Fighting rages around Syrian military air base, Slovenia recognizes opposition coalition

Syrian troops and rebels fought intense battles on Thursday around a strategic air base in the country's north and in a number of suburbs of the capital, activists and state media said.        

With its troops struggling to make headway, let alone gain ground, against the rebels in the field, the government has increasingly relied on its warplanes and helicopters to target opposition forces. The airbases, therefore, are becoming increasingly important.      

One such base is in the town of Taftanaz in the country's north.     

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels stormed parts of the Taftanaz air base in the northwestern province of Idlib before withdrawing.     

The state-run SANA news agency said government forces protecting the base "repelled the terrorists' attempt to attack the airport" and inflicted heavy losses. The Syrian regime routinely refers to rebel forces as "terrorists."     

The Observatory said rebels resumed their assault early Thursday in an attempt to capture the base, which has resisted several opposition efforts to take the facility in recent months. 

In footage uploaded to the internet on Wednesday, a cameraman is knocked off balance by the force and shock of an explosion nearby in Tafantaz. The caption implied that the explosion came from "a shell fired by Assad's gangs."      

The rebels have been pursuing a strategy of attacking airports and military airfields, targeting five air bases in Idlib and the nearby province of Aleppo, trying to chip away at the government's air power, which poses the biggest obstacle to advances by opposition fighters.     

Activists reports and videos have also indicated that there have been clashes, air raids and shelling in several suburbs of Damascus, including Daraya, which the regime has been trying to capture from hundreds of opposition fighters for weeks.



AP