Islamic State Captures Key Syrian Air Base

The Islamic State (IS) militants have captured an important Syrian air base, which was the last foothold of Bashar al-Assad's government in the northeastern province of Raqqa.

The extremist group drove out Assad's men from the Tabqa air base, gaining complete control of the whole of Raqqa. For the first time in Syria's civil war, the Islamic State has full control of an entire province, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Syrian state television confirmed the news. "After heavy fighting by the forces defending the Tabqa air base, our forces implemented a regrouping operation after the evacuation of the airbase," it said, BBC reports.

The fight over the Tabqa base has emerged as one of the deadliest confrontations between the government forces and the Islamic State militants.  According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 346 Islamic State fighters have been killed and more than 170 members of the government forces have died since the conflict over the base began Tuesday, Reuters reports.

The U.K.-based observatory further stated that the Islamic State fighters paraded in the city of Tabqa with the severed heads of the government fighters killed at the air base.

A witness told Reuters that the Islamic States celebrated by firing gunshots. Many mosques, through their loudspeakers, announced that the base was now in the Islamists' control and cheered "God is greatest".

Meanwhile, losing control of the air base has infuriated Assad supporters, especially members of his minority Alawite sect, who believe that it was entirely the fault of the military and the security leaders; they should not have had abandoned the fight leaving many members of their forces at the hands of the Sunni militants.

"The Alawite fury has exploded," said an Alawite army officer based in Damascus.

The United Nations human rights chief revealed Friday that more than 191,000 people have been killed, up to April, in the three years of the Syrian conflict.