Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the outcome of the attack, which began when two Saudi suicide bombers simultaneously detonated their payload at different points of the Division 17 base perimeter on Thursday.

“Our brothers stormed the building where dozens of soldiers were inside. We lost 13 martyrs in these battles,” a self-proclaimed ISIL terrorist told The New York Times anonymously through Skype.

By Friday evening, the Takfiri terrorists began to post video and photo evidence from inside the Division 17 living quarters. They also claimed that Syrian troops had scattered to nearby villages. Those who were caught were summarily executed. ISIL posted a picture of beheaded officers on Twitter, their heads placed in the central town square.

“I could see only bodies; there were, like, 70 scattered everywhere. Now our brothers with their trucks will bury them in a mass grave,” said the anonymous ISIL terrorist.

The government, however, noted that the base had not been taken over, but that its troops withdrew tactically, awaiting reinforcements ahead of a counter-attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 85 soldiers died (50 through executions), along with nearly 30 ISIL terrorists.

"Hundreds of troops surviving withdrew on Friday to safe places – either to nearby villages whose residents oppose ISIL or to nearby Brigade 93," said the group's director, Rami Abdel Rahman.

According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

NTJ/MB