Syrian rebels bombard Aleppo airbase before offensive – rebel, monitor

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels launched Grad rockets at Aleppo’s Nairab air base on Friday, part of their preparations for a new offensive aimed at breaking the government siege of insurgent-held areas of the city, a rebel official and a monitoring group said.

Zakaria Malahifji, an official with the Fastaqim rebel group present in Aleppo, said a number of insurgent groups would participate in the new offensive and that the bombardment of the air base was part of this.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said that Grad surface-to-surface rockets had struck Nairab air base and also locations around the Hmeimim air base, near Latakia.

(Reporting By Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall; Editing by Kevin Liffey)