Syrian army kills 175 extremist rebels in ambush

BEIRUT // Syrian army troops killed 175 rebels in an ambush south of Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, a major attack targeting fighters linked to Al Qaeda.

Syrian state news agency, Sana, quoted a field commander in the eastern Ghouta area saying most of rebels killed in the assault near Oteibah lake south-east of Damascus belonged to Jabhat Al Nusra.

The dawn attack by President Bashar Al Assad’s forces in the opposition-held area of eastern Ghouta likely will push rebel groups against his rule further away from Damascus, his seat of power. The capital’s suburbs have been opposition strongholds since March 2011, when the revolt against the ruling family began.

If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest attacks by government forces against rebels in the area.

The report said several of those killed were foreign fighters who came to Syria from Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Qatar to fight.

Sana said the army’s operation dealt “a smashing blow to terrorists,” a term Syrian state media uses for rebels.

It posted several photographs on its website showing dozens of bodies of men lying in a dirt track of an open field, some wearing fatigues, but most wearing civilian clothes. .

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the killings, saying that 70 rebels were killed in Wednesday’s assault.

The Observatory, which has been documenting Syria’s three-year-old conflict by relying on activists’ reports on the ground, said the number of those killed likely will rise because 89 rebels have been reported missing.

In a live broadcast from the area, Lebanon-based television station Al Mayadeen also showed dozens of bodies scattered along an unpaved road.

An army colonel told Al Mayadeen that his troops acted on intelligence and the rebels lost “more than 150 men” in the assault.

Al Nusra’s leader, Abu Mohammed Al Golani, on Tuesday warned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), a rival militant group, that it faced “termination” unless it agreed to mediation to end months of infighting among rebels.

About 3,300 people have died in fighting between rebels since clashes started in January, the Observatory said on Wednesday.

While rebels initially welcomed Isil in their battle to overthrow Mr Al Assad, many of them later turned against the group, accusing it of hijacking the rebellion and carrying out a string of kidnappings and killings of activists and rival rebels.

Among the overall fatalities were at least 281 civilians, the majority of them killed by shelling and stray bullets, the Observatory said.

But 21 of them were executed in a children’s hospital-turned-Isil prison in the northern city of Aleppo, it said.

And it said the militants executed a family of seven Kurds, beheading some of them, at a prison in the Aleppo countryside.

Most of the dead were fighters from both sides.

The Observatory has documented the deaths of 924 Isil members and 1,380 rebels, including Islamists.

It also said more than 700 other fighters from both sides had died in battle but could not be identified.

Also on Wednesday, Lebanon’s army arrested a commander of Al Nusra.

“A man suspected of being an Al Nusra commander was arrested in the east of the country. He is being interrogated,” a Lebanese army spokesman said.

Agence France-Presse