Syria: 700 people killed in two days of conflict between army and rebel forces loyal to Islamic State (IS)
In what would mark the bloodiest two days of fighting in the Syrian civil war, more than 700 people were reported killed in fighting between government and rebel forces loyal to the radical Islamic State (IS) — more than have been killed during the 15-day-old Gaza conflict that has dominated media attention in recent days.
The two-day death toll occurred last Thursday and Friday, with brutal fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the IS that centered around a gas field, according to reports released this week from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based anti-Syrian government group that keeps tabs on the war’s dead.
The Islamic State reportedly captured the Shaar gas field east of the city of Homs on Thursday. The Syrian Observatory was not able to say how many victims were members of government troops or rebel forces.