Syrian rebels seize key road by airport
Updated 10:01 pm, Saturday, February 2, 2013
Syrian rebels captured a strategic neighborhood near Aleppo's international airport Saturday, putting opposition fighters in control of a key road that the government has used to ferry supplies and reinforcements to soldiers fighting in the embattled northern city, activists said.
Elsewhere in the nation, fighting continued unabated, killing more than 60 people nationwide, according to activists.
Troops loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels have been locked in a deadly stalemate in Aleppo, Syria's largest urban center and main commercial hub, since an opposition assault last summer. Seven months later, the rebels hold large parts of the city and its outskirts, including several army bases, but they have been unable to overcome Assad's superior firepower.
The capturing of the Sheikh Said neighborhood, southeast of Aleppo, is a significant blow to government forces because the area includes a major road, linking the northern city with the airport. The army has used the road to supply troops.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain said rebels captured the area Saturday after several days of fierce battles with Assad's troops. Rebels have previously established enclaves outside Syria's major cities to threaten the government, including near the capital, Damascus, but they were later attacked by Assad's fighter jets and artillery.
The opposition's Western backers, including the United States, have been reluctant to supply rebels with more sophisticated weapons because of the increased influence of an al Qaeda-affiliated group among the anti-Assad fighters on the front lines. The Islamists growing prominence in the Syrian opposition has fueled fears that Muslim radicals might try to hijack the revolt that started as peaceful protests against Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.