29 August 2012

Syrian Rebels Claim Helicopters Destroyed

FSA (or someone affiliated with them) are claiming they destroyed 5 choppers on the ground in a raid. The Syrian government, predictably, denied it.

Syrian rebels said they destroyed five helicopters in a raid on a military airport between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib on Wednesday, while state television said the attack was repelled.
Abu Mossab, a rebel who said he took part in the attack, told AFP via Skype that rebels shelled Taftanaz military airport with two tanks captured from the army and destroyed five helicopters.
"We destroyed five helicopters as well as buildings in the airport," Abu Mossab said, although the facility remained in army hands after the raid in which the rebels lost two men before pulling back.
"The regime's MiG planes continue to bomb houses in Taftanaz, which has been emptied of its inhabitants," the rebel added.
Syrian state television said the military repelled the attack with the airport suffering "no material damage."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier reported fierce fighting near the airport and helicopter raids on the nearby town of Taftanaz.

Now, the Syrian government has lost a lot more equipment than they're admitting to, so it's not a surprise they brushed it off. But their army is down more than a brigade's worth of tanks/BMPs, so it's not like you expect them to man up about this one.

By: Brant

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