Syrian rebels capture military air base

BEIRUT -- Syrian rebels and Islamic militants overran a major military air base in the north yesterday and, buoyed by the victory, intensified their offensive on two other bases.

It was the rebels' 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 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 the military uses both 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 sites since last week.

The fighting came as international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed little hope for a political solution to Syria's nearly 2-year-old civil war anytime soon after meeting yesterday with senior Russian and U.S. diplomats at the United Nations' European headquarters in Geneva.

Neither side has been able to gain a decisive military edge. But the capture of Taftanaz showed the creeping progress of rebels in the pocket of northwest Syria.