You're reading: Activists: Rebels fight Syrian troops over airbase

BEIRUT — Syrian activists say rebels and government troops are fighting for control of a key airbase in the country's north.

The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights says the rebels have launched a dawn offensive to take
Taftanaz air base, a day before a crucial opposition conference in
Qatar.

Taftanaz lies near the highway between the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo, a major front in the civil war.

Activist
videos posted online claim to show the attack on Taftanaz. A rebel
vehicle fires rockets and smoke rises over buildings and what appears to
be an airstrip. The videos appear genuine and are consistent with other
Associated Press reporting in the area.

Activists say more than 36,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March 2011..