Islamic State flaunts captured Syrian weaponry

A video posted online by the Islamic State shows militants showing off the captured fighter jets, drones and heavy artillery, captured by IS forces from the al-Tabqa air force base on August 24.

The footage obtained by CNN also shows “real’ combat footage of the militants capturing the Syrian air force base and a massacre of 200 Syrian troops that followed.

Douglas Ollivant, a military analyst from the New America Foundation told CNN he was unsure if the IS militants had sufficient training to use the captured weapons, though he did not rule out foreign military assistance as an option.

The capture of the al-Tabqa air force base completed IS’s hold on Syria’s Raqqa province, which currently serves as the group’s stronghold.

Ollivant suspected that the combat footage of the latest IS propaganda video was staged, he said, because nobody can be seen returning fire at the advancing IS forces, and the uniforms of killed Syrian troops look unfamiliar.

The footage also shows the execution of the 200 government forces captured from the al-Tabqa base.