Radical rebels execute 71 Syrian soldiers in fallen airbase

An array of Jihadi groups, mainly al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, have so far executed as many as 71 Syrian soldiers in a captured airbase in northwestern Syria, a monitor group reported Saturday.

The soldiers were killed after the radical rebels captured the airbase of Abu al-Duhur on Sept. 9 and took them as hostages, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that the most recent execution was 56 military personnel.

Abu al-Duhur, located in a town under the same name in Idlib countryside, was the last military base under the Syrian military control. The Jihadi groups have captured much of Idlib in recent months.

The UK-based watchdog group said none of the airbase personnel managed to escape the wide-scale offensive by the Nusra Front and its allied militants. The rebels took advantage of the sandstorm that swept the country earlier this month and unleashed its offensive on the base.

The airbase has for long been besieged by the rebels, forcing the Syrian air force to abandon it, the Observatory, which tracks the Syrian war, said.

On Sept. 9, the Syrian state-run TV said Syrian forces had evacuated the Abu-al-Duhur airfield after a two-year siege, during which supplies for the troops have to be air dropped by helicopters.

The Syrian military forces have lost large numbers of airbases across the country to Jihadi groups, but facilities in those airbases have been removed. Endit