US-backed forces capture Syrian air base from ISIS

BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces captured a strategically important air base from Islamic State militants in north Syria on Sunday in the first major victory for the group since the U.S. airlifted the forces behind enemy lines four days ago.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced they captured the Tabqa air base, 28 miles west of Raqqa, the de facto capital in Syria of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

The U.S., which has provided substantial air and ground support to the SDF, ferried hundreds of SDF forces, as well as U.S. military advisers and U.S. artillery, behind the Islamic State group’s lines last week.

The airlift was a major development to the SDF’s multifront campaign to bear down on Raqqa, as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces simultaneously press their assault to seize Mosul from the militants, in neighboring Iraq. SDF forces are within 6 miles of Raqqa fromthe north.

Tabqa air base was captured from the Syrian government by Islamic State militants in August 2014.

Shortly afterward, the group announced it had killed about 200 government soldiers at the base, in a mass slaying recorded and distributed on video over social media.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reported the SDF advance.

Meanwhile there were conflicting reports over whether civilians had begun leaving Raqqa due to concerns over the stability of the nearby Tabqa Dam.

U.S.-led coalition forces said the dam was structurally sound.