Residents of Tabqa celebrate after the fall of Tabqa air base. Photo: Reuters
Beirut: Syria has warned the Obama administration not to extend its air war against the Islamic State into Syria, as the militants celebrated another key victory over government forces in the north of the country.
The warning came a day after the group overran a major air base in north-central Syria, putting the Islamic State in full control of Raqqa province, where American photojournalist James Foley was held for much of his captivity and where his beheading last week is thought to have occurred.
Raqqa also was the site of a failed rescue attempt this summer in which Delta Force commandos sought to snatch Foley and a group of other Americans held by the Islamic State from a prison east of Raqqa, said US officials and witnesses in the area.
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Damascus. Photo: Reuters
The capture of Tabqa airfield on Sunday was the latest in a string of recent military successes for the extremist fighters, who have been consolidating their hold across northern Syria even as US airstrikes launched earlier this month temper the group's expansion in northern Iraq.
US officials have not ruled out pressing the airstrikes into Syria, saying last week that the United States would not be restricted by "geographic boundaries" when confronting the militants.
On Monday, the White House said US President Barack Obama has not decided whether to pursue military action in Syria, but it would not say whether he has been presented with any specific options.
Islamic State militants have seized Tabqa air base.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said "entire wings" of the Pentagon are "dedicated to making sure the president has a range of plans and options that they can present to him when - if and when necessary".
Mr Earnest said that the current situation is different from last year's proposed attacks against the Syrian government that Mr Obama cancelled after Congress rejected them. The administration has said that Mr Obama has the constitutional authority to act to protect US citizens such as those held hostage by the Islamic State in Syria.
On Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem signalled that Damascus would not tolerate unilateral US strikes against the extremists even in areas of the country the government no longer controls.
Fighting terrorism, Mr Moualem said, should be done in co-operation with the Syrian government, "not through transgression against countries' sovereignty".
"Any breach of Syrian sovereignty by any side constitutes an act of aggression," he added, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency.
The Syrian government has long sought to use the extremists' expanding influence as a means to restore US recognition for the discredited regime, promising to act as partners in the fight against terrorism in return for an end to American support for the more-moderate rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr Moualem appeared to open the door to a joint effort to fight the extremists, but he said the Syrian government would have to be consulted first. "They are welcome," he said when asked whether the United States could be viewed as a Syrian partner against terrorists.
"Syria is ready to co-operate and co-ordinate on the regional and international level in the war on terror," Mr Moualem said. "But any effort to combat terrorism should be co-ordinated with the Syrian government."
The loss of Tabqa represents a significant setback for Damascus, putting an entire province beyond the government's reach for the first time since the revolt against Dr Assad turned violent three years ago.
It also exposed the government's inability to confront the extremists, undermining a pledge by Dr Assad in an inaugural speech marking his new seven-year term in office that the government would soon recapture Raqqa.
Washington Post