ISIS killed 27 Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen in a series of attacks near Palmyra in the past 24 hours, activists said Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS began launching attacks on Syrian government forces and their allies Thursday night and that clashes were ongoing.
ISIS targeted several villages with a majority population from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Alawite clan, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, said Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman.
The militants were trying to "totally surround" the Tayfur military airport and "cut its supply route," said Abdel-Rahman.
The opposition-aligned, Britain-based Observatory said the base is located between the cities of Palmyra and Homs in central Syria.
The extremists retook Palmyra in central Syria on Dec. 11, just eight months after the army backed by Russia drove them out.
Since then clashes have rattled the region and Monday attacks by ISIS on the Tayfur base killed at least 20 government force members, according to the Observatory.
Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and its recapture by ISIS gave the militants a propaganda boost as they face assaults on two of their key strongholds – Raqqa in Syria and Iraq's second city Mosul.
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