An assault has been launched by opposition forces in the northwest of Syria against a major air force base, anti-government activists and a rights group have said.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC), a network of opposition activists, said on Saturday that the operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase", which is used to deploy fighter jets and helicopter gunships against their positions, the AP news agency reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based anti-regime rights group, said "heavy fighting" had broken out near the airport in Idlib province, where opposition forces have made significant gains in recent days.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Antakya on the Turkish-Syria border, said that an intensive battle was under way.
"What we are hearing now from activists is that regime forces are reported to be sending an armored convoy to back up their forces and defend the base," reported Simmons.

He said that according to those reports, the opposition fighters were putting up a fight but were using basic means against air strikes by the Syrian regime forces.

The Observatory said opposition forces had also killed 21 soldiers and taken three positions in the town of Douma, northeast of Damascus, on Friday.

The positions comprised a police station, a municipal government building and a hospital, it said.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, another opposition activist network, said on Friday that 70 people had been killed in the offensive in the town of Harem in Idlib province.

The Syrian regime had also intensified air strikes on eastern Ghouta in the suburbs of the capital Damascus, an activist told the AFP news agency.

Moaz al-Shami said President Bashar al-Assad's forces had resorted to heavy aerial bombardments after failed attempts by ground troops to seize back the suburbs.

PHOTO CAPTION

Amateur video apparently shows opposition forces battling for control over military airport in northern Syria.

Al-Jazeera