85 Syria troops reportedly killed in IS advance

At least 85 Syrian army troops were killed as the Islamic State advanced on a government position in the northern province of Raqa, a monitoring group said Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fate of around 200 other soldiers remained unknown, as the IS assault forced the army to pull back late on Friday.

The Division 17 base has fallen from army control but the militants have not yet moved into all the site's buildings "for fear of air strikes", said the Britain-based group's director, Rami Abdel Rahman.

The IS lost at least 28 fighters, he said.

The Observatory said more than 50 troops were summarily executed, 19 more were killed in a double suicide attack and at least 16 others had died in the IS assault launched early Thursday.

The assault on Division 17 comes less than two weeks after the IS killed 270 security guards, employees and members of the paramilitary National Defence Forces during an assault on a gas field in Homs, central Syria.

Meanwhile, at least 50 Assad government soldiers, including three high profile officers, have been killed in clashes with Free Syrian Army forces, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission. 

The commission (SRGC) said on Friday the fierce clashes had taken place in the Kalamun region of Damascus.

UN war crimes list

On Friday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said IS fighters accused of atrocities were expected to be added to a UN list of possible war crime indictees.

Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, who heads the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said incriminating evidence against IS would be easier to collect because "there are indications of a strong chain of command."

"I can assure you that we are collecting information on perpetrators from all sides including non-state armed groups and ISIS," he told reporters.

"I am not in a position to say who is winning the World Cup of human rights violations. Both sides are doing horrific things and they will continue if there is no accountability."

The UN Security Council failed in May to agree on a formal request to the International Criminal Court to take action toward prosecutions after Russia and China vetoed the move.

Meanwhile, twenty-three soldiers who deserted the Syrian army were killed on Thursday by Shabiha – an armed militia group from Assad’s government - in Syria's Homs, according to SRGC, describing the incident as a massacre.

Humanitarian aid reaches Syria after UN resolution

Nine aid trucks crossed the Turkish border into Syria, its first humanitarian aid convoy without needing government approval since UN Security Council has adopted a resolution on July 14.

"Nine trucks crossed at Bab Al-Salam into Syria this morning," said Amanda Pitt from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

She said that the trucks were carrying food, water, medical equipment and shelter materials.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution more than a week ago to allow humanitarian supplies across the border without Syrian government permission.

Syria has been gripped by fighting since the government of Assad launched a bloody crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict that has spiralled into a civil war.

The UN has stopped updating its death toll for the country because an official count has become too difficult to verify. At least 100,000 deaths were recorded in the last official count in July 2013.