| CNN | - |
(CNN)
-- The extremist Sunni militant group that recently declared a
caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq has taken control of a major Syrian
oil field, the UK-based opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said Thursday.
ISIS takes major Syrian oil field, group says
updated 12:04 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2014
An Iraqi child walks through a
displacement camp for those caught-up in the fighting near the city of
Mosul on Saturday, June 28 in Khazair, Iraq. Vast swaths of northern
Iraq, including the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar, have fallen as the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, advances toward Baghdad, the
capital. The ISIS militants want to establish a caliphate, or Islamic
state, in the region, stretching from Iraq into northern Syria.
HIDE CAPTION
Iraq under siege
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Oil field had been in hands of al Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front
- Field can produce 75,000 barrels of oil daily
- ISIS declared caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq over the weekend
Militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
took control of the Al-Omar oil field in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor
province after the al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate, withdrew, the
opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Shia militia arrive to defend shrines
The takeover happened without any violence, the monitoring group said.
Al-Omar is the largest
and most important oil field in Syria, with a capacity to produce 75,000
barrels of oil daily, the monitoring group said.
ISIS -- one of the groups
that has battled the Syrian government during Syria's civil war -- has
taken control of large swaths of Syria and Iraq through months of
fighting.
Last weekend, ISIS
declared it had set up a caliphate, or Islamic state, spanning large
areas of Iraq and Syria. It claimed its territory runs from Aleppo
province in northwestern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq.
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