The Syrian government has scored a majority victory—breaking a siege by the Islamic State (ISIS) on a key military air base in Aleppo, according to MailOnline.
The Kweiras air base, a major military base for Syrian troops in the northern province of Aleppo, had been under ISIS siege for more than a year. Tuesday's push is President Bashar al-Assad's first major achievement against the ISIS, which controls nearly half of Syria and large swathes of Iraq.
"We are inside the air base," a Syrian soldier who took part in the operation told state TV on Tuesday evening. "We have met our friends and the situation is good."
Another officer speaking from the base told the TV station that "with the liberation of Kweiras, we will liberate other areas,'' said the report.
Since Russia began its airstrikes in late September, government forces have been engaging ISIS fighters defending the Kweiras air base in the northern province of Aleppo, the state TV report said.
Government troops had attempted to reach the base in the past but with no luck until Russia launched airstrikes which reportedly helped in forcing ISIS fighters to come out of their hiding places in the area.
ISIS fighters had been besieging the nearly 1,000 soldiers inside the base since 2013, but the forces there have managed to hold on despite repeated attacks including multiple suicide bombings, according to the report.
Last year, ISIS killed more than 160 Syrian government troops captured in a military base in the northern province of Raqqa. A video released at the time showed dozens of terrified young conscripts who were made to run while stripped down to their underwear before being killed, according to MailOnline.
On Tuesday, pro-government troops launched an offensive under cover of Russian strikes and broke into the air base after a fierce battle with the ISIS militants.
Earlier that day, state media reported that militants shelled the coastal Syrian city of Latakia, killing at least 16 Syrian soldiers and wounding 53 others, in one of the deadliest attacks on the government stronghold in recent months.
"The shells were fired by militants affiliated with al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, and the ultra-conservative Ahrar al-Sham group,'' state news agency Sana disclosed, adding two shells hit an area near Tishrin University on Tuesday afternoon, putting a car on fire and hitting a minibus with shrapnel.
Latakia has been spared the worst of Syria's civil war but has been shelled on several occasions, said the report. The latest shelling came during an offensive by government forces in the mountains near the city under the cover of Russian airstrikes.
Russian warplanes have been taking off from a military air base south of Latakia since Sept. 30, carrying out strikes around Syria.
Also on Tuesday, residents in Syria's capital Damascus said rebels shelled several neighbourhoods in the city. Sana said the shelling killed one person and wounded five.
