government soldiers.

"There were at least 100 dead on the regime side and 80 among the attackers, killed in clashes, bombardments and by mines," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. He said at least 120 soldiers were taken prisoner and about another 100 fled south in vehicles and on foot towards the town of Morek in the neighbouring province of Hama.

Seizing the key Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiyeh military posts on Monday also gave the militants control of most of the northwestern province, in a major blow to President Bashar al-Assad's government. The militants advanced on the bases in coordination with extremist rebel groups Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa, the Observatory said, adding that a string of villages in the area also fell.

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Source:Channels NewsAsia