Syrian government forces break 2-year IS siege of airbase in Aleppo

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian government forces on Tuesday, November 10, broke a siege imposed by the Islamic State group on a northern military air base since 2013, marking the first major achievement by President Bashar al-Assad's troops since Russia began its airstrikes in late September, state media said, according to the Associated Press.

A state TV report said government forces met with troops that were defending the Kweiras air base in the northern province of Aleppo. Syrian troops, backed by pro-government gunmen, launched a large-scale offensive to reach the base last month under the cover of Russian airstrikes.

The TV report said dozens of IS fighters were killed in the battles on Tuesday. A soldier inside the base said hundreds of dead extremists were found around the compound.

"We are inside the air base," a Syrian soldier that took part in the offensive told state TV on Tuesday evening. "We have met our friends and the situation is good."

Assad's office issued a statement praising "the heroes who defended the base in a legendary way." Information Minister Omra al-Zoubi took the occasion to call on all Syrians who are fighting the government "to drop their weapons and surrender to the state," adding that they do not seek revenge.

Tuesday's push is a major victory for the government against IS, which controls nearly half of Syria. Syrian troops tried in the past to reach the air base with no luck but Russian airstrikes appear to have helped in forcing IS from the area.

The capture of Kweiras air base will boost the Russian and Syrian government's narrative that Moscow is concentrating its airstrikes against extremists.

IS fighters had been besieging the nearly 1,000 soldiers inside the base since 2013, but the forces there have managed to hold on despite repeated attacks using multiple suicide bombings.

Another officer speaking from the base told state TV "with the liberation of Kweiras, we will liberate other areas."

Also Tuesday, residents in Syria's capital Damascus said rebels shelled several neighborhoods in the city. SANA said the shelling killed one person and wounded five.

Besides, at least 23 people were killed and 40 wounded in two explosions in the Syrian city of Latakia on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, in one of the bloodiest attacks on Assad's coastal stronghold.

The blasts hit two separate areas of the city, one from rocket fire and the other either from a rocket or a planted explosive device, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syria's government condemned what it called "terrorist" attacks on the city, state television reported in a newsflash, giving no further details. The government refers to all rebels fighting against it in the four-year civil war as terrorists.