International • Latest • Slide
IS militants abduct 300 cement workers near Damascus
Desk Report
Islamic State militants abducted 300 cement workers and contractors on Thursday in an area northeast of Damascus, according to Syrian state TV, reports UNB. Further reports say that Thursday’s mass abduction of workers from the al-Badia Cement Company occurred in Dumeir, where miliants had launched a surprise attack against government forces earlier in the week.
All efforts to establish contact with any of the workers were unsuccessful, according to SANA, a state-run news agency, who quoted a source in the company as saying.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria conflict, stated earlier in the day that they had lost contact with dozens of workers in Dumeir
There were no further details about the abduction that immediately came to light and no one claimed responsibility either. Mass abductions such as these have taken place on occasion in Syria over the period of the devastating civil war, which is now in its sixth year. The abducted are usually religious minorities such as Christians according to further reports.
The adduction came as the fighting with IS militants intensified over in northern Syria on Thursday.
Meanwhile, U.N. special envoy for Syria stated that the next round of peace talks in Geneva is expected to start next week around April 13. According to Staffan de Mistura, the new round of talks should focus on political progress that would lead to “concrete or real beginning of a political transition.”
Meanwhile, the U.N. special envoy for Syria said the next round of peace talks in Geneva was expected to start next week, around April 13. Staffan de Mistura said the new round should focus on a political process that he hoped would lead to a “concrete or real beginning of a political transition.”