Seized by ISIS in a 12-hour battle on Thursday, the Syrian military today attempted to retake the Shaar Gas Field in Homs Province, sparking another round of fighting which, per some reports, has left another 60 Syrian soldiers killed.
The soldiers killed in the “counteroffensive” are in addition to 270 people, overwhelming privately employed guards and members of pro-Assad militias, killed in the Thursday battle or executed by ISIS as prisoners in the wake of that fight. 40 ISIS fighters were also believed killed.
Syria’s state media reported that among the 270 slain, 11 are believed to have been civilian workers captured by ISIS. Scores more workers remain unaccounted for.
The field, near Palmyra, is among the westernmost territorial possessions of ISIS now, and just the latest energy asset they have taken in the course of a long battle to establish an independent caliphate, which now spans from the outskirts of Baghdad to the gas fields, to the outskirts of Aleppo in the north.