LOC11:05
08:05 GMT
AMMAN, May 22 (KUNA) -- Militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized Al-Tanaf checkpoint located on the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to an opposition monitor.
The gunmen advanced and captured the border checkpoint shortly after forces of the Syrian regime abandoned their strongholds in the region and retreated, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) in a statement on Friday.
The ISIL is already in control of the border checkpoints in Al-Boukamal in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria, and Al-Yaarabiah in Al-Hasaka, northeastern Syria.
The militants, who have been on the offensive in Homs' eastern countryside since May 13, have taken control of Al-Sukhnah town, Al-Irk and Al-Hail oil fields, Al-Aamriah village and Tadmor (Palmyra). The fighting in these regions have claimed more than 241 lives from the two sides -- including 150 ISIL's deaths.
In Idlib, northwestern Syria, the monitor said scores of out of some 250 regime troops, besieged at a hospital on outskirts of Jiser Al-Shughour village, managed to break through the ISIL lines and flee.
However, destiny of the troops that have fled the siege is not known.
The SOHR reported continuing fierce fighting in Al-Kfair village east of Jiser Al-Shughour and near Al-Mshairfeh, indicating that the government troops made fresh bids to storm the ISIL strongholds and free the besieged forces, holed up at the hospital.
The ISIL, a military movement with bases in Syria and neighboring Iraq, has recently captured the mountainous town Jiser Al-Shughour, depriving the regime of a key logistical road intersection in northwestern Syria. (end)
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