BEIRUT — Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Al-Assad fought intense battles with his troops on Sunday to try to seize control of three military air bases in the country's north and curtail the regime's use of its punishing air power, activists said. Rebels, who have been trying to capture the air fields for months, broke into the sprawling Abu Zuhour air base in northwestern Idlib province and Kweiras base in the Aleppo province Saturday. Fighting raged inside the two facilities Sunday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least seven fighters were killed in the fighting in Abu Zuhour, in addition to an unknown number of soldiers. The group, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said the Syrian air force conducted an airstrike on Abu Zuhour village during the fighting to ease pressure on government troops inside the base. Rebels control much of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, which border Turkey, although government troops still hold some areas including the provincial capital of Idlib province and parts of the city of Aleppo, Syria's largest urban center. The Aleppo Media Center said rebels also seized 60 percent of the Mannagh helicopter base near the border with Turkey. Rebels from the Al-Burraq Brigades announced that fighters from multiple factions in northern Aleppo have launched a large-scale offensive to seize full control of the facility. Government troops regularly shell nearby areas from the Mannagh base, including a rocket attack overnight on the town of Tal Rifaat near the border with Turkey that killed at least four people, including two women and a child. Syria's conflict started with largely peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war. More than 70,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations. The Obama administration said Thursday that intelligence indicates that government forces likely used chemical agents against rebels in two attacks. Both sides of the civil war accuse each other of using the chemical weapons. The deadliest such alleged attack was in the Khan Al-Assal village in the Aleppo province in March. The government called for the United Nations to investigate alleged chemical weapons use by rebels in the attack that killed 31 people. Syria, however, has not allowed a team of experts into the country because it wants the investigation limited to the single Khan Al-Assal incident, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged “immediate and unfettered access” for an expanded investigation. — AP
