Update: Syria: Jihadist Rebels Execute 10 Soldiers

By C. J. Refsland on October 18, 2013 • ( 0 )

(Israel National News) Syrian jihadists on Friday executed 10 soldiers in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor during fierce clashes, AFP reports.

The jihadist rebels who carried out the executions are members of Al-Nusra Front, which has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

“Clashes took place overnight between rebels and regime forces in several neighborhoods in the city of Deir Ezzor,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to AFP.

The Britain-based group also reported regime air strikes on the city of Deir Ezzor, which lies in the eastern province of the same name, on Friday morning.

The strikes left people wounded and destroyed several houses, the Observatory said.

The group, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, said initial reports suggested rebels had taken an area near the Rashdiya district that had been under government control.

“Fighters from the Al-Nusra Front executed 10 soldiers from the regime forces after they captured them following clashes in Rashdiya,” the Observatory said.

The executions come a day after Syrian rebels killed a top intelligence officer in the same region.

“Major General Jamaa Jamaa was martyred while carrying out his national duties to defend Syria and its people and pursuing terrorists in Deir Ezzor,” state television said.

Jamaa was head of military intelligence in the province, where the regime has been battling armed opposition fighters seeking to overthrow President Bashar Al-Assad.

Fighting also continued in the Aleppo province, where the Observatory said that dozens of people were killed.

The deaths include 12 Kurds killed by regime shelling in the town of Tal-Aran, where nine people died the same way on Thursday.

The town lies on a strategic route between Aleppo city and Sfeirah, a town under rebel control near a military base where the regime is believed to store some of its chemical arsenal.

Elsewhere in the province, the Observatory said at least 20 regime troops and seven rebels were killed after opposition forces attacked an air defense base southwest of Aleppo city.

Since July last year, Aleppo’s east district has been held by the rebels, and the west has been held by forces loyal to Assad.

The 13-member Islamic Front for the Liberation of Syria, which split off from the Syrian National Council opposition force, declared Aleppo to be an independent Islamist state months ago.

Earlier this week, Syrian rebels assaulted the regime-controlled central prison in Aleppo.