ISIS Attacks Syrian Military Airport, Kills 14 Soldiers

ISIS Seizes Several Positions Outside Key Airport

ISIS forces have attacked the outskirts of the Syrian military airport of al-Dumeir, killing at least 14 soldiers and capturing multiple strategic positions outside of the airport itself, threatening control over an area just 40 kilometers outside of the capital city of Damascus.

ISIS has been trying to capture new territory in recent weeks with multiple offensives, trying to bolster its hold in the area around Palmyra, and contesting two major military airbases, al-Dumeir as well as the airport in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.

For quite some time ISIS appeared to be regularly losing territory on multiple fronts, but appears to have turned the table, at least in Syria, where it retains substantial territory. In Iraq, ISIS has little territory left, but efforts by the Iraqi military to take it have been arduously slow.

The al-Dumeir military base is heavily guarded, and today’s push is unlikely to seriously threaten to take the base itself. If ISIS can get a steady foothold close to the base, howev3r, they can threaten planes taking off to the point that the base will no longer be usable.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.