IS attack on Syrian gas fields kills 30 government troops

Islamic State militants have killed 30 Syrian government fighters attempting to retake gas fields from Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The Sha’ar gas fields had originally been seized by IS in July in a battle costing around 350 lives, before being recaptured by government forces later that month.

On Tuesday IS seized three wells, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as clashes continued overnight.

"The Islamic State managed to control the 101, 102 and 103 gas fields located on the eastern outskirts of the Homs province after killing at least 30 members of the regime troops," said the head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel-Rahman.

Some observers have continued to circulate that claim a covert alliance between Assad and IS, usually highlighting the relative infrequency of conflict between the two groups.

IS began a more intensive campaign of targeting government positions in the summer, including attacking military bases in Raqqa province in the north of Syria.

Previously it had been reported that IS were selling gas and oil from captured fields to the Assad government.

“ISIS's strategy seems to have evolved around generating income,” said Middle East energy analyst Robin Mills, writing in Syria Deeply.

“ISIS raises money in several ways, but oil is certainly a part of that,” he wrote of July’s attack on the gas fields.

“For a long time, they avoided having much direct confrontation with the regime. They generally tended to turn their fire against other rebel groups. They had been selling to the regime, or basically anyone who'd pay for it.”

He said ultimate aim of the attack on the gas fields was obscure.

“Were they just attacking it to destroy it [to hit the regime], or to take it over and continue selling gas? It's not clear what their intention was,” he wrote.

He also pointed out that there would be “nothing that ISIS could do with the gas itself unless it continues to sell to the government.”

Profits from black market sales of oil captured by IS have been estimated at as much as one million US dollars a day.

Fighting in Syria has so far claimed more than 200,000 lives and created millions of refugee.

Though Western governments initially considered the removal of Assad the primary strategic goal in Syria, the rise of IS had led to a shift in focus, with a US-led coalition targeting IS fighters in Syria, leading to claims from opposition fighters that the US was tacitly helping the Assad government.