Rebels renew attack on Syrian air base
Intense fighting has erupted around a strategic air base in northern Syria, activists and state media reported today.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels stormed parts of the Taftanaz air base in the north-western 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 Observatory said attacks by the rebels resumed early today in an attempt to capture the base. Several efforts in recent months to take the Taftanaz facility have failed.
Syrian rebels have been attacking 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.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is being called on to explain how they arrived at a new figure of 60,000 deaths in Syria's civil war.
The report published by the agency yesterday presented the number, to widespread shock.
Previous figures from humanitarian agencies had put the death toll at 45,000.
The UN has said a further half a million people have fled the country.
