Rebels have stormed parts of Taftanaz military airport in Syria’s northwest Idlib province, but state media reported on Thursday that the fighters had been repelled by troops.
A rebel speaking from near the Taftanaz base overnight said the base’s main sections were still in loyalist hands but fighters had managed to infiltrate and destroy a helicopter and a warplane on the ground.
Rami Abdulrahman, head of the opposition-aligned Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict from Britain, said as many as 800 fighters were involved in the assault, including Islamists from Jabhat al-Nusra, a powerful group that Washington considers terrorists.