ISIS Kills 270 in Syrian Gas Field ‘Massacre’

Reuters reports that Sunni militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have killed 270 Assad fighters, along with civilian security guards and employees, since seizing a gas field in Homs province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-backed watchdog group, called ISIS’s Thursday takeover of the Shaar oil field as the group’s “biggest” anti-regime operation since its emergence in the Syrian conflict. “A large majority of the men killed were executed at gunpoint after being taken prisoner following the takeover of the camp,” it said. A counterattack by regime forces later took out 40 ISIS fighters.

“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,” the wire says. “One video shows a jihadist posing with the bodies as he speaks in German interspersed with religious terms in Arabic, seemingly celebrating the killings.”

In a separate piece, Reuters says that ISIS also clashed with Assad forces near the government-controlled military airport in Deir Ezzor, one of the regime’s last key strategic points in the province, which is quickly coming under ISIS control.

More Western Fighters Joining Militants in Iraq and Syria

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports that “thousands of foreign fighters have bolstered the ranks of militant groups in Syria and Iraq in recent months, driving fresh concern about potential terrorist plots” aimed at the West.

The surge is largely behind President Obama’s increasingly urgent warnings that a European or American passport holder might try to take down a passenger jet or plan another terrorist attack.

“As many as 10,000 foreign fighters — a third more than in February — have joined the militias seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Islamic State fighters who have swept across northern Iraq,” the paper says. “As many as 3,000 of them hold European or other Western passports and thus can travel easily across most borders. Several dozen, perhaps as many as 100, hold U.S. passports, and officials say that number is growing.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team

AFP: 60 Syria Soldiers Dead in Battle with Jihadists

Reuters: ISIS Seizes Gas Fields, Strengthens Its Presence in Syria

LA Times: More Western Fighters Joining Militants in Iraq and Syria