Syrian government forces have launched a counter-attack to recapture a gas field seized by Islamic extremists, activists said, as the death toll from three days of fighting there rose to more than 200.
The fighting in the Shaer field, in the desert region of Palmyra in the central province of Homs, has been among the deadliest battles between government forces and the Islamic State group since the start of the Syrian uprising more than three years ago.
Fighters from the Islamic State have in the past few weeks seized a huge chunk of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border, where they declared a self-styled caliphate. They have captured much of Syria’s oil-rich eastern province of Deir el-Zour.