Wednesday morning brought more muggy skies and territory grabs in Syria, as Syrian rebels captured one of the last government-controlled posts in the Idlib province on Wednesday in a siege that began under the the cover of the epic MidEast sandstorm.
Idlib's Abu al-Duhur airport came under fire Tuesday as sand and dust engulfed large swaths of the country.
An Arabic news report from Al-Akhbar said the attack was led by Syria's al-Qaeda wing al-Nusra, who launched rockets into the base followed by suicide bombers at its main gate.
Remember, the sandstorm forced the Syrian military to hold off airstrikes on Tuesday. Still, the base's soldiers staved off losing complete control on Tuesday. But by the early hours of Wednesday morning, Reuters reported the area had fallen to the rebels and Syrian soldiers had evacuated their posts, according to Syrian state media.
#Syria | Jabhat al-Nusra takes Abu al-Duhur Airport in #Idlib according to LCC. pic.twitter.com/rJASVuwltG
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) September 9, 2015
Here's a satellite image of the base. Via Wikimapia.
Al Nusra posted a video of the takeover Wednesday, too. They claimed they'd taken the entire airport and were advancing toward a section of the base where members of the Syrian army were taking cover. Now in its third day in action, it looks like the sandstorm's still changing what's happening on the ground in Syria.
Watch Nusra's video below, via YouTube.
