Syria rebels on offencive amid spate of abductions

Damascus, Feb 16 (AFP) Rebels pressed an offencive in northern Syria today, attacking Aleppo airport and two airbases, as a rights watchdog and residents reported hundreds of people held in a string of sectarian kidnappings. Regime troops fended off fierce rebel onslaughts around Aleppo international airport and the adjacent Nayrab military airbase, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. East of Aleppo, rebel attacks around the Kwiyres military airbase sparked counter-strikes from regime warplanes. The insurgents launched the "Battle of the airports" on February 12, and have since seized Al-Jarrah military airport and a military complex tasked with securing Aleppo's civilian airport. Rebels today also overran a military police checkpoint in the Golan Heights town of Khan Arnabeh just beyond the outer ceasefire line along the demilitarised zone bordering Israel, the Observatory said. Regime forces responded by shelling Khan Arnabeh and the nearby village of Jubata al-Khashab, inside the ceasefire zone, forcing a rebel retreat. The Israeli military said it had taken five Syrians wounded in clashes on the Golan to a hospital inside the Jewish state. An Israeli military spokeswoman said "soldiers provided medical care to five injured Syrians adjacent to the security fence" on the strategic plateau. The Golan has been tense since the near two-year Syrian uprising morphed into a bloody insurgency, at times spilling over with mortar and gunfire into the Israeli-held zone but with serious escalation so far contained. Northwestern Syria has meanwhile fallen into a security vacuum, illustrated by reports today that more than 300 people were abducted in tit-for-tat kidnappings in 48 hours, the Britain-based Observatory and residents said. The spate of abductions, involving large numbers of women and children, began on Thursday when upwards of 40 civilians from majority-Shiite villages were kidnapped by armed groups in Idlib province. Hours later, more than 70 people from Sunni areas were seized in retaliation by gunmen from nearby Shiite villages. Subsequently, dozens more people from mostly Sunni opposition towns were captured. (AFP) ASY 02162345 NNNN