Syrian Army Retakes Gas Field from ISIL Militants
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Syrian army recaptured a gas field east of the central city of Homs that was seized by ISIL terrorists earlier this month, according to state media and opposition activists.
Syrian television showed footage of soldiers running and deploying in a vast desert area which it said was the Shaer gas field in the desert region of Palmyra.
Mahmoud al-Homsi, an activist opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s government, confirmed to Al Jazeera via Skype from Homs that the army was now in control of the field.
The Syrian army, in a statement, said it retook the field after a "precise operation in which dozens of terrorists were killed".
However, a source from the Takfiri militants pulled out after destroying the gas field's equipment and capturing at least 15 tanks and dozens of rockets which were used to guard the facility.
"We pulled out because it was no longer good for us to stay. The goal was to get the tanks and rockets present at the field and we did," he told the Reuters news agency.
"There is no point in staying there and become an easy target for the regime and its warplanes."
Homsi told Al Jazeera that the recapture of the gas field dealt a blow to the foreign-sponsored militants.
