Syrian government troops trying to relieve a besieged military base in the country's north-west ambushed a rebel checkpoint today, killing at least 12 opposition fighters, activists said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government forces surprised the rebel fighters on the outskirts of the village of Baboulein in Idlib province. The Observatory, which relies on a network of local activists on the ground, said many opposition fighters were also wounded in the attack.
Rebels have wrested much of the countryside of Idlib and other provinces in northern Syria from regime forces, although government troops still control many military bases in the region from which they launch attacks on opposition-held areas.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the assault was part of government efforts to resupply the besieged military base at Wadi Deif outside of the town of Maaret al-Numan, which is just north of Baboulein on the Damascus-Aleppo highway.
Rebels have been trying for months to capture the large base at Wadi Deif, from which regime troops regularly pound the now largely abandoned town of Maaret al-Numan with artillery fire. The regime must push convoys through rebel-held territory to prevent the base from running short of troops and supplies.
On Thursday, activists said rebels shot down a helicopter carrying food and supplies to the base, killing the pilot and three other soldiers.
In the northern city of Aleppo, a government air raid on the disputed Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood killed at least three people and wound 16 others, the Observatory said. It added that doctors treating the wounded said many showed signs of inhaling toxic gas, such as severe vomiting, runny nose and irritation of the eyes.
Both sides in the Syrian civil war have accused the other of using chemical weapons.
Syria has asked the UN to investigate an alleged chemical weapons attack by rebels in March on the village of Khan al-Assal outside of Aleppo. The rebels blame regime forces.
Britain and France want the UN to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in Khan al-Assal and another village, Ataybah, on March 19, as well as the central city of Homs on December 23.
Syria has rejected UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's push to expand the UN probe to include those other villages.
International efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict have faltered.
UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is scheduled to address the Security Council on Thursday. Brahimi has not been able to make progress in his mission to push forward a peace plan for Syria first presented in June at an international conference in Geneva.
Syrian state-run daily Al-Thawra accused Brahimi of being a "false witness,"and said he has taken sides in the conflict and his briefing "will not alleviate the suffering of Syrians".
Brahimi angered the Syrian government by saying in December that the four-decade rule of the Assad family had gone on "too long".
Later activists said a Syrian government airstrike on a town in the country's northwest killed at least 12 civilians.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air raid struck the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province.
Four of the dead were members of the same family.
The regime's air power is its biggest advantage in the civil war, and it has used its warplanes to try to check rebel advances.