BEIRUT: Syrian mainstream and Islamist rebels pressed an advance yesterday against troops in Homs province aimed at capturing major weapons depots, rebels and a monitoring group said.
Several brigades, among them the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Nusra Front, seized control of army positions “near weapons depots, by Mahin village,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rebels also seized a gas well located outside Sadad, a Christian town near Mahin, said the Observatory, as clashes pitted them against loyalists. On Monday, opposition fighters entered Sadad, aiming to advance through it towards Mahin and the depots.
But the army pushed them back and deployed its own troops in Sadad, said the Observatory, which also reported five killed in Wednesday’s clashes there.
Syrian authorities have released 10 women jailed for helping the opposition, the first batch of 126 women expected to be freed in the final stages of a three-way hostage swap, activists said.
“They (the 10 women) were released overnight. We do not know if more will be released today or later, or if that is it. We are waiting,” said a Syrian human rights activist.
Syria has made no official comment about the release, nor has it acknowledged having any role in a hostage exchange deal.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said Damascus had released dozens of prisoners last week, who also may have been part of the deal.
Israel reiterated yesterday it would act to prevent any transfer of advanced arms to militants during the conflict in Syria, as a newspaper reported an Israeli airstrike along the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, speaking at the parliamentary foreign and defence committee, said Israel was closely monitoring the situation in Syria and the regime’s moves to dismantle its chemical arms.
“So far the regime is upholding its commitment,” he said in remarks relayed by his office.
“We are following the issue, and continue to maintain our red lines on Syria -- not to allow the transfer of advanced Syrian weapons to hostile hands, especially (Lebanon’s Shiite group) Hezbollah,” he said.
Agencies
