| CNN | - |
(CNN) -- 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.
Syria ready to cooperate with U.N. to fight terror
updated 12:52 PM EDT, Mon August 25, 2014
U.S. prepared to strike ISIS in Syria
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: ISIS claims responsibility for three suicide car bombs that killed 20 in Kirkuk, Iraq
- Syria's foreign minister says his country is ready to accept support from the U.S. and others
- But he warns against any unilateral action in Syrian territory without permission
- Syrian state media reports that regime forces evacuated the base to regroup
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 permission.
"Any effort to fight terrorism should be done in coordination with Syrian government," Moallem said.
Air base seizure
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 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.
In Iraq, ISIS claimed
responsibility for three suicide car bombs that killed at least 20
people in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday.
ISIS said in a statement
posted Monday that the bombs were a response to secular Kurdish gangs
that joined the war on ISIS and their involvement in the bombing and
targeting of Sunni areas.
The statement said that
two of those who carried out the suicide attacks were German nationals,
identified as Abu Yasser al-Almany and Abu Ibrahim al-Almany.
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.
The spread of ISIS
Rebels have been
battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 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 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-Tabqa 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.
Senior U.S. defense officials said last week that they hadn't ruled out extending airstrikes against ISIS into Syria.
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