FEATURED IMAGE: Taqba Airport in northern Syria, after it was captured by Islamic State last week

LATEST: Islamic State Releases Video of Beheading of American Journalist Steven Sotloff

Reports indicate that the Islamic State may be on the verge of another significant victory against the Assad regime, building toward the capture of Deir Ez Zor Airport in eastern Syria.

Since it set aside an effective non-aggression arrangement with the regime in June, the Islamic State has taken a series of bases — notably in Raqqa Province in northern Syria — and resources, as well as advancing against insurgents in the north and east. Last week, the jihadists overran Tabqa Airbase, the last regime position in Raqqa Province.

After the fall of Tabqa, observers looked towards Deir Ez Zor, where the Syrian military has held the airport despite the loss of much of the surrounding territory since 2012.

On Monday, the prospect of an Islamic State victory was heightened by reports that the commander of the airbase, Brigadier General Issam Zahreddine, had left the position for his hometown of Sweida in southwest Syria:

Social media accounts supporting the Islamic State claimed the jihadists are pounding the airport with artillery, destroying or damaging “many aircraft on the runway”.

A video touring Tabqa Airbase after the Islamic State’s victory last week:

Islamic State Releases Video of Beheading of American Journalist Steven Sotloff

The Islamic State has released a two-minute video purporting to show the beheading of abducted US journalist Steven Sotloff.

Like the video of the beheading of American photojournalist James Foley last month, the Islamic State’s footage shows a British-accented executioner with a knife beside Sotloff, dressed in an orange jumpsuit like the detainees at the US facility at Guantanamo Bay.

The executioner says that just as the US is killing with its aerial attacks on the jihadists in Iraq, so the Islamic State will take the lives of Americans.

The video then shows a man — unidentified so far — who is portrayed as the next hostage to be killed.

Sotloff, who worked for Time magazine, disappeared in Syria in August 2013.

Fijian Commander: Jabhat al-Nusra “Wants Off UN Terrorist List” In Return for Release of Peacekeepers

A Fijian commander has said that the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra has made a series of demands in return for the release of 44 Fijian UN peacekeepers seized last Thursday.

Jabhat al-Nusra says it must be removed from the UN list of terrorist groups; humanitarian aid must be delivered to the insurgent-held East Ghouta area near Damascus, besieged by regime forces for months; and compensation for fighters killed by UN forces.

The commander said Jabhat al-Nusra had given assurances that the soldiers are safe and in good health. He said a UN professional negotiating team is now in place.

The soldiers were seized amid fighting between insurgents and regime forces in Quneitra Province in southwest Syria.

UN: Record 4.1 Million Inside Syria Receive Food Aid in August

The UN’s World Food Program said on Tuesday that a record 4.1 million people in Syria received food rations in August, due to more convoys being able to cross front lines and borders from Turkey and Jordan.

Over the last six weeks, the WFP and partner agencies crossed front lines to reach more than 580,000 people, over four times the 137,000 reached in the preceding six weeks.

After months of deadlock, the UN Security Council authorized the movement of aid through four border crossings in July.

“Since July 25, a total of five cross-border convoys, via the Bab Al Salam crossing from Turkey and Al Ramtha from Jordan, carried food rations including rice, lentils, oil, pasta, bulgur, canned food, wheat flour, beans, salt and sugar for 69,500 people in the hard-to-reach areas of Aleppo, Idlib, Quneitra and Daraa Governorates,” the WFP statement said.

The WFP’s monthly target for feeding Syrians in August was 4.25 million, about a fifth of the pre-war population.

Insurgent Offensive Continues Against Regime Bases in Idlib Province

Insurgents continue to press attacks near and on the regime’s Wadi ad-Deif and al-Hamadiyah bases in Idlib Province, despite the Syrian military’s aerial counter-attack on towns and villages held by the opposition.

Insurgents — including Jabhat al-Nusra, the Free Syrian, and the Islamic Front — have advanced on an axis from Khan Sheikhoun to Arifa in the province and have taken a series of positions near the bases in the past two weeks.

Video of Jabhat al-Nusra fighters near Wadi ad-Deif:

Trying to ease the pressure, Syrian aircraft have carried out dozens of attacks, mainly causing civilian casualties, in the past three days.