The conflict between Israel and Palestine has distracted the world from another conflict in the same region: ISIS's takeover of Syria and Iraq. Fighting continues in war-torn Syria, as it has for the last three years, and the Islamist group ISIS has gained some ground in the last couple of days.

Their latest victory happened on Friday, according to BBC News, when ISIS troops attacked the Syrian base outside the city of Raqqa. Manned by Division 17 of the Syrian Army, the base was attacked at night, when ISIS troops began besieging the base. The base houses a large arsenal of weapons and munitions. 

Although the government of Bashar al-Assad has not confirmed the base's capitulation, BBC News reports that it is organizing a counterattack. Since the fighting begun three years ago, 170,000 people have died, the British news agency reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors violence in the Syrian conflict, reports that several soldiers and a colonel were executed after ISIS took over the base; many were beheaded, according to the New York Times.

The newspaper also adds there have been conflicting accounts of what transpired: some accounts claim ISIS took over the whole base, while others say they only have parts of the base under their control. 

An ISIS fighter explained the situation at the base to the Times.

"I could see only bodies; there were, like, 70 scattered everywhere," he said, asking to remain anonymous as he is not allowed to speak with the press. "Now our brothers with their trucks will bury them in a mass grave."

He added that 13 ISIS fighters died and the remaining Syrian troops fled to nearby villages.

Agence France-Presse corroborates the executions, reporting that around 85 Syrian troops were killed in the attack and an estimated 50 soldiers were "summarily executed."

"Some of the executed troops were beheaded, and their bodies and severed heads put on display in Raqa city," the head of the Observartory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told the AFP.

To further instill fear among the populace and the greater world, Islamist began posting photos of the heads on social media, particularly Twitter, according to Al-Arabiya. One of the men posing with the heads has been identified as Mohamed Elomar, an Australian citizen who went to Syria with his friend Khaled Sharrouf, who uses the moniker Abu Zarqawi Australi. Sharrouf posted the images online, reports Al-Arabiya.