Syrian rebels launch major assault on northern airbase
SYRIAN rebels were today attempting to end President Bashar al-Assad's airpower dominance by launching a major attack on a strategic northern airfield.
Black smoke rise up from bombing by a Syrian forces warplane in Taftanaz village, Idlib province, northern Syria Photo: AP
By Richard Spencer in Aleppo Province and Colin Freeman 2:22PM GMT 03 Nov 201240
Up to eight battallions of guerrilla fighters were said to be involved in Saturday morning's assault on the Taftanaz airfield, a key base for government attack helicopters. The move is part of a concerted effort to rob the government forces of their last major advantage in the conflict, which has seen helicopters and warplanes inflict heavy damage on largely defenceless rebel positions.
Videos released online by anti-government activists appeared to show show rebels firing rockets and smoke rising over buildings around the airfield, which lies on the main highway between Damascus and Aleppo.
The attack involved a wide coalition of rebel groups, including experienced jihadist fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamic militant group accused of links to al-Qaeda. The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase."
Rebel fighters also attacked and briefly held an air defence position at Duwila in Idlib province, in fighting that killed an army officer and wounded eight rebels, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The assault at Taftanaz comes a day before the start of a key international conference in Qatar at which the United States and its allies aim to reorganize the opposition's political leadership and unite their ranks. Washington believes that the main representative body of the opposition in exile, the Syrian National Council, is ineffective and lacks credibility with rebel fighters on the ground.
Instead, Riad Seif, a long-time dissident and liberal politician, has been touted as the potential head of a new government-in-exile dubbed the Syrian National Initiative. In response, the SNC has accused Washington of undermining the country's revolt and "sowing the seeds of division" by seeking the overhaul.
However, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said this week that the SNC "could no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition." Mr Seif, 66, who has been suffering from cancer for years, left Syria only a few months ago after being thrown in jail earlier in the country's uprising.
He is understood to command respect among Syrian rebels for having spoken out against the regime, although many observers doubt whether he will be able to deliver on promises to create a more broad-based opposition, reaching out to President Assad's minority Alawite sect and Kurdish political leaders.
