BEIRUT (AP)
-- Syrian rebels captured a major air base in the north of the country
on Tuesday after months of fighting, depriving President Bashar Assad's
forces of one of their main posts near the border with Turkey, activists
said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said Mannagh helicopter base fell nearly 24 hours after
rebels, led by al-Qaida-linked militants, launched an all-out offensive
against it. The Aleppo Media Center said rebels finally captured it
before dawn.
Mannagh, in the north of Aleppo
province, is deep inside territory dominated by the Syrian opposition.
Rebels have been trying since last year to capture it, but faced strong
resistance from defenders.
Rebels seized part
of it in June, and since then its fall has been widely expected. The air
base is the largest to fall in rebel hands since opposition forces
captured the Taftanaz base in the northern province of Idlib in January.
The
Observatory said the final assault on Mannagh was led by members of the
al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It began early
Monday when a Saudi suicide attacker blew his vehicle up outside the
command center of the sprawling compound.
It
said the rebels then began advancing, capturing vehicles and buildings
inside the base. It did not say how many government troops were killed
but said at least 10 rebels, including foreign fighters, died in the
fighting.
The Observatory added that rebels took prisoner a number of government troops.
The
fall of Mannagh followed the rebel capture of four villages in the
heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect on the country's
Mediterranean coast. Rebel victories have otherwise been comparatively
rare in recent months, and Assad's forces have been on the offensive in
the center of the country.
More than 100,000
people have been killed since Syria's conflict started in March 2011 as
largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule. After opposition
supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on
dissent, it turned into an armed uprising and later escalated into a
civil war.[AP]
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