DHAKA: Syrian rebels, including from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, have seized a key eastern oil field.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.

‘Fighters from Al-Nusra and other groups have taken the Omar oil field in Deir Ezzor province after clashes overnight,’ Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told media.

He said government troops had withdrawn from the field, one of the biggest in Syria.

The army already lost the field once, in November 2012, but then recaptured it.

BDST: 1551 HRS, NOV 23, 2013