Syrian rebels on Thursday, August 2 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, AFP reported.
"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.
