国际英语新闻:Large number of rebels attack military airbase in northern Syria

DAMASCUS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A large number of armed rebels unleashed a wide-scale attack against Menagh Air Base in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, reports said.

Several factions and battalions of the rebels partook in the attack on Saturday, reports said, adding that the Syrian air forces have failed to repulse the attack.

Some reports said the rebels, due to their huge numbers, have succeeded to storm the airbase from different directions and taken control over several parts of it, while the pro-government Sham FM radio cited sources at the base as saying that the troops managed to repel the attack.

The radio report, however, said that the leader of the airbase, Brigade Mahmoud Ali, and two of his escorts were killed in the battle.

The airbase, besieged by rebels since January, has recently emerged as a major target of the Syrian opposition in the ongoing Syrian conflict.

The rebels' massive attack comes as the Syrian army has advanced in a strategic central region near the borders with Lebanon.

Over the past 24 hours, the Syrian army succeeded in cutting the supply lines of the rebels near the central strategic city of al-Qussair. The troops have reached the entrances of the city and poised to unleash a wide-scale operation to wrest control back on it.