A soldier loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad smokes while resting on a tank in Adra al-Omalia, after taking control of the area from rebel fighters Sept. 25, 2014.

Fighters from the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, seized dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers from the army when they took two regime bases this week, AFP quoted activists as saying on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Nusra Front fighters captured the Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiyeh military posts in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday.

The fighters captured the Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiyeh military posts in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based group, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, had said in an earlier report that nearly 200 combatants on both sides were killed in a 24-hour battle for the bases.

Nusra Front fighters, backed by allied Islamist insurgents, captured at least 120 soldiers, the Observatory said at the time.

On Friday, it reported that the Islamist militants also seized 35 tanks and 20 armored personnel carriers “stuffed with ammunition.”

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