Drafted — not technically validated
Record revision 1 · The Syrian government's last stronghold in Raqqa Governorate, lost to the Islamic State in 2014 and taken by the SDF in 2017.
A real-world airfield as described in public sources, and how sim maps represent it. Units, facilities and names change; each is dated where the sources allow, and the charts are not for navigation. Use current official publications for flight planning.
Location and identity
- Location
- Near the city of Tabqa (al-Thawrah) and the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates, Raqqa Governorate [1] [2]
- Country or territory
- Syria
- Coordinates
- 35.7547° N, 38.5668° E [2]
- Elevation
- 1,050 ft (320 m) [2]
- Identifiers
- SY-0035 · OS59
- Other names
- Al Tabqah Airbase [2]
- Opened
- no opening date is given in the sources consulted
- Closed
- OurAirports lists it as a closed airfield and OpenStreetMap tags its runway as disused; neither gives a date [2] [3]
- Theatre
- Middle East
Role and operators
- Status
- Closed · No current operator
- Roles today
- None
- Operators
- Syrian Air Force · Syria, air force · until 24 Aug 2014 [4]
Units
Permanently based units belong to the airfield; rotational and temporarily deployed units are there for a period or an operation. Dates are when the sources place each unit there; "as of" is when a source described it as current.
Earlier
Syrian Air Force MiG-21 force and helicopters, evacuated when the base fell [4]
- Service
- Syria, air force
- Basing
- Not stated in the sources
- Aircraft
- MiG-21
- When
- until 24 Aug 2014
Runways and facilities
The sources do not date these figures. Facilities not listed here are not documented in the sources cited, which does not mean the airfield lacks them.
| Runway | Length | Width | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/27 [2] [3]tagged disused in source 3 | 9,842 ft (3,000 m) | 131 ft (40 m) | concrete |
- Arresting gear
- None documented in the sources cited
- Navaids
- None documented in the sources cited
Figure 1 — Airfield map of Tabqa Air Base (to scale)
- Runway
- Taxiway
- Apron
- Airfield boundary
Runways, taxiways, aprons and buildings inside the airfield boundary, true north up, drawn from OpenStreetMap data retrieved 2026-10-28. Widths come from the map data or, where it gives none, a typical 45 m runway and 18 m taxiway. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL 1.0. Community-mapped, not an official aerodrome chart, and not for navigation.
Sim maps
Represented in: DCS: Syria
DCS: Syria DCS World · Present day
Represented as “Tabqa” · checked 2026-10-28 [5]
Only the maps marked represented or confirmed absent have been checked. Any other map may or may not represent this airfield.
Other maps in Middle East, not yet checked for this airfield, which may lie outside them: DCS: Persian Gulf, DCS: Sinai, DCS: Iraq, DCS: Iraq North, Falcon BMS: Israel.
Role today
Tabqa was the Syrian government’s last stronghold in Raqqa Governorate when the Islamic State took it in August 2014. [4] The Syrian Democratic Forces captured it from the Islamic State in March 2017. [1] OurAirports lists it as closed and OpenStreetMap tags its runway as disused. [2] [3] Who holds it now is not described in the sources consulted.
History
The Islamic State began attacking the base around 10 August 2014. [4] The army reinforced it, and its garrison beat off assaults on 19–22 August that began with suicide bombings at the gate, in part with an ambush and minefield laid by special forces. [4] On 24 August, with most of the army already withdrawing towards Ithriya and a small garrison left behind, the Islamic State broke in and took the base. [4] Fifteen MiG-21s and all the helicopters had been flown out; one MiG-21 was destroyed. [4] About 200 soldiers were killed in the battle, and the Islamic State executed at least 160 of the soldiers it captured on 27–28 August. [4]
On 22 March 2017 US aircraft airlifted Syrian Democratic Forces fighters and US troops across the Euphrates and Lake Assad to open the battle for Tabqa, its dam and its air base, with US Marine artillery in support. [1] The SDF announced that it had stormed the air base and, after a 24-hour fight, captured it completely; Islamic State fighters withdrew to Tabqa city, and the SDF repelled a counter-attack near the base on 2 April. [1]
The airfield
One concrete runway, 09/27, listed at 9,842 ft by 131 ft. [2] OpenStreetMap tags it as disused. [3]
Sources
- Battle of Tabqa. Wikipedia (secondary source). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tabqa (accessed 2026-10-28). The Syrian Democratic Forces' capture of the air base, the dam and the city in 2017.
- Airport and runway data, SY-0035. OurAirports open data (public domain, community-maintained). https://davidmegginson.github.io/ourairports-data/airports.csv (accessed 2026-10-28). Rows for SY-0035 Al Tabqah Airbase in airports.csv and runways.csv, typed as closed: position, nearest town, elevation and runway 09/27.
- OpenStreetMap aerodrome way/131120814 (Tabqa Military Airbase) and its features. OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0). https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/131120814 (accessed 2026-10-28). Community-mapped. Tags the runway and some taxiways as disused.
- Battle of Tabqa Airbase. Wikipedia (secondary source). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tabqa_Airbase (accessed 2026-10-28). The Islamic State's siege and capture of the base in August 2014.
- dcs-world-schema reference data: Syria airbases (Tabqa.json). dcs-world-schema, open-source data extracted by running DCS World 2.9.30.28536. https://github.com/YoloWingPixie/dcs-world-schema/blob/c3091e6c08fb8167e26145d0e33c10e4140c6fe7/dcs-world-reference/latest/airbases/Syria/Tabqa.json (accessed 2026-10-28). With its beacon and navaid files, as tabled on the DCS: Syria map page.
Wikipedia articles are secondary sources and can change; they are cited with the date they were read. FAA airport data and diagrams are official but are reissued every 28 or 56 days; each is cited with the edition read. pydcs mirrors the DCS terrain data at the commit linked.