Pro-government forces repelled an attack on a key Syrian airport during a fierce battle in which they lost 20 fighters but killed almost as many militants, a monitor said Saturday.
“There was an attack on the outskirts of the Khalkhalah military airport in Sweida province on Friday,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been able to maintain control over the airport and its surrounding areas despite losing 20 fighters. At least 15 militants were killed.
Although the Observatory was awaiting confirmation on the identity of the attackers, Abdel Rahman told AFP they were likely to have been jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group.
Khalkhalah airport lies along a major highway that links the regime-held provincial capital of Sweida to Damascus.
The regime of President Assad claims to protect Syria’s minorities against foreign-backed Islamists.
But attacks on minority communities have increased with the rise of IS, which regularly targets such sects in Syria, as well as Sunnis who it alleges have violated its interpretation of Islam.
‘No breakthrough’ in Moscow talks Round two of talks in Moscow to discuss the Syrian crisis resulted in no significant breakthroughs, reports suggest.
Hosts Russia – a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – welcomed government representatives and some mainstream members of the Syrian opposition, for discussions ending in an agreement on a set of principles, but nothing concrete, it would seem, Euronews reported.
The Syrian National Coalition, made up of opponents of Assad, boycotted the discussions, which were apparently marred by animosity, with parties blaming each other for lack of progress.
They apparently did agree on the need to fight terrorism and end foreign meddling, but disagreed with what this meant.
