Damascus, Dec 20 (IANS): The Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and like-minded groups have captured two million litres of fuel from a Syrian military base in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitoring group reported Saturday.

The extremist groups captured a large quantity of fuel from the base of Wadi al-Daif, which was stormed by the radical groups five days ago, Xinhua reported citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian air force attempted to strike the fuel tankers in the base following the Nusra recapture, but failed to hit them due to their protected location, said the observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.

On Friday, the observatory said the Nusra and other extremist groups seized 35 tanks, 20 armoured vehicles loaded with munitions and 1,500 tank shells from the Wadi al-Daif and the adjacent Hamidiyeh military bases.

The seized weapons are enough for the Nusra and its affiliates to open a front, whose battles could last for months, said the observatory.

The Al Qaeda-linked groups have been fighting to establish a foothold in Idlib to cover its losses in the northern province of Aleppo and other areas in southern Syria, military experts said.

Separately, the observatory said the Syrian troops had carried out 2,973 air strikes on different parts of Syria over the past two months, during which 735 civilians were allegedly killed. It did not give additional details about the number of the killed rebels.