Jihadists eye another airbase in southern Syria

Just a day after capturing a major military base in Daraa province in southern Syria, several jihadist groups announced on Wednesday to launch a new battle to capture a nearby airbase in the Swaida province, a monitor group reported.

Many hard-line militant groups announced the battle of "Crushing the Tyrants," aiming to "liberate" the al-Tha'la airbase in the countryside of the southern province of Swaida, just a day after the militants overran the sprawling Brigade 52 base on the outskirts of the southern province of Daraa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the militants also want to capture the town of al-Tha'la, where the airbase is located.

The militants have started shelling the airbase with mortars and artillery, with no reports on losses yet.

A day earlier, Jihadist militant groups unleashed a wide-scale offensive on the Brigade 52 in Daraa, capturing the facility and killing 20 government soldiers, the Observatory said.

Brigade 52 is one of the major military bases in Daraa that the rebels have repeatedly attempted to storm and not succeeded, but they finally managed to take it on Tuesday.

The downfall of the entire base has exposed the nearby airbase of Tha'la in Swaida, which is mainly inhabited by the Druze minority which largely support the Syrian government.

Activists from Swaida said people in the towns adjacent to Daraa are bracing themselves to battle the jihadists, in case they wanted to infiltrate Swaida. Endit