* Rebels use captured tank to attack airbase, pound military airport

Rebels Bombard airport and military base in Aleppo

Syrian rebels pound military airport: Growing in numbers and clout, Syrian rebels battered a military base near Aleppo as the battle for the nation's most populous city raged Thursday. Rebels used tanks seized in previous clashes with government troops to pound the Menagh military airport, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The base is north of Aleppo, Syria's commercial capital. The main military airfield in the region is southeast of the city.

* Rebels use captured tank to attack airbase: Syrian rebels turned the gun of a captured tank against government forces on Thursday, shelling a military airbase expected to be used as a staging post for army reinforcements in the battle for Aleppo.More than 180 people were killed in Syria on Wednesday, 133 of them civilians and 45 of them members of Assad's forces, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The rebels' morale was boosted when they turned a government tank's gun on the Menakh airbase 35 km (25 miles) north of Aleppo - a possible staging post for army reinforcements.

"We hit the airport using a tank that we captured from the Assad army. We attacked the airport a few times but we have decided to retreat at this time," a rebel fighter named Abu Ali told Reuters. The pro-opposition Observatory said government forces at the airbase had used artillery and rocket launchers to bombard the town of Tel Rifaat, which lies between the airbase and Aleppo, Syria's commercial center.

The rebels are consolidating areas they control in Aleppo, attacking police posts and minor military installations with some success. They claim to have seized three police stations this week. "When the streets were clear we found the bodies of at least 35 men," a resident, who gave his name as Fares, said by phone from Jdeidet Artouz, southwest of Damascus. Almost all of them were executed with bullets to their face, head and neck in homes, gardens and basements."


* Forget it Assad the game is up! Your die hard followers now want you dead and gone and even the Shabiha your hand picked murderers are abandoning you trying to melt back into the countryside they have helped to destroy in your name. Syria as you and your father knew it is gone. Only God knows what will happen now before it spreads throughout the middle east and no one will like it.

* It would behoove Russia to cut its losses and evacuate its people and evacuate its sub base but it will not. With China and Russia both with at least 11 powerful warships in the area along with hundreds of fighter jets and soldiers I absolutely believe they plan on hanging around and fighting for their last naval hold in the middle east. Putin is done cutting and running!

*Putin and Iran are ready to fight for their last significant ally Syria, the bull in the "China"shop is China. Right now China is with Russia but when all is said and done I think it behooves China to side with the west and the Syrian people then when the dust settles if it is as vicious as it may be China will be able to be in a position to take advantageous of it. With its push in the South China seas that is the common sense thing to do!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com