IS abducts at least 400 civilians in east Syria after major offensive: Monitor
The Islamic State (IS) group abducted at least 400 civilians including women and children after capturing new territory in an assault on Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor, a monitor said on Sunday.
The news came as the militants launched a major offensive on the largely government-held town, killing at least 85 civilians and 50 government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said most of the victims were killed execution-style in the al-Baghaliyeh area.
"After their attack on Deir Ezzor [on Saturday], IS abducted at least 400 civilians from the residents of the al-Baghaliyeh neighbourhood it captured and adjacent areas in the northwest of the city," the UK-based observatory, which gets its information from a large network of activists, said.
"Those abducted, all of whom are Sunnis, include women, children and family members of pro-regime fighters," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding they were transported to other areas under the control of IS, which adheres to a militant interpretation of Sunni Islam.
State media have denounced the killings as a "massacre," with Syria's state news agency SANA, quoting residents as saying that "around 300 civilians" were killed in the onslaught.
While the Syrian government often exaggerates crimes committed by rebel forces, if confirmed it would be one of the highest tolls for a single day in Syria's nearly five-year war.
According to IS, its fighters carried out several suicide bombings against government forces in Deir Ezzor before seizing control of al-Baghaliyeh and other areas.
The Observatory believes that the advance puts IS in control of around 60 percent of Deir Ezzor city, capital of the province of the same name in an oil-rich region bordering Iraq.
The town, which in a 2004 census had just over 200,000 people, has long been a government-held outpost in east Syria, an area largely controlled by IS and Kurdish forces in the north.
Russian warplanes are now carrying out a heavy air raid campaign to try to roll back the militants and support pro-government forces, the Observatory said.
40 civilians killed in Russian raid: Report
The IS offensive in the east comes as pro-government forces are trying to make inroads against IS and other rebel factions in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.
According to reports, pro-government troops have been locked in fierce clashes with IS, killing at least 16 militants after they attacked a government position near the town of al-Bab, the monitor said.
Backed by Russian air strikes, the observatory said that pro-government forces were now within 10 kilometres of the IS provincial base, about 60km northeast of Syria’s second city of Aleppo.
That is the closest the government forces have come to al-Bab since 2012, when rebels forces took it over. The IS group seized it in late 2013.
The government appears to be trying to cut IS supply lines to the east, which would severely undermine the militants’ ability to send in supplies from Raqqa, IS’s capital in Syria.
Heavy air strikes have pounded the eastern town in recent days. Initial reports said that at least 16 people were killed, including civilians, and a further 30 wounded; but on Sunday the Observatory said that the civilian death toll was now 40, including eight children. It blamed Russian forces for carrying out the bloody raid. Moscow has not yet commented on the incident but says that it tried to keep civilian deaths to a minimum.
Pro-government forces also appear to be trying to sever other rebel supply lines around Aleppo city, with soldiers and militias striving to encircle opposition-held eastern Aleppo.
Syria's war has killed more than 260,000 people and has forced millions to flee their homes.
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