Syria rebels blast air base used to attack Aleppo
SYRIA: Syrian rebels on Thursday bombarded an air base being used by
regime forces to pound the northern city of Aleppo, as a rights watchdog
reported 43 people killed in a raid near the capital Damascus.
“Menagh military airport was bombarded on Thursday morning by a tank
captured previously by the rebels,” the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said of the base 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of the
country's commercial capital.
An AFP reporter who heard and saw the bombardment said rebels told
him it was “an attack to take this airport being used by helicopters and
planes that are firing on Aleppo.” The United Nations confirmed on
Wednesday that rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad's regime now
had heavy armour, and that its military observers had seen the Syrian
military use a fighter jet to attack rebels in Aleppo.
AFP correspondents on the ground have reported that rebels have
captured a number of tanks, and some armoured units have defected with
their vehicles.
Thursday's air base assault comes after US President Barack Obama was
reported to have signed a covert document authorising US support for the
rebels. The directive was contained in a “finding” -- a device
authorising clandestine action by the Central Intelligence Agency, NBC
and CNN said, citing unidentified sources.
White House officials declined to comment on the reports, but did not
specifically rule out the idea that Washington was providing more
intelligence support to anti-Assad forces than had previously been made
public.
The Syrian Observatory said on Thursday a raid by security forces
southwest of Damascus killed 43 people, some of whom were tortured and
executed.
“Regime forces entered the Jdaidet Artuz district on Wednesday and
arrested around 100 young people who were taken to a school and
tortured,” it said in a statement.
“On Thursday morning after the operation the bodies of 43 people were
recovered. Some of them had been summarily executed.” The Observatory
had on Wednesday reported 28 civilians killed in the raid. AFP |
