BEIRUT: Daesh Saturday overran a government-controlled hospital in eastern Syria, killing 20 members of pro-regime forces and taking medical staff hostage, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the terrorists attacked Assad hospital in Deir Ezzor as they press an advance to control the oil-rich city and its vital airbase.
The attack sparked clashes with regime forces providing security for the hospital in which six extremists were killed, the monitor said.
“Daesh attacked Assad hospital at the city’s western entrance, killing at least 20 soldiers and allied fighters,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The attackers “seized the hospital and captured the medical staff, holding them hostage,” he said, adding that the fighting was still raging.
The terror group controls about 60 percent of Deir Ezzor, including the center and the north of the city.
It has imposed a siege on government-held districts in the south and the east where about 200,000 civilians have been trapped since March 2014.
Daesh’s Amaq news agency said its fighters stormed the Assad Hospital and also took control of a check point, a fire station and university accommodation in the city close to Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.
It said Daesh killed 25 government troops and took three prisoner.
Russia’s RIA state news agency on Saturday reported a source within the airbase on the southern edge of the city as saying a Daesh attack had been repelled.
The Syrian government and its Russian allies make regular aid drops into the encircled city and there are frequent airstrikes on Daesh targets in and around Deir Ezzor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the terrorists attacked Assad hospital in Deir Ezzor as they press an advance to control the oil-rich city and its vital airbase.
The attack sparked clashes with regime forces providing security for the hospital in which six extremists were killed, the monitor said.
“Daesh attacked Assad hospital at the city’s western entrance, killing at least 20 soldiers and allied fighters,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The attackers “seized the hospital and captured the medical staff, holding them hostage,” he said, adding that the fighting was still raging.
The terror group controls about 60 percent of Deir Ezzor, including the center and the north of the city.
It has imposed a siege on government-held districts in the south and the east where about 200,000 civilians have been trapped since March 2014.
Daesh’s Amaq news agency said its fighters stormed the Assad Hospital and also took control of a check point, a fire station and university accommodation in the city close to Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.
It said Daesh killed 25 government troops and took three prisoner.
Russia’s RIA state news agency on Saturday reported a source within the airbase on the southern edge of the city as saying a Daesh attack had been repelled.
The Syrian government and its Russian allies make regular aid drops into the encircled city and there are frequent airstrikes on Daesh targets in and around Deir Ezzor.
