Beirut
In a blow to the Islamic militants, however, rebel fighters wrested control of a northern border town, potentially undermining IS supply lines across the border with Turkey and endangering one of its most important strongholds in Aleppo province.
The U.N. special envoy for Syria, meanwhile, said the next round of peace talks in Geneva was expected to start next week, around April 13, and would focus on a political process he hopes will lead to a “concrete or real beginning of a political transition.”
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Staffan de Mistura said he was encouraged by the fact that a partial cease-fire has largely held since going into effect Feb. 27, despite a series of worrisome incidents that continue to happen on a daily basis.
State TV said Thursday’s mass abduction of workers from the al-Badia Cement Company took place in Dumeir, about 28 miles northeast of Damascus, where militants launched a surprise attack against government forces earlier this week.
The state-run news agency SANA quoted a source in the company as saying there had been no success in efforts to establish contact with the workers.
At the factory headquarters in Damascus, a spokeswoman declined to discuss the kidnapped workers’ fate, saying authorities had told the company to refrain from commenting on the abduction.
“The situation is not easy at all,” she told The Associated Press.
There was no formal responsibility claim for the kidnapping, but the IS-linked Aamaq agency posted a video showing the deserted cement factory, located near a military air base.
The video showed what appeared to be a Syrian soldier lying on the ground, apparently dead. One militant is seen driving a truck, towing away a fork lift.
Islam Alloush a spokesman for the Army of Islam rebel group which has a strong presence in Dumeir, told the AP in an email that Islamic militants attacked five targets in the town, including other insurgents’ positions near the airport. They also seized control of the factory, kidnapping hundreds of its workers.
He said his group had managed to secure some workers who got away, but the fate of the kidnapped workers was not known. Alloush added that the town is densely populated, making their ability to maneuver difficult.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria conflict, said earlier Thursday that contact had been lost with dozens of workers in Dumeir.
Mass abductions have taken place on occasion in Syria during the country’s devastating civil war, now in its sixth year, most often targeting religious minorities or Syrian soldiers.
The abduction came as fighting raged in northern Syria, where Syrian opposition fighters made quick advances on strongholds of the Islamic State group, including al-Rai along the border with Turkey.