(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Syrian army managed to restore the gas fields in the central governorate of Homs from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Saturday.
The Army, backed by the popular resistance groups, fully controlled Al-Sha'er Mount and the gas fields in the eastern rural areas of Homs, the state-run SANA news agency reported, citing a statement by the General Command of the Armed Forces.
"The subtle operation led to the killing of large numbers of the ISIL fighters," the statement said, noting that the corps of engineers are erasing the landmines and explosive charges planted by the ISIL in the recaptured areas. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the Syrian army sustained heavy losses in the last ten days of fighting.
More than 1,100 soldiers and officers were killed in the battles against the opposition forces in this period, including 85 personnel who were killed in a double suicide bombing by ISIL today.
The two car bombings, targeting the 17th Unit in Al-Raqqah City, the provincial capital of the northern Al-Raqqah governorate, were followed by gun battles between the two sides, according to a SOHR statement.
ISIL has executed a yet to be specified number of troops who were retreating from the battlefield to the northern districts of the city in the last two days.
More than 200 soldiers are still missing while the ISIL broadcast photos of dozens of slain soldiers on the streets of Al-Raqqah.
SOHR added that the attacks forces the 17th Unit to retreat from the city to the northern outskirts and the 93rd Legion based in Ain Issa town.
In the central governorate of Aleppo the ISIL fighters ambushed a convoy of the regular troops and the pro-regime militias in the eastern rural outskirts of Aleppo City, killing at least 30 soldiers and militiamen.
A huge explosion was heard last night in the regime-controlled Al-Nairab camp in Aleppo; later it proved to be resulting from the downing of a military helicopter by the opposition forces.
The plane crashed on an apartment building; its 5-member crew - three officers and two sergeants, were killed.
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