Initial
reports suggested both sides had suffered casualties in the fighting.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that towns near
the base had come under heavy bombardment, along with neighbourhoods of
Aleppo city.
"Regime
troops have advanced inside the base and now control large parts of it,
and rebel groups and the Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant] are bringing
in reinforcements," said the Observatory.
Rebel
forces seized control of Base 80 in heavy fighting in February. The base's
garrison was responsible for securing Aleppo international airport and
the adjacent Nayrab military airfield, which both remain under regime
control.
Elsewhere,
the Observatory reported ongoing fighting around a key weapons depot near
the town of Mahin in central Homs province.
Rebel
groups seized control of part of the depot earlier this week, and the
Observatory said the army and opposition were bringing in reinforcements.
More
than 120,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Syria since March
2011, according to the Observatory. Millions more have been internally
displaced or have fled abroad. |
