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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, August 25, 2014

UPDATE - Islamic State captures Tabqa air base in Syria




















"On to Damascus."


Islamic State fighters have captured a major military air base in northeastern Syria. The facility was the last government-held outpost in a province otherwise dominated by the Islamist group.

After several failed attempts to breach the facility in recent days, fighters from the "Islamic State" (IS) managed to storm the Tabqa air base Sunday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.


The SANA state news agency also confirmed that the government had lost the air base, saying troops "are successfully reassembling after evacuating the airport and are continuing to strike precise blows at the terrorist groups in the area," reports DW News.

The battle for the airfield has left at least 346 extremists dead and hundreds more wounded since the offensive was launched on Tuesday, according to the Observatory. It said more than 170 government troops also were killed Sunday alone. There were reports that another 150 may have been captured.

The airfield - home to several warplane squadrons, helicopters, tanks, artillery, and ammunition bunkers - is located some 45 kilometers (25 miles) from the extremists' stronghold in the city of Raqqa along the Euphrates River.

Tabqa is the latest in a string of bases to fall to the Islamic State group as it expands the boundaries of its self-styled caliphate straddling the Syria-Iraq border. Their steady push in Syria, as well as their lightning advance across Iraq since June, has brought under their control a stretch of territory from Syria's northern border with Turkey as far as the outskirts of Iraq's capital Baghdad.

The Islamic State's offences have been aided by large quantities of advanced US-made weaponry and armoured vehicles it has seized from fleeing Iraqi forces, and an influx of recruits.

BBC News
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Iraqi attack on Islamic State Jihadists





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