Syrian rebels said yesterday they had launched a major assault on a northern airbase used to deploy regime air power, on the eve of a crucial meeting to decide the future of the opposition.
Eight battalions were taking part in the attack
The attack on the Taftanaz base, from where helicopter gunships raid opposition positions and rebel-held areas, comes after regime forces last week launched an unprecedented wave of air strikes in a bid to reverse rebel gains.
A video posted on the internet said eight battalions were taking part in the attack, including the radical Islamist Al-Nusra Front, and showed a missile launcher mounted on the back of a pick-up truck firing on regime positions.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun “to liberate the Taftanaz airbase”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog, said “heavy fighting” had broken out near the base in Idlib province, where rebels have seized new ground last week.
Analysts said the assault came as rebel forces clearly have the momentum in the battle for Syria’s northwest.
“The rebels’ gains in the north seem irreversible,” said Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh’s Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies department.
He said regime forces appeared to be concentrating their efforts in the region on defending embattled commercial hub Aleppo, which rebel advances in the past month have cut off from Damascus and the Mediterranean coast.
“The problem with this strategy is that the Aleppo garrisons are now largely isolated. It is likely they will fall in the months to come,” he said.
The fresh clashes came as Syria’s opposition prepared for key talks starting today in Qatar, where the US is expected to push for a new umbrella organisation to unite the country’s fractured regime opponents.
Reports have emerged that Washington will press for an overhaul of the opposition and its main body, the Syrian National Council (SNC), with long-time dissident Riad Seif touted as the potential head of a new government-in-exile dubbed the Syrian National Initiative.
In a statement from Amman, a group of opposition figures including Seif sought to quell concerns the overhaul is aimed at building an opposition that would be willing to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad.
“Assad and his entourage leaving power is a non-negotiable precondition for any dialogue aimed at finding a non-military solution, if that is still possible,” the group said after talks in the Jordanian capital.
The Amman meeting also came out in support of “efforts underway to put in place a unified political body for the whole of the opposition.”
The SNC lashed out at alleged US interference with the opposition on Friday, accusing Washington of undermining the country’s revolt and “sowing the seeds of division” by seeking the overhaul.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week voiced frustration with the SNC, saying it was not representative of on-the-ground opposition forces and that it “can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition.”
The Observatory, meanwhile, released new videos of pro-regime fighters apparently killing prisoners and cutting ears from bodies, after footage showing rebels executing soldiers raised international concerns.
The purported video of the rebels – also released by the Observatory – showed about 10 soldiers being beaten, then lined up on the ground and executed with automatic rifles.
The UN human rights body said the video appeared to show a war crime and warned that “accountability will follow” for those who commit atrocities, while London, Paris and Washington raised concerns.
One of the two new videos released yesterday, reportedly filmed in July in the northwestern Latakia region, shows a man in military fatigues brandishing a severed ear and a knife, laughing at the camera. “Here is the ear of a dog – we will teach them a lesson,” he says, referring to the rebels.
The other, reportedly filmed in February in the southern Daraa province, shows fighters using automatic weapons to execute a group of rebels lying on the ground.