20 jihadis killed in failed east Syria airport attack
At least 20 ISIS members were killed in the second failed jihadi bid in a month to take over an air base in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said Sunday, according to AFP.
"[ISIS] tried, starting late Saturday, to storm the air base. A total of 20 jihadis were killed in the attack, as well as two regime soldiers," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Nineteen of the ISIS members were Syrian, while one was Moroccan.
They were killed in fighting and heavy army shelling.
"The withdrawing jihadists seized and took with them several anti-aircraft missiles," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
The attack was the second recent attempt by ISIS to take over the Deir al-Zor military air base, one of the last remaining regime positions in the eastern province.
Deir al-Zor is located on the border with Iraq, where ISIS also controls large swathes of territory.