Syrian gas field massacre claims the lives of 270
Armed rebel fighters from the Islamic Front drive their pickups past buildings which were damaged during fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition forces today in the northern city of Aleppo. (Picture: AHMED DEEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Jihadists have killed 270 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and employees since seizing a gas field in Homs province, a monitoring group said today.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described Thursday's takeover of the Shaar field as the "biggest" anti-regime operation by the Islamic State (IS) since it emerged in Syria's conflict last year.
The watchdog said it had documented "the death of 270 people killed in the fighting or executed" since the takeover of the field in central Syria.
"A large majority of the men killed were executed at gunpoint after being taken prisoner following the takeover of the camp," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Regime forces had "re-taken large areas of Shaar" today, according to Abdel Rahman.
The counter-attack had left at least 40 IS militants dead.
Gruesome footage apparently recorded by the jihadists at the gas field and distributed via YouTube showed dozens of bodies, some of them mutilated, strewn across a desert landscape.
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