|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/12/16/250264_islamists-rout-syrian-government.html
Islamists Rout Syrian Government Troops
(McClatchy) Mousab Alhamadee - The Assad regime sustained a major setback in northern Syria this week with the loss of two major military bases. The big winner was al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, which captured an enormous arsenal. Of the 1,000 regime troops stationed at the Wadi al Deif and al Hamidiyah bases, only about 500 had reached the city of Hama to which the troops withdrew, about half of them wounded. A source in the Free Syrian Army estimated that 350 regime troops had died in the fighting, and rebel commanders claim to have captured more than 200. Nusra fighters hit regime tanks using American-supplied TOW missiles they'd captured last month when they ousted the U.S.-backed Syrian Revolutionaries Front in Idlib province.