ISIS breaches Syrian air base
ISIS fighters broke into the Deir al-Zor air base at dawn Saturday, an activist group said, breaching the last remaining government stronghold in eastern Syria, Reuters reported.
The Al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS has been gradually consolidating control of the oil-producing Deir al-Zor province this year. President Bashar Assad's forces have held on to the local military air base and parts of the provincial capital.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 51 of Assad's forces and 60 members of ISIS had been killed in the three-day offensive.
"Islamic State have broken into the base and the regime is using air strikes outside it," Observatory head Rami Abdul-Rahman said by telephone.
Syrian state media did not mention a breach but said the army had killed "a number of terrorists" in Al-Jufra, an area close to the airport, Friday. It said Syrian Air Force jets operating from the base had destroyed an ISIS convoy.