Syria fighters advance on key Aleppo air base

(MENAFN- Arab News)  Syrian fighters made fresh advances yesterday in their battle to seize the Minnigh airbase in northern Syria, a monitoring group said. "Opposition fighters have seized the radar tower in the Minnigh airbase," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said. "Fierce clashes have raged in the airbase since dawn Sunday," he added. State news agency SANA said the rebel assault had been repulsed. "Troops from our heroic army stopped terrorist groups from assaulting the Minnigh army airbase," the news agency said. Government troops "stopped terrorists from assaulting the airbase through its eastern and western sides" and captured a rocket launcher and heavy machine guns, it added. Rebel fighters have been trying to capture Minnigh for months, as part of a strategy to deny the regime the use of air power across Aleppo province. The fighting at the air base comes after the Damascus government sent troop reinforcements to Aleppo province, buoyed by the recapture of the strategic central town of Qusayr last week. Nationwide, at least 119 people were killed in violence yesterday, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.