Syrian Warplanes Pound Rebel Positions in North

[Time]

(BEIRUT) — Syrian warplanes pounded rebel targets in two northern provinces on Thursday as President Bashar Assad's troops pushed on with an offensive to reclaim more territory from the opposition. The strikes came against the backdrop of a new, joint U.S.-Russia effort to bring the sides in the 26-month-long conflict to the negotiating table. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Assad's air force was shelling rebel positions in Aleppo and Idlib on Thursday. The group said regime planes were hitting rebels near the Mannagh military air base outside the northern city of Aleppo, the provincial capital. The rebels stormed the base, which lies near the border with Turkey, and captured parts of it on Sunday but were later forced to retreat in the face of regime's superior air power. In neighboring Idlib province, heavy clashes were underway Thursday outside several army bases near the government-controlled provincial capital, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria. In Damascus, the state-run SANA news agency said government troops regained control of one more village and some land near the country's border with Lebanon on Thursday. The agency claimed Assad's troops inflicted heavy losses on the rebels in Aleppo and Idlib. In the past months, the rebels have captured large swaths of land in the north and northeast, including the entire city of Raqqa and several neighborhoods inside Aleppo, Syria largest urban center and its main commercial hub. But the opposition fighters have struggled to hold on to the territory, frequently complaining to their Western backers that their weapons are no match for Assad's weapons arsenal. Assad has relied heavily on his air power to reverse rebel gains and to prevent the opposition from setting up a rival government in their northern strongholds. The Obama administration has said it is considering providing weapons to vetted units in the armed opposition, following the recent revelation of a U.S. intelligence assessment suggesting the Assad regime used chemical weapons. (MORE: Syria's Lurking Terror: A History of Sarin Gas) But the U.S. maintains deep reservations about providing direct military

Via: TIME GlobalSpin