Middle East News

Syrian rebels attack air force base, as army shelling kills 4

Mar 30, 2012, 11:35 GMT

Beirut - The Syrian military pressed ahead with its shelling of dissident areas across the country, as armed opposition rebels targeted an air force base on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, opposition activists said Friday.

'The attack targeted the intelligence headquarters of the air force in Arbeen,' said activist Haytham al-Abdallah, without giving details of the rebel attack or casualty figures.

Meanwhile in the restive central province of Homs, at least four people were killed in shelling by government troops, activist Omar Homsi said.

'Five others were wounded when shells were fired on the old neighbourhoods of Bab Al-Sibaa and Al-Khalidiyeh,' Homsi told dpa.

Troops and rebels clashed in the northern province of Idlib, according to the London-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

'The regime troops are storming houses and setting several of them ablaze in the area of Jirjinaz in Idlib,' the group said in a statement.

Homs and Idlib have been key opposition strongholds since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

Fierce fighting also took place Friday in the province of Hama, in central Syria, and Deir al-Zour in the east, the Local Coordination Committees, which organizes anti-government protests, said.

Opposition activists have called on Syrians to protest what they perceive as a lack of Arab support for their uprising.

'The Muslims and the Arabs have abandoned us... but God is with us,' said a statement posted on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page.

The Arab League at a summit on Thursday endorsed a peace plan proposed by United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, calling on Syria to 'immediately and fully' implement it.

The plan calls for a ceasefire, to be monitored by UN observers, access to humanitarian services, and talks between the government and the opposition.

Al-Assad on Thursday said he accepted the plan, but demanded that armed rebels cease what he said were 'terrorist operations.'

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