BEIRUT: The Islamic State militant group Saturday overran a government-controlled hospital in eastern Syria, killing 20 members of pro-regime forces and taking medical staff hostage, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants attacked Al-Assad hospital in Deir Ezzor as they press an advance to control the oil-rich city and its vital airbase.
The attack sparked clashes with regime forces providing security for the hospital in which six militants were killed, the monitor said.
“IS attacked Al-Assad hospital at the city’s western entrance, killing at least 20 soldiers and allied fighters,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The militants “seized the hospital and captured the medical staff, holding them hostage”, he said, adding that the fighting was still raging.
The militant group controls about 60 percent of Deir Ezzor, including the centre and the north of the city.
It has imposed a siege on government-held districts in the south and the east where about 200,000 civilians have been trapped since March 2014.
The militants, who also control nearly all the surrounding province, have repeatedly attacked the government enclave and seized several neighbourhoods since the start of this year.
But their efforts to capture the airbase located in the south of the city have been crushed by elite regime troops.
