WASHINGTON — American-led airstrikes have destroyed 14 Syrian Army tanks at a military base in central Syria that, just days earlier, had been captured by Islamic State fighters, the United States military said Friday.
The strikes against the group of Russian-made T-72 battle tanks on Thursday near Palmyra came one day after senior American officers in the region warned their Syrian and Russian counterparts that United States warplanes would destroy the tanks and other heavy weaponry at the base rather than take the risk that the Islamic State would use them against American allies in the area.
An American air attack planned for Wednesday had been called off because of bad weather. When the skies cleared on Thursday, allied planes destroyed the tanks, three artillery systems and a number of buildings and vehicles that Islamic State militants were using, the American military command in Baghdad said in a statement.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top American commander in Iraq, had warned on Wednesday that the heavy weaponry would be destroyed after the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL, seized the base last weekend from Syrian troops and their Russian advisers.
“We will not allow ISIL to maintain capabilities that threaten coalition or partner forces,” Col. John Dorrian, General Townsend’s spokesman, said in the military’s statement.
The foothold that the Islamic State regained in Palmyra posed a potential threat to American-trained Syrian rebels operating about 60 miles south of the city. The Islamic State has previously attacked the New Syrian Army opposition forces at their garrison at the al-Tanf crossing, near where Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet.
This is the second time in more than a year that Syrian and Russian troops have lost Palmyra, where Islamic State militants had terrorized residents and blown up ancient monuments until being driven out by Syrian government forces nine months ago.
Russia had established a small base in the city, but residents said the Russian troops pulled out in recent days as the militants approached for their most recent assault.
