The Syrian regime says it's ready to accept
support from the United States and others working under the U.N.
umbrella to fight "terrorists."
The comments, by Syrian
Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, were made Monday as ISIS fighters seized
control of a strategically important air base in the country.
The war-racked nation has been losing control of the northeastern region to ISIS militants.
Moallem, however, warned against any unilateral action or strikes in Syrian territory without its permission.
"Any effort to fight terrorism should be done in coordination with Syrian government," Moallem said.
Air base seizure
The Islamic extremist
group, which has taken over large areas of Syria and Iraq, wrested the
Al-Tabqa air base from the Syrian military on Sunday, according to the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the
conflict.
Syrian state television
reported that the Syrian military had evacuated the air base in Raqqa
province to regroup and was still carrying out strikes against ISIS
fighters in the area.
ISIS, which refers to
itself as the Islamic State, is part of the complex web of groups
fighting in the long-running Syrian conflict -- a war that the U.N. estimates has killed more than 191,000 people.
ISIS seizes key Syrian air base
ISIS attack 'a matter of time'
Kurdish leaders: ISIS has been weakened
Map: Al-Tabqa air base, Syria
The spread of ISIS
Rebels have been
battling the al-Assad's regime since March 2011, and the civil war has
turned the country into a haven for jihadists.
ISIS has thrived amid the chaos, gaining global notoriety for its brutal tactics including the beheading of American journalist James Foley last week.
After its break with al Qaeda earlier this year, ISIS has grown in strength and reach.
Its dramatic, murderous advance in northern and western Iraq this year
provoked U.S. airstrikes aimed at helping Kurdish and Iraqi forces.
U.S. and Kurdish
officials say ISIS is now under pressure in Iraq. But the extremist
group continues to win significant victories in Syria.
Planes moved before base fell
Al-Taqba air base is the last
major military base in Raqqa province, which borders Turkey, to fall
into ISIS' hands. The group now is now understood to have effective
control over the entire province, aside from a few villages in the
south.
The warplanes from the
base had already been taken to other locations before ISIS took control,
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
It said ISIS fighters
were seen carrying the heads of Syrian regime soldiers. Both sides were
reported to have suffered heavy losses in the battle for the base.
ISIS controls major
cities in Iraq and Syria, as well as oil fields, main roads and border
crossings. It also has under its control more military hardware than some national armies after seizing both Iraqi and Syrian military bases and armories.
