BASE OF THE 46TH REGIMENT, Syria (AP) — After a
nearly two-month siege, Syrian rebels overwhelmed a large military base
in the north of the country and made off with tanks, armored vehicles
and truckloads of munitions that rebel leaders say will give them a
boost in the fight against President Bashar Assad's army.
The rebel capture of the base of the Syrian army's
46th Regiment is a sharp blow to the government's efforts to roll back
rebels gains and shows a rising level of organization among opposition
forces.
More important than the base's fall, however, are the weapons the
rebels found inside. At a rebel base where the much of the haul was
taken after the weekend victory, rebel fighters unloaded half a dozen
large trucks piled high with green boxes full of mortars, artillery
shells, rockets and rifles taken from the base. Parked nearby were five
tanks, two armored vehicles, two rocket launchers and two heavy-caliber
artillery cannons.
Around 20 Syrian soldiers captured in the battle
were put to work carrying munitions boxes, barefoot and stripped to the
waist. Rebels refused to let reporters talk to them or see where they
were being held.
"There has never been a battle before with this
much booty
," said Gen. Ahmad al-Faj of the rebels Joint Command, a
grouping of rebel brigades that was involved in the siege. Speaking on
Monday at the rebel base, set up in a former customs office at Syria's
Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, he said the haul would be
distributed among the brigades.