The incident happened at the company's weapons storage facility at Tabiya Jazira a few days ago in the northeastern province of Deir Ezzor, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 



 Observatory directory Rami Abdel Rahman said the company in question was in charge of "protecting the oil and gas fields controlled by the Syrian regime". 



 "Fifteen Russians working for a Russian private security company were killed in an explosion at a weapons depot of the company in Tabiya Jazira in Deir Ezzor province," he told AFP. 



 Seven other people, mostly pro-regime Syrian fighters, died in the blast, he added. </s> Fifteen Russians employed in Syria by a private security company have been killed after an explosion rocked an arms depot at their base in the country, according to a monitoring group.



The incident happened at the company’s weapons storage facility at Tabiya Jazira in the northeastern province of Deir Ezzor, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory directory Rami Abdel Rahman said the company in question was in charge of “protecting the oil and gas fields controlled by the Syrian regime”.

“Fifteen Russians working for a Russian private security company were killed in an explosion at a weapons depot of the company in Tabiya Jazira in Deir Ezzor province,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The Russian workers were accompanying regime forces as they advanced towards the oil and gas fields on the eastern banks of Euphrates river controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters.

The Observatory’s website suggested the regime fighters had been trying to access weapons at the depot but set off a booby-trap explosion. It said a total of 23 people were killed, including the 15 Russians. The other casualties werre believed to be regime fighters of the al-Baqir brigade.

Their reported deaths come after the US-led coalition against jihadists struck the Coneco plant last week in retaliation for an attack on an SDF base near the gas field on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river. Scores of Russian mercenaries were reportedly killed in the attack.

The government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad denounced the strikes as a “war crime”.

The US-led coalition was established in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, but it has bombed troops loyal to Damascus on several occasions. </s> The incident at a weapons depot follows the reported deaths of scores of Russian mercenaries in a US-led coalition attack last week

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Fifteen Russians employed in Syria by a private security company have been killed after an explosion rocked an arms depot at their base in the country, according to a monitoring group.



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The incident happened at the company’s weapons storage facility at Tabiya Jazira in the northeastern province of Deir Ezzor, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory directory Rami Abdel Rahman said the company in question was in charge of “protecting the oil and gas fields controlled by the Syrian regime”.

“Fifteen Russians working for a Russian private security company were killed in an explosion at a weapons depot of the company in Tabiya Jazira in Deir Ezzor province,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The Russian workers were accompanying regime forces as they advanced towards the oil and gas fields on the eastern banks of Euphrates river controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters.

The Observatory’s website suggested the regime fighters had been trying to access weapons at the depot but set off a booby-trap explosion. It said a total of 23 people were killed, including the 15 Russians. The other casualties were believed to be regime fighters of the al-Baqir brigade.

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Their reported deaths come after the US-led coalition against jihadists struck the Coneco plant last week in retaliation for an attack on an SDF base near the gas field on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river. Scores of Russian mercenaries were reportedly killed in the attack.

The government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad denounced the strikes as a “war crime”.

The US-led coalition was established in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, but it has bombed troops loyal to Damascus on several occasions. </s> An explosion at a weapons depot in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria killed at least 39 civilians including a dozen children Sunday, a monitor said.

The explosion happened in the town of Sarmada, which is near the Turkish border and north of the provincial capital Idlib city.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said a previous death toll of 12 increased after more bodies were retrieved from the rubble.

But the cause of the blast was "not yet clear", Mr Abdel Rahman added.

He said most of those killed were family members of fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by jihadists from Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, who had been displaced to the area from the central province of Homs.

A civil defence source told AFP news agency that women and children were among the dead. But rescue workers had pulled out "five people who were still alive", the source said. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Two Russian contract servicemen have been killed in a mortar shelling by Daesh terrorists in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

“Contract servicemen accompanied a car convoy of the Russian Center for the Syrian reconciliation. When traveling in the province of Deir ez-Zor, it was shelled by mortar rounds fired by Daesh terrorists,” the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, a Russian serviceman was killed on the site, while another one was seriously injured.

“The wounded serviceman was promptly taken to a hospital where Russian military doctors fought for his life, but his injuries proved to be mortal,” the statement said.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced earlier in the day that the Syrian government forces had driven Daesh terrorists out of key positions on the Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor highway.

The Syrian army supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces has been advancing toward Deir ez-Zor from three directions as part of the campaign to free the city launched in August.

Deir ez-Zor, located on the shores of the Euphrates River to the northeast of Damascus, and a military airfield near the city have been besieged by Daesh for over three years, with food and ammunition only being delivered by air, while helicopters from the city of Qamishli have been evacuating the wounded and delivering essential supplies to the city’s population.

The lifting of the siege of Deir ez-Zor will lead to the complete defeat of the most combat-effective formations of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria, the chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate said earlier. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Two Russian contract servicemen have been killed in mortar shelling by Daesh terrorists in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

"Contract servicemen accompanied a car convoy of the Russian Center for the Syrian reconciliation. When traveling in the province of Deir ez-Zor, was shelled by mortar rounds fired by Daesh terrorists," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, a Russian serviceman was killed on site, while another one was seriously injured.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced earlier in the day that the Syrian government forces had driven Daesh terrorists out of key positions on the Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor highway.

The Syrian army supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces has been advancing toward Deir ez-Zor from three directions as part of the campaign to free the city launched in August.

Deir ez-Zor, located on the shores of the Euphrates River to the northeast of Damascus, and a military airfield near the city have been besieged by Daesh for over three years, with food and ammunition only being delivered by air, while helicopters from the city of Qamishli have been evacuating the wounded and delivering essential supplies to the city's population.

The lifting of the siege of Deir ez-Zor will lead to the complete defeat of the most combat-effective formations of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria, the chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate said earlier. </s> Two Russian servicemen have been killed in mortar shelling conducted by Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) terrorists, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed.

“The contract soldiers were escorting a vehicle convoy of the Russian Center for Reconciliation,” RIA Novosti reported a ministry official as saying, adding that the convoy was subjected to “mortar shelling by Islamic State terrorists while moving through the Deir ez-Zor province.”

One soldier was killed at the scene while the second one suffered severe injuries in the shelling and succumbed to his wounds in the hospital. Both servicemen were recommended for decoration posthumously, the ministry added.

The incident took place as the Syrian Army pushes forward with its offensive seeking to liberate the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, the capital of the similarly-named province, where the shelling occurred.

The province’s governor, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters earlier Monday that the governmental forces could break the siege and enter the city as soon as “in 24-48 hours.”

According to some reports, some units of the Syrian Army are just 10 kilometers away from the military base of the governmental forces located in the western neighborhood of the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry previously stated that breaking the blockade of Deir ez-Zor will mark the defeat of the last capable grouping of IS terrorists in Syria. “Defeating ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor region and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat of the international terrorist group in Syria,” the ministry said.

The Russian Air Force also intensified its air strikes targeting the terrorists’ positions in the area. The Russian warplanes made 80 sorties over the last 24 hours and “destroyed two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, more than 10 all-terrain vehicles with heavy weapons mounted on them,” the ministry said earlier Monday, adding that 70 terrorists were killed and injured in the air strikes.

In the meantime, the Syrian SANA news agency reported that the Syrian Air Forces successfully destroyed Islamic State headquarters in the Hweika neighborhood in western Deir ez-Zor, killing at least nine commanders of the terrorists. </s> Two Russian contract soldiers were killed in Syria in mortar shelling by Islamic State terrorists, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday. According to the ministry, the servicemen were escorting a motor convoy of the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties.

“The motor convoy came under mortar shelling by Islamic State terrorists in the province of Deir ez-Zor. As a result of shelling, one serviceman was killed and another one was badly wounded. The wounded serviceman was promptly taken to hospital but died of deadly wounds, despite efforts taken by medics,” the ministry report said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday that the Islamic State carried out a violent attack in the south-eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, where violent clashes are taking place accompanied by explosions which shook the area, likely to be caused by an exploding booby-trapped vehicle.

This ISIS counter attack follows dozens of raids by Russian and US-led coalition warplanes on the areas controlled by ISIS in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor city. </s> An explosion of unknown origin at a weapons depot Sunday in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib killed at least 69 civilians including 17 children, in addition to scores of injuries.

Mustafa Hajj Yusuf, the head of Idlib Civil Defense, earlier acknowledged the death toll at least as 39 dead and 45 injured. He later told Anadolu Agency that search and rescue operation was concluded as of Monday morning and 17 civilians, mostly women and children, were pulled under the rubble. The number of the injured stands at 50.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed the casualty toll on Monday.

An AFP correspondent at the site in the opposition-held town of Sarmada near the Turkish border said the explosion caused two buildings to collapse.

On Sunday morning, rescue workers used a bulldozer to remove rubble and extract trapped people, the correspondent said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, earlier said the death toll could rise as dozens were still missing.

"The explosion occurred in a weapons depot in a residential building in Sarmada," the head of the Britain based monitor said. But the cause of the blast was "not yet clear", Abdel Rahman added.

A rescue worker carried the motionless body of a small child from the wreckage to an ambulance, the AFP correspondent said.

Behind mounds of rubble, the facade of a building was scorched black, due to a fire after the blast.

A civil defense source told AFP that women and children were among the dead.

But rescue workers had pulled out "five people who were still alive", the source said.

Most of Idlib is controlled by Turkish backed opposition fighters, while parts of it are controlled by terrorist groups led by al-Qaida linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, but the Daesh terror group also has sleeper cells in the area.

In recent months, a series of explosions and assassinations -- mainly targeting opposition officials and fighters -- have rocked the province.

While some attacks have been claimed by Daesh, most are the result of infighting since last year between various other groups.

In recent days, regime forces have ramped up their deadly bombardment of southern Idlib and sent reinforcements to nearby areas they control.

Bashar al-Assad has warned that regime forces intend to retake Idlib, after his regime regained control of swathes of opposition held territory elsewhere.

Around 2.5 million people live in the province, half of them displaced by fighting in other parts of the country.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's civil war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
An arms depot explosion in Tabiyet Jazira, Deir ez-Zor, kills at least 23 people, including over a dozen Russian contractors allegedly belonging to the Wagner Group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.