Syrian army backed by fighter artillery fight rebels near military airport around Aleppo 2504136

The conflict in Syria

Thursday, April 25, 2013, 01:40 PM

Syrian army backed by fighter aircraft and artillery fight rebels near military airport around Aleppo.

Syrian troops backed by air force and artillery have confronted fierce attacks by armed rebels against a military airport in the country's northern province of Aleppo, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper reported Thursday, April 25, 2013, claiming that Turkish officers and soldiers were fighting alongside the rebels.

T-72 main battle tank of Syrian Armed Forces near Aleppo.

The intense fighting have flared over the past three days at the Mennegh military airbase, some 20 km north of Aleppo, the paper said, citing a military expert as saying that the attacks aimed to achieve a military victory for the rebels to cover for their repetitive defeats in central and northwestern Syria as well as in the suburbs of Damascus.

Yet, the Syrian troops have shown courage and proven strength and steadfastness despite the several violent attacks by thousands of armed men, whose ranks were filled with Arab and foreign combatants fighting under the banner of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The paper also cited well-informed sources as saying that Turkish officers and soldiers have partaken in the fight for the Mennegh airbase backed by Arab and foreign intelligence in black room at the Turkish borders with Syria.

The air force has also managed to destroy convoys of cars ferrying armed rebels and munitions that was heading to the vicinity of the airfield, which the rebels have besieged recently in the hope of storming it, the paper said.