Syria: Rebels Capture Military Base Near Damascus
Syrian rebels announced Friday of taking over an anti-aircraft base from the regular army near Damascus.
In a video posted on YouTube, a dozen of insurgents are seen in military uniform gloating in front of a building which was filled with black smoke.
Government troops have forced the rebels on the defensive in recent weeks in the capital, where the opposition is mainly located in the eastern suburbs.
On the videotape, an insurgent with an assault rifle in his hand said that the base is in the area of Ghouta and the assault was carried out by a battalion from the town of Douma, two locations in east of Damascus.
Another video shows the weapons cache that seems to contain a surface to air missile.
It is unlikely that the insurgents have the ability to use this missile, but they can use its explosives to make bombs.
Twenty-one members of the elite Republican Guards were killed Thursday in Qoudsaya, on the western outskirts of Damascus, reported the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR). Qoudsaya is considered a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 180 people, including 48 government soldiers were killed in fighting across Syria on Thursday.
