| ABC News | - |
Islamic militants seized an eastern Syrian
oil field early Friday as they try to consolidate their control of an
area along the length of the Euphrates river stretching through Syria and Iraq. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ...
Islamic Militants Seize Syria Oil Field
Islamic militants seized an eastern Syrian oil field early Friday as
they try to consolidate their control of an area along the length of the
Euphrates river stretching through Syria and Iraq.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fighters
from the Islamic State group seized the al-Tanak oil field early
Friday. Another group, the activist collective of Deir el-Zour, also
reported the seizure.
The field is in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, near Iraq,
and it followed the Islamic State group's seizure of Syria's largest oil
field on Thursday. Both oil fields were taken from other rebel groups.
The extremist Sunni Muslim group now has nearly full control over a
corridor from the Syrian provincial capital of Deir el-Zour to the
border town of Boukamal. The area neighbors parts of northern and
western Iraq that it seized last month, allowing the group to flow
freely between the two countries.
The group is led by an ambitious Iraqi militant known as Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, who this week declared the establishment of an Islamic
state, or caliphate, in the lands it has seized in Syria and Iraq.
It proclaimed al-Baghdadi the head of its new self-styled state and demanded that all Muslims pledge allegiance to him.
Syria's uprising began in March 2011 as largely peaceful demonstrations
against President Bashar Assad's rule. It escalated into an armed revolt
after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal
government crackdown on dissent.
That then turned into a civil war that has claimed more than 160,000
lives, about a third of them civilians, according to opposition
activists. Al-Qaida inspired militants also entered Syria during the
upheaval of conflict, seizing territory claimed by armed rebels, and
ultimately becoming the Islamic State group.
The conflict has spilled over into Lebanon and Syria, generating a huge wave of refugees.
On Friday, a Syrian warplane carried out three airstrikes in an area
about four miles (seven kilometers) within Lebanese territory, killing a
12-year-old boy, a police official said.
The airstrikes occurred near the northeastern town of Arsal. One
impacted near a jeep, killing a boy and wounding the rest of his family
while on their way to pick cherries. The official spoke on condition of
anonymity because he wasn't allowed to speak to the media.
Al-Manar, a television station affiliated with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, said the strikes targeted gunmen.
Syrian warplanes occasionally strike inside Lebanon, with supporters
claiming they target gunmen. Syria's conflict, now in its fourth year,
has seeped into Lebanon with Islamic militants carrying out bomb attacks
against Shiite and Hezbollah areas.
end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment