Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

19 Syrian Opposition Fighters Killed in Dair Ez-Zoar Military Base

December 30, 2013

Fighting in the military base of Dair Ez-Zoar, Syria, December 29, 2013 mnn

Syrian rebels killed in Deir Ezzor airbase battle

Al Arabiya News Monday, 30 December 2013

Monday, 30 December 2013, KSA 08:47 - GMT 05:47

Fierce clashes for the control of the Dair Ez- Zoar military airbase in eastern Syria on Sunday claimed the lives of at least 19 opposition fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“The toll from the fighting is 19 martyrs,” said the Britain-based monitor which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground for its reports.

Fighting between rebels and regime troops at the airbase has been ongoing for three days, the Observatory reported, adding that the regime troops are backed by National Defense Force auxiliaries.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the rebels have succeeded in taking control of part of al-Jafra village, a few hundred meters from the airport, according to Agence-France Presse. Residents of the village support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, he said.

The Observatory also reported on Sunday that over 500 people have been killed in the Syrian regime’s two-week aerial offensive in rebel-held areas of Aleppo and its suburbs.

The airstrikes on Syria‘s second largest city have killed at least 517 people, including 151 children and 46 women, as of midnight Saturday.

Syrian government aircraft have pounded areas of the conflict-torn city since Dec. 15, frequently using barrels laden with explosives.

The northern city of Aleppo has been a major front in the country’s civil war since rebels launched an offensive there in mid-2012.

Since then, the city has been heavily damaged in clashes that have left it divided into rebel and government-controlled areas.  

19 Syria rebels killed in fight for air base: monitor

aajtv: Sumaira Alwani, Uploaded: 30th December 2013

BEIRUT:

At least 19 rebels were killed in eastern Syria on Sunday in clashes for control of Dair Ez- Zoar military air base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“The toll from the fighting is 19 martyrs,” said the Britain-based monitor which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground for its reports.

The watchdog said there has been fierce fighting for the base for three days between rebels and regime troops backed by National Defence Force auxiliaries.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the rebels have succeeded in taking control of part of Al-Jafra village, a few hundred metres (yards) from the airport.

Residents of the village support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, he said.

SOURCE: AFP

Syrian troops kills 73 rebels in separate clashes

DAMASCUS, Dec. 29, 2013 (Xinhua) --

The Syrian troops on Sunday killed as many as 73 rebels in separate clashes nationwide, the state-media reported, as opposition activists claimed that aerial bombing on rebel-held areas in Aleppo killed 471 people over the past week.

The official SANA news agency said the Syrian troops killed 30 "terrorists" from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and other jihadist groups during a series of "qualitative" operations in two areas of the rebel-held Douma suburb, east of the capital Damascus.

In the town of Yabrud near Damascus, the troops eliminated gatherings of the Nusra fighters, killing 15 of them and destroying their ammunitions and weaponries.

In the northern province of Aleppo, a total of 28 armed rebels, many of whom foreign and Arab nationals, were killed by the Syrian troops in the towns of Zarzour and al-Nakkarin, according to SANA, which added that one citizen was killed when a mortar shell landed Sunday at the Abbasiyen district of Damascus.

On the opposition side, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday that a total of 517 people, 471 of whom civilians, have been killed over the past week in Aleppo as a result of aerial bombing on areas in Aleppo city and its countryside.

The activists' report couldn't be verified independently.

The Syrian media has recently refuted previous activists' accounts on incidents in Aleppo, saying the army only targets the positions of the Nusra Front and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The Syrian troops have been fighting what they call "terrorists " for almost three years. The international community is preparing for holding the Geneva II peace conference designed to bring representatives of the government and the opposition together to strike a political solution to the protracted impasse.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Syrian air strike on market kills dozens, NGO says

France 24, December 28, 2013

A Syrian government air strike on an Aleppo market has killed at least 25 civilians, including four children, a human rights group said Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said helicopters dropped TNT-packed barrels near a hospital.

"The number of people killed has risen to 25 including two children, a teenager, a woman and a media activist," the Britain-based group said.

Hassoun Abu Faisal, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center, put the death toll at more than 20, but said medical officials were still tallying the exact figure.

For nearly two weeks, President Bashar al-Assad’s warplanes and helicopters have pounded opposition-controlled areas of the divided city in northern Syria. Activists say the aerial assault has killed more than 400 people since it began December15.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, described the bombing as a "massacre".

"The raid targeted a crowded market where people were buying vegetables and home appliances," it said. "Many buildings have been damaged, and one collapsed."

Human rights organisations as well as Arab and Western countries have condemned the offensive as "indiscriminate" and "unlawful."

Syria's war broke out after Assad's regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent, when an Arab Spring-style revolt erupted, calling for change.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)