Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Morsi v. The Protests

Supporters and opponents of Egypt's President Morsi clash in front of the Judges Club, where the judiciary condemned Morsi's decrees, on Saturday (Photo: Hassan Ibrahim/Daily News Egypt)

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Visiting the "Deadly Stalemate" in Aleppo
Friday's Egypt, Gaza, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Morsi, the New Pharaoh?

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2113 GMT: Syria. James Miller reports, from several opposition sources, about rumours that a major helicopter base east of Damascus, Marj al Sultan (map), has fallen to the Free Syrian Army.

Blogs and microbloggers have posted claimed video of the FSA attacking the base at night, with tanks:

#Syria #Damascus Rebels stormed Marj Sultan military airport with a tankyoutube.com/watch?v=m_3b7T…

— Mark (@markito0171) November 24, 2012

Another blog suggests that the FSA destroyed 2 helicopters, at least one of which appears to be on fire in this video:

A statement by the Al Habib Mustafa brigade, which is reportedly responsible for the raid, claims:

• 1 T72 tank captured.
• 1 BMP armored troop transport captured.
• 2 regime tanks were damaged.
• 2 armored personnel carriers were damaged.
• 50 prisoners were taken.
• 10s of Assad soldiers were killed or injured.
• The FSA controls a nearby early warning radar (which Markito suggests is north of the base), part of the air base, and the FSA is taking the fight to the other half of the base.

If true, this would be another significant victory for the FSA, just 15 kilometres outside the capital. It would indicate that, if the regime has been sacrificing bases in the rest of the country to focus on Damascus, the strategy is not working.

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