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Robert King / AP
In this image made from video and accessed Saturday, a Free Syrian Army fighter fires his weapon at a Syrian Army position through a hole in an empty and destroyed home during fighting in Aleppo, Syria.
The attacks in eastern oil-producing Deir al-Zor province follow rebel strikes against military airports in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, close to the border with Turkey.
Assad, battling a 17-month-old uprising in which 20,000 people have been killed, has lost control of rural areas in northern, eastern and southern regions and has resorted to helicopter gunships and fighter jets to subdue his foes.
The latest violence shows that government troops are still struggling to clear the city of lightly-armed rebel forces nearly five weeks after they stormed their way into it.
President of the Security Council Laurent Fabius and William Hague, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, hold a joint press conference on the situation in Syria.
Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said the government was making heavy use of warplanes in attacking rebel areas.
The aerial bombardment has driven fresh waves of refugees into neighboring countries, reviving Turkish calls for "safe zones" to be set up on Syrian territory -- appeals ignored by a divided U.N. Security Council and by Western powers reluctant to commit the military forces needed to secure such zones.
Rebels in Deir al-Zor overran an air defense building, taking at least 16 captives and seizing an unknown number of anti-aircraft rockets, said Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Activist video posted on the Internet showed the officers and soldiers captured by rebel fighters as well as an arsenal of rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition seized in the raid.
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The attacks come three days after rebels said they had damaged several helicopters at the Taftanaz air base in Idlib province. The insurgents also said they have shot down a fighter jet and a helicopter last week.
Assad's forces have carried out numerous air strikes on civilians in rebel-held areas. Helicopters have strafed towns with heavy machineguns, and jets have unleashed rockets and bombs against opposition strongholds.
Bombardments of northern towns such as Azaz and Anadan, of which Assad lost control weeks ago, have led to thousands of residents fleeing to safety in Turkey.
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Ankara made its call for safe havens inside Syria after the U.N. refugee agency said the flow of Syrians into Turkey and Jordan - which already host more than 150,000 registered refugees - was rising sharply.
But a ministerial meeting of the Security Council produced nothing beyond a French plan to channel more aid to rebel areas, an initiative which will do nothing to stem the flow of civilians fleeing the fighting.
Rebels in Syria claim new video shows their forces shooting down an Army helicopter as it was bombarding a Damascus neighborhood. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
An estimated 1.2 million people are uprooted within Syria, including 150,000 in and around Damascus, the U.N. said.
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The middle east's next sharia @!$%#hole.
Local Coordination Committees of: Al Qaeda, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Hamas, Fatah Al Islam, Ayman Al Zawahiri (Al Qaeda; Egyptian Islamic Jihad), Al Qaeda in Iraq, and Muslim Brotherhood.
Sheesh, I wonder how they keep from killing each other instead of going after Assad. Must be a madness to their separate agendas.
rebels= terrors,thank you Jesus for supporting Assad against these Muslim brotherhood evil who are the one killing the freedom of women human been and men in general with the name of their Allah (kill the infidels), rebels hate Christians and Jews, Assad will kick out these terrors invaders, so terrors go back Will you belong to Saudi terrors and the gulf country terrors, obama administration messed up the whole middle east to help Muslim brother hood the evil and terror group to defend its interest, but never put your hand with a devil call Muslim brotherhood, you can not trust Muslim brotherhood, they say something and do the opposite. hope a new administration is coming soon in November to correct what was messed up from this administration.
people waiting for democratic regime nex to ASSAD will be let down seriously , you cant export democracy in a country especially through terrorists ,democracy is a psycho-social stage that takes time to rip ,from dictature to it will take more time ang different stages as IRAQ for example,but this is not about it this is geopolitical strategy disguised with beatyfull speeches!
...which will quickly be used by the rebels to stage attacks and bring the war right to the refugees doorsteps. Just as they have been doing since day one, so they can blame collateral damage on the Government.
Once again the Bloody British Special Air Services leading Al-Qaeda are "Threatening" US to bring US into their Al-Qaeda Supporting War against Syria by attacking "Red Line Objectives" that both POMPUS Obama and the UN Globalist Supporting Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys~GKW President Sarkozy who have already said that such actions would "Trigger" another so called UN Globalist Intervention NOT WAR just like Libya!
Forget about the Election....DEMAND IMPEACHMENT FOR THAT POMPOUS A$$ OBAMA IF HE GETS US INTO ONE MORE NOT WAR FOR CORPORATE FUN & PROFITS!
We have NO Business Supporting Al-Qaeda and the Bloody British have NO Business Leading Al-Qaeda!
We also Have NO BUSINESS Re-Electing ANY UN GLOBALIST INCUMBENT FAILURES such Slip it in Our Back Door Barry Bush-Wacker!
The only place in the Middle East where Muslims do not kill one another is Israel. No wonder they dream of destroying it. I am also I am surprised that the progressive human shields and Gaza activists are not streaming into Syria to defend hopeless civilians against the slaughter. Well, on the other hand when you cannot blame Jews the mission makes no sense for the Left and Arab brothers.
I am so sick of seeing Syria in the news... How many more civilians must die before someone helps these people?!?!?! The world would be a better place without the middle east.
jsfoo,
"The world would be a better place without the middle east."
Actually, the world would have a giant, gaping hole in it without the Middle East, although I agree with you about the idea of someone helping those people. I don't know who that might be, though. No one wants to get involved, and Bashir is like his father, Hafez, in that he will do anything necessary to keep that nation under the control of the Assad family and the Alawite cult, no matter how many people he has to kill to do it. His father once killed as many as 40,000 people during the Hama Massacre of 1982. It's just an ugly situation, and I don't know if anyone can or will do anything about it. You can rest assured, though, that al-Qaeda is doing all it can to take advantage of the unrest, though most of the rebels themselves are not al-Qaeda. They just want to be free of Assad.
The British based human observatory , the Syrian activists said , how come we never hear from the other side , how about these Christians the ones that getting murdered every day , and their Churches getting destroyed , or how about about the Syrian people that losing everything , we are seeing this rebel in a House , I bet he killed the people there and took the house over like they doing , where in the hell our fair and balanced reporting , it is now who pays higher , and who's the reporter like in this conflict , Richard Alqida Engel and Aiman the Mujaheddin tell one side and one side only , Its a FING shame , these guys should be put on trail for lying to us and letting all these murderers get by with what they doing , without reporting it , they are involved just as much as these Alqaida thugs in Syria , People either you all bunch of dummies , or you just do not care that our government and Media are supporting these Alqaida thugs , the ones that attacked here on 9/11 , Hillary , McCain , Lieberman , Graham and now Obama are arming and training these thugs in Turkey , Lebanon and Jordan , I am beginning to believe Ron Paul story about that certain branches of our Government helped these thugs in coming here and killing our heroes , why else Hillary's and these Senators going crazy trying to get rid of Assad and the Christians in Syria , That is a Saudi and Qatari plan , today , an Alqaida leader in Yemen admitted that they were a deal with the Saudis and Yemenis and I guess us , because we were bombing these thugs in Yemen every day , the was they will stop fighting in Yemen , and they will go to Turkey and then into Syria to fight Assad , No body attacked them as they were leaving , that just bolster the theory that we and the Saudis and Qataris are backing these thugs and these no good Gulf states paying for it , these kings and princes have spent enough money to feed all the hungry in the whole FING world trying to topple Assad , and you tell me these people are not terrorists , NATO support these kings , just like they did in Libya , NATO got the OIL and the Saudis and Qataris got to install a WAHHABI Muslim Government there , they are trying to do that in Syria and boy the whole allies in on it , But our civilians politicians are so Fing blind , so do not see that Russia and China not liking this and they are willing to go to war this time , because they had enough BS from NATO going into the countries that they deal with and taking them over and taking all the OIL contracts and the wealth of these countries to them self's , I guess NATO figure , hell the Russians and the Chinese did not do anything in Iraq and Libya , so they won't this time , our politicians are playing chicken with these countries and this time , they are not going to blink , I hope our Generals take over the situation from these Lawyers and Business people that they have no body's interests but the companies that they are loyal for and not the American people , I know some of you Rambo's out there screaming now , we will NUKE these SOB'S , But this time these SOB'S going to play that game , do we want WW3 so we can please these kings and Emirates , the ones that were funding the people that attacked us here on 9/11 , do we want to involve out troops in a war that nobody can win , people we really need to wake up here , Hillary and these senators on a mission that they have no clue where its taking them this time .
They do not deserve any help let them fight it out till the bittre end nobody there worth saving just sit back till its all over . that way the terrests and other warlord nut cases mite think twice before getting involed in other countries affairs ==coyote
What happen to the days they issued a bag of rice to poor people? Now a days they get a rifle and ammo. Can't blame them on shooting them guns. I remember as a kid, getting my first BB rifle and BB's. I couldn't wait to shoot whatever outside.
As the world turns with arms sales for the blood of wars.
The very least that we can do is to arm the rebels with some Stinger missiles. When I was working at the General Dynamics Missile Divisions in the late 1980s, we sent scores of Stingers to Afghanistan, which ended the Soviet occupation of that country in short order. Only ten million dollars of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles would even the score and allow the rebels to prevail over this Alawite scum.
Angus Fox. You have a solution to the Syria crisis, and you obviously know what you are talking
about as you were there in the late 1980s. (Missile Divisions)
The rebels always hide in areas with civilians and attack airports to kill more innocent people ! These are just paid whores from thee UK, France, Turkey, Saudi ARABIA, Qatar, Al Qaida etc. These are ALL outsiders wanting sharia law and torture for the Christians, Armenians, Druze, and Alawi. Hang the cowards of the fsa !!
I'm glad somebody else noticed that.
Assad must leave.. pure and simple.
Join me in protest:
DOT causes DOT com/actions/1677926
If the attacks on Aleppo Nerab airfield are successful, it will be a significant mile post to rebel vistory.
As a US citizen I hate to see our president has not step up to the plate and stopped the killing of woman and children in Syria. Seems that Obama is scared of Russia and China as if we should allow their political agenda affect us. What happen to us as a nation that protects the innocent and the weak?
Eric Sorry to tell you , but its our agenda that killing the innocent people in Syria , our weapons and our Alqaida that we and NATO training in Turkey and Lebanon and Jordan , we keep blaming the Russians and Chinese ?? but I do not see them in countries thousands miles away fro their lands killing and destroying them , ask Hilary , McCain , Lieberman , Graham and now Mr. Obama who's doing the killings of all these Christians in Iraq and Syria , you are one of these brained washed people that believe every thing our Media and politicians are telling you , tell when was the last time these two told on Fing Truth ??? tell me ??? you dumb Ignorants believe certain things and run with it , IF you believe Assad doing all that killings, Then you should believe your poilticans that Saddam had WMD'S and the economy getting better , and we do not have unemployment problems in America , these politicians are arming the same people that attacked here on 9/11 and helping the same countries that supports them and finance them ( the Saudis and Qataris ) , and then when these SOB'S come here and attack us , you want us to attack the wrong countries as we did , and kill thousands of innocents civilians and destroy countries , and then you all want to blame the Russians and the Chinese , You what's wrong with us these days ??? we do not take responsibilities for our actions , and we blame every body else for our problems . HYPOCRITES .
China never says much, takes out it's own trash and Russia is fighting a proxy war through Syria. Not everything has changed since the cold war ended. My turn, you are another conspiracy theorist. Of course Assad is doing the killings, he's the president of Syria and he's fighting a civil war. Over 20,000 dead, mainly women and children...the innocents.
Our Al-Queda (whatever the spelling is)....are you f'ng nuts? The whole reason NATO is not there is because moderate governments do not want to be associated with Al-Queda or any other terrorist organization backed by Iran. Iran does claim that it supports Assad's regime, but those countries over there think differently than us, so who's to say what's black and white. As far as Iraq having no WMD, it doesn't mean that they didn't try to get them. Ask Israel...they destroyed a nuclear facility under construction in Iraq in 81' and the one in Syria under construction in 07'.
It is amazing though that the world didn't cry bloody blue murder over Syria having nuclear capabilities. Being one of the countries that attacked Israel in 67' and 73', well Israel was having none of it...thank god for them because if it was left for the U.S. to take care of, we'd have 2 more nuclear capable countries in the mideast. I know i went off topic here, but Obama, the UK, France and other countries are not to blame, so stop being political. The Arab spring uprising started in another country and it spread throughout the mideast. People there just want more freedom....Assad doesn't want to step down so he'll order killing to be done, anything to stay in power. My only concern is that maybe who would replace him would be worse...better the devil you know? Only time will tell, but until that time comes, how many thousands of innocents will have to die for one man's greed!
syria is a muslim country. they would not kill women and children. it would be against there religeon. let them fight . let the winner alighn them with russia. two worthless countries deserve each other.
John McCain from Congress representing Arizona states - How many more must die before we act?
Humbly, John why don't you clean up the Southern Border of Arizona rather than sell beer to the Mexicans, then you can go to Syria and do your Parachuting War Effort, so famous for.