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Free Syrian Army fighters try to take the control of military airport in Aleppo and Damascus 1808123

Conflict in the World - Syria War

Saturday, August 18, 2012, 10:19 AM

Free Syrian Army fighters try to take the control of military airport in Aleppo and Damascus.

Fighter aircraft and helicopters of Syrian government forces have continued to strike the northern suburbs of Aleppo as Syrian forces reportedly battle rebels near the airport in the war-battered city.

A member of the Free Syrian Army holds a RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade as he secures a street in the Damascus suburb of Saqba August 17, 2012.

Syria's official SANA news agency said that "armed terrorist groups" - the regime's phrase for rebels - had been pushed out from areas on both sides of the airport, which is located about 15km southeast of Aleppo's historical centre.

The report on Friday, August 17, 2012, was the first official acknowledgement that fighting has reached the doorstep of the strategic site in the country's largest city.

It did not make it clear whether the fighting was closer to the international airport or the adjacent military airfield, a hub for air strike missions on rebel sites in the north.

In Damascus, the capital, activists said the army clashed with rebels near the main military airport and shelled southern parts of the city.

Syrian government troops shelled in the early hours Friday, August 17, 2012, the rebellious Razi orchards area in the capital Damascus. The shelling was intense enough to wake up the residents of nearby districts, witnesses said.