Syrian troops seek to retake jihadi-held gas field

Syrian government forces have launched a counter-attack to recapture a gas field seized by Islamic extremists, as the death toll from three days of fighting rose to more than 200, activists said Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

The intense fighting in the Shaer field, which lies in the desert region of Palmyra in the central province of Homs, has been among the deadliest between government forces and the Islamic State group since the start of the Syrian uprising more than three years ago.

Fighters from the Islamic State group have in the past few weeks seized a huge chunk of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border, where they declared a self-styled caliphate. They have also captured much of Syria's oil-rich eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said special forces launched an attack late Friday on the Shaer field in the central province of Homs and regained parts of it.

A Homs-based activist who goes by the name of Beibares Tellawi confirmed that troops were attacking fighters from the Islamic State group.

"The fighting today is mostly hit and run attacks," Tellawi said via Skype. "Large numbers of (President Bashar) Assad's forces are attacking the field."