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Syrian Rebels Say They Have Captured Military Post | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Opposition fighters in Syria said early Saturday that they had captured an air defense base in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, taking at least 16 soldiers captive and seizing weapons and ammunition in what appeared to be part of a broader rebel offensive against Syrian military installations in several parts of the country. | |
Rebel fighters in the province also attacked a military air base, according to activist groups, the third attack on an air force site in the past few days. Last week, rebel commanders claimed to have destroyed several helicopters during attacks on two separate military airports in the northern Idlib Province. | |
Videos that activist groups said showed the aftermath of the attack raised the possibility that rebel fighters had captured shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, known as Manpads, though it was not clear whether some of the missiles had the necessary components to make them functional. One video, uploaded on Friday, appeared to show a man holding a complete system. | |
Rebel groups have been eager to acquire the weapons to counter the government’s increasing use of warplanes and helicopters in the conflict. In recent weeks, there have been several sightings of Manpads, possibly smuggled across Syria’s borders or acquired after raids on government arsenals. | |
At the same time, the sightings have raised concerns about the spread of the weapons, which can also be used against commercial airliners. | |
The sightings have included both complete and incomplete missile systems. | |
For the moment, there has been little evidence that the weapons have changed the course of the conflict. Since the beginning of August, rebel fighters have claimed that they have shot down at least three government aircraft, including two warplanes and a helicopter, with fighters in at least two cases saying the aircraft were brought down with heavy machine gun fire. The government has blamed mechanical failure for the crashes. | |
C. | The videos from the air defense base, in Abu Kamal, near Syria’s border with Iraq, could not be independently verified. They showed rebel fighters strolling through a darkened building, with the bodies of at least two government soldiers lying on the ground. One of the dead soldiers is covered in what looks like ash. Soldiers stand over another body, caked in blood, as someone pokes the dead man’s head with a rifle. |
Crates of ammunition can be seen, including heavy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade rounds. Later on Saturday, activist groups said that several people were killed after Syrian government warplanes attacked the area. | |
Also on Saturday, Syria’s official state news agency said that the government had released more than 300 people it had detained recently during fighting in the Damascus suburbs, Homs, Aleppo and Dara’a. The news agency said the detainees were “involved in recent events” but had committed no crimes. | |
In recent days, activists and filmmakers have expressed concern about the fate of Orwa Nyrabia, a Syrian filmmaker and festival curator whose friends believe was arrested at the Damascus airport. Mr. Nyrabia, the founder of the annual Damascus Dox Box Film Festival, was arrested on Aug. 23 as he was preparing to travel to Cairo, according to relatives and colleagues quoted by Reuters. | |
C. J. Chivers and Hwaida Saad contributed reporting. |