Islamic State seizes key Syrian air base
Fighters from the Islamic State group have taken over an
airbase in northeast Syria ,
capturing it from government forces after fighting that cost more than 500
lives, a monitoring group and state media have said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, SOHR, a
London-based rights group, said at least 346 Islamic State fighters and more
than 170 government forces had been killed since Tuesday in the fight over the
Tabqa base, which was captured by fighters on Sunday.
According to Al-Jazeera news, the SOHR, which monitors violence in
The base was the Syrian army's last foothold in an area
otherwise controlled by the self-declared jihadist Islamic State group, which
has seized large areas of Syria
and Iraq .
It is one of the most significant government military
facilities in the area, containing several warplane squadrons, helicopters,
tanks, artillery and ammunition.
In nearby Raqqa city, an Islamic State stronghold, there was
celebratory gunfire and the development was announced by several mosques
through their loudspeakers, a witness told the Reuters news agency.
Fighters displayed the severed heads of Syrian army soldiers
in the city square, the witness reportedly said, adding that Syrian warplanes
were heard over Raqqa following the air base attack.
Earlier on Sunday the Syrian air force had bombed areas
around the base.
The Observatory said that the base was strewn with bodies of
"dozens" of soldiers.
Army forces 'regrouping'
"After heavy fighting by the forces defending the Tabqa
airport, our forces implemented a regrouping operation after the evacuation of
the airport," Syrian state television said on Sunday.
It added that army troops were launching "precision
strikes" against "terrorist groups in the area, inflicting heavy
losses".
Syrian state media gave no figure for the number of people
killed in the clashes.
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