BEIRUT?? Syrian rebels and Islamic militants overran a major military air base in the north Friday and, buoyed by the victory, intensified their offensive on two other bases in their most aggressive campaign yet to erode the air supremacy on which the regime of President Bashar Assad has increasingly relied in the past year.
The rebels control the ground in large parts of the north, but they have been unable to solidify their grip because they ? and civilians in rebel-held regions ? come under withering strikes from aircraft stationed at a number of military bases in the area.
The Taftanaz air base in Idlib province is the largest air base yet to be captured by the rebels. It is the biggest field in the north for helicopters that the military uses for strikes on rebels and for delivering supplies to government troops still in the north to avoid the danger of rebel attacks on the roads.
Shortly after they captured the Taftanaz field, rebels in the neighboring province of Aleppo intensified their assault on the Mannagh air base and the international airport of the city of Aleppo, which includes a military base. Rebels have been trying to capture the two sites since last week, along with a third airfield known as Kweires.
The latest fighting came as international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed little hope for a political solution for Syria's nearly 2-year-old civil war any time soon after meeting Friday with senior Russian and U.S. diplomats at the United Nations' European headquarters.
Brahimi, who is the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. The talks were part of his attempts to find some traction for an international peace agreement calling for creation of a new, provisional government in Damascus that has so far gone nowhere.
"We are very, very deeply aware of the immense suffering of the Syrian people, which has gone on for far too long," Brahimi told reporters after his talks in Geneva on Friday. "And we all stressed the need for a speedy end to the bloodshed, to the destruction and all forms of violence in Syria.
"But if you are asking me whether a solution is around the corner, I'm not sure that is the case."
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Brahimi's talks Friday produced "some progress" but that more work was needed.
More than 60,000 people have been killed since March 2011 in Syria's conflict, which has turned into an outright civil war driving hundreds of thousands from their homes and across the borders into neighboring countries.
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