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9 Syrian officers killed in battles with IS at besieged airbase

Xinhua, August 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least nine Syrian officers were killed Saturday during fresh battles with the Islamic State (IS) group at a besieged northern airbase, a monitor group reported.

The officers were killed during battles when the IS militants blew up a suicide car bomb near the Koerse airbase in the countryside of the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The airbase has for long been besieged by the IS militants, who also repeatedly attempted to storm this crucial facility, but so far failed.

Koerse, which has been besieged by the rebels since two years ago, is the biggest airbase in Syria, stretching on a five-square km land and including the Aviation Faculty, one of the biggest in the Middle East.

The airbase, which is run by around 2,000 army men, is deemed as the regime bastion in Aleppo. Several rebel and jihadi groups staged several attempts to storm the sprawling faculty, but couldn't succeed due to its heavy fortification.

The base is used by the Syrian warplane to strike the rebel-held areas and the positions of the IS in Aleppo, which made it a target to the rebels to eliminate.

The Syrian military has lost several key airbases to the rebels in the recent years of the crisis, and losing Koerse would be a severe blow to the Syrian army. Endit