Takfiri militants execute 56 Syrian army soldiers at captured airbase / Photos
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a pro-opposition monitor based in the UK with a network of activists on the ground, confirmed the executions on Saturday, raising the death toll on the government side to 71 loyalists, according to SOHR head Rami Abdul Rahman.
Abu al-Duhur, a strategic military airport located 30 miles southeast of Idlib city, had been besieged by opposition forces for more than two years.
It was the last remaining government military stronghold in Idlib province, which was overrun by a loose coalition of Islamist factions called the Army of Conquest in a ferocious campaign last March.
Nine days ago, the Army of Conquest, as well as al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and the Turkistan Islamic Party, launched an attack on the base during an hours-long sandstorm.
With air defences crippled due to low visibility, militants broke through the defensive perimeter and killed dozens of government soldiers while taking others captive.
Syrian pro-government media had confirmed the fall of the airport, but insisted the soldiers protecting the base had withdrawn safely.
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