Jihadists kill 270 in anti-regime raid on Syria gas field: NGO

Jihadists have killed 270 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and staff since seizing a gas field in Homs province, most of whom were executed, a monitoring group said July 19.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that a woman accused of adultery was stoned to death by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the northern city of Raqa, in the second such case in as many days.

The Observatory described July 17 takeover of the Shaar field as "the biggest" anti-regime operation by ISIL since the jihadist group rose to prominence last year among rebel groups in the Syrian conflict.

The watchdog said it had documented "the death of 270 people killed in the fighting or executed" since the takeover of the field in central Syria.

"A large majority of the men killed were executed at gunpoint after being taken prisoner following the takeover of the camp," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Eleven of the dead were civilian employees, while the rest were security guards and National Defence Forces members," he added.

On July 19, regime forces, a day after launching a counter-attack, had "re-taken large areas of Shaar", according to Abdel Rahman. "Fighting is continuing around the gas field".
 
The counter-attack had left at least 40 IS militants dead, while 11 soldiers had been killed and 10 others who were injured had been taken to hospital in Homs, said the Observatory, which relies for its information on a network of activists and medics on the ground.
 
The fate of nearly 100 people who worked at the site remained unknown, according to earlier figures released by the Observatory.
 
The Syrian government did not officially confirm the deaths...