TABQA: A fighter from the SDF carries weapons as he looks toward the northern town of Tabqa, Syria. A top Syrian Kurdish official said that the US decision to arm Kurdish fighters with heavier weapons will help legitimize the force, which is denounced as a terrorist organization by Turkey. — AP

BEIRUT: Syria's army captured an airbase in eastern Aleppo from the Islamic State group yesterday, after more than two months of fierce clashes, a military source and monitor said.  The Jarrah airbase had been under IS control since January 2014, when the jihadists seized it from rebels who had captured it a year earlier.  "Regime forces took control of the Jarrah military airport after heavy fighting," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

"The majority of the jihadists have withdrawn, and regime forces are carrying out clearing operations in the airport and engaged in limited clashes with remaining IS elements," he added. Syria's army launched an offensive against IS in eastern Aleppo province in mid-January, backed by ally Russia. So far it has taken control of more than 170 villages and towns in the area, according to the Britain-based monitor. A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the capture of the military base. "The Syrian army has completed its capture of Jarrah airport and a number of the surrounding villages," he said.

"It will continue its advances into the areas held by the terrorist organization and... expand the areas it controls in eastern Aleppo province," he added. The next key target for government forces in the area will likely be the town of Maskana, on the edge of Lake Assad. Syria's army is just one of the forces battling IS in the country.  An alliance of Syrian Kurds and Arabs is also fighting the group further east, in Raqa province, with support from the US-led coalition. More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Kurdish-led forces advance

In another development, Syrian Kurdish-led forces were closing in on the de-facto capital of the Islamic State group in Syria, seizing a cotton factory only a couple of miles north of the city, activists and Kurdish media reported. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, clashed with the militants in a multi-pronged offensive northeast and northwest of the city. The offensive brings the SDF 4 kilometers from the northeast of the city, the Observatory said. Fighting was also reported about 6 kilometers north of Raqqa and 13 kilometers (8 miles) to the northwest, the Observatory said.

The Raqqa Campaign, a Facebook page affiliated with the Kurdish-led forces, said the fighters seized the cotton factory, 2.5 miles north of the city yesterday. Kurdish media also report the factory was captured. The Kurdish-led forces said Friday they expect to advance on Raqqa this summer, following their capture of a strategic town and dam, about 40 kilometers west of the city. The activist-run Raqqa Being Slaughtered Silently group said the public markets in Raqqa have been closed, suspecting it is because of how close the clashes have come to the city.

The campaign to recapture Raqqa appeared to be accelerating following a decision by the Trump administration to arm the Kurdish-led forces with heavy weapons, giving a push to their ground partner to move toward the city, held by the militants since 2013.  Turkey strongly objects to Kurdish-led forces leading the campaign. Turkey considers the main component in the Kurdish-led SDF to be an extension of the domestic insurgents it labels as terrorists, and fears their growing influence in northern Syria.- Agencies