MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) – Islamic State (IS) militants have seized an air base in the Syrian northern province Raqqa, with over 500 people being killed in the fighting, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday citing a monitoring group.
"One hundred and seventy Syrian soldiers were killed on Sunday in the offensive which led to the IS jihadists seizing Tabqa airport," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.
Also, 346 IS jihadists has also been killed in the fighting at the air base since Tuesday, according to the Observatory.
The IS insurgents have been trying to seize Tabqa since early August, but began the assault in earnest only on Tuesday.
Since March 2011, an armed conflict has been taking place in Syria that has claimed the lives of more than 190,000 people, according to the latest UN report. Government troops are confronted by militias belonging to different armed groups. The most active are Islamic State militants, who led an assault on the northern and western regions of Iraq in early June, and announced the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria on June 29.
