Syrian rebels shoot down regime helicopter

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Syrian rebels shot down a military helicopter on Tuesday, according to video footage posted on YouTube which showed a missile hitting the aircraft.

The Local Coordinating Committee opposition group said the Free Syrian Army had downed a helicopter near the Sheikh Suleiman army base, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of the contested city of Aleppo.

Combat also took place in the Baba Amr district of Homs city, an area that was overrun by government troops in February, as well as in Aleppo, Deir al-Zor, Deraa, Idlib province and Hama province, the Observatory said.

Earlier, a Syrian military air strike killed and wounded dozens of people when it hit an olive oil press near the northern city of Idlib on Tuesday, activists said.

Activist Tareq Abdelhaq said at least 20 people were killed and 50 wounded in the attack, citing residents near the Abu Hilal olive oil press, 2 km (1.2 miles) west of Idlib city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not yet determine the number of casualties, but said dozens were killed or hurt in the strike.

Separately, the rebel Free Syrian Army said it has seized control of an air defense base near the Sfeira area in Aleppo.

SANA reported that Syrian forces were able to defeat several armed terrorist groups in Reef Deir Zour and Idlib. Another group operating under the name “Jabhat al-Nassra” affiliated with Al-Qaeda were defeated in Reef Jesr el-Shughur and Haret al-Nehman area.

Earlier, rival Syrian Kurdish parties had agreed to re-unify their ranks and push for federalism in Syria after a previous pact that was not implemented, but the new deal has already been undermined by the reluctance of one faction to fall into line.

Syria's Kurds see the civil war ravaging their country as an opportunity to gain the rights they have long been denied under President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, who deprived thousands of citizenship.

But they are divided over their role in the Syrian conflict and where they stand in relation to the Arab-dominated opposition, which some regard as inherently anti-Kurdish.

On Monday Syrian warplanes bombed two rebel bases near the Turkish border sending hundreds of people fleeing across the frontier.

The attacks on the Free Syrian Army positions (FSA) in Atima and nearby Bab al-Hawa came a day before NATO and Ankara were due to start assessing where to station surface-to-air missiles on the Turkish side of the 900-km (560-mile) boundary.

Turkey, a big supporter of rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly scrambled jets along the border. It has also responded in kind when shells from the conflict have landed inside Turkey, underlining fears Syria's 20-month-old revolt could spread to destabilise the region.

REUTER/AP