Rebel down Syrian gunship helicopter

World

Rebel down Syrian gunship helicopter

Close

Rebels downed a helicopter gunship in northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan.

17 October,2012 09:33 pm

In Maarhtat, on the outskirts of Maaret al-Numan, rebel fighters downed a helicopter being used in the fighting, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding it was the first time a helicopter was downed in the area.Rebels told an AFP journalist at the scene that the helicopter was hit with heavy machinegun fire at around 12:00 pm (0900 GMT).Maaret al-Numan, on the highway linking Damascus and second city Aleppo in the northwestern province of Idlib, has been under rebel control since last week.The rebel blockade of the highway is preventing regime reinforcements from reaching Aleppo, the theatre of intense fighting for the past three months.Amateur video posted by activists on YouTube showed the helicopter spiralling down through the sky and then exploding, as onlookers cried out: Allahu akbar (God is greatest)Sharif Talanti, an 18-year-old citizen journalist, was killed while filming the battles, rebels told AFP. A rebel fighter was also critically injured.Warplanes on Wednesday blitzed rebel targets in Maaret al-Numan, the AFP journalist said.The army has been hitting back at rebels from the air but analysts now say that the regimes aerial supremacy is no longer a decisive factor in the fighting, as the opening of multiple fronts countrywide stretches its capabilities thin.The insurgents said they kept up their siege of troops holed up in the Wadi Deif military base, Idlibs largest.Meanwhile ground forces shelled opposition belts outside Damascus, the Observatory said.A baby was killed by army shelling in the rebel-held town of Douma, east of the capital.Farther south, in the central city of Homs, the so-called capital of the revolution, troops shelled the rebel neighbourhoods of Khaldiyeh in the north and central Juret al-Shiyah.On the border with Lebanon, troops stormed the town of Jussieh in Homs province, after days of fighting and bombing, the Observatory said.Activists said the army torched houses in the area after the withdrawal of the Free Syrian Army.Jussieh lies near the rebel-held town of Qusayr, which has been under army siege for months.Nearly 140 families have fled the Qusayr area in recent days and have taken refuge in Lebanon, a Lebanese army source told AFP.At least 79 people were killed across Syria on Wednesday, among them 27 civilians, 36 soldiers and 16 rebel fighters, the Observatory said.The Observatory says that more than 33,000 people have died since the revolt against the regime erupted in March last year.