Syrian rebels shoot down regime helicopter in east

BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Syrian rebels have shot down a military helicopter in the country's east, killing eight government troops on board.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday posted a video online showing several armed men standing in front of the wreckage. One of the fighters in the footage says it's a helicopter that the rebels shot down late Sunday in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, along Syria's border with Iraq.

As the man speaks, the camera shifts to a pickup truck piled with bodies. The fighter is then heard saying that all of President Bashar Assad's troops who were aboard the helicopter were killed in the downing.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, says eight troops were killed.

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Syrian regime launches counteroffensive on rebels

BEIRUT (AP) — After weeks of rebel gains in the south, the Syrian regime launched a counteroffensive on Sunday with widespread airstrikes and an operation that reclaimed a northern village on a strategically important route.

At least 20 people were killed in heavy airstrikes that targeted rebels trying to topple the regime in at least seven cities and regions. To underline their resolve, the government called on opposition fighters to surrender their arms and warned in cellphone text messages that the army is "coming to get you."

State television said the aim of the counteroffensive was to send a message to the opposition and its Western backers that President Bashar Assad's troops are capable and willing to battle increasingly better armed rebels on multiple fronts.

Rebels have been making gains in recent weeks, especially in the south near the border with Jordan. They have seized military bases and towns in the strategically important region between Damascus and the Jordanian border about 100 miles away.

However in the north, the main rebel stronghold, government troops have been chipping away slowly over the past weeks at rebel gains around the city of Aleppo, the country's main commercial hub. They have been hammering rebel-held districts inside the city with fighter jets and artillery, sowing fear among residents.

Troops recaptured on Saturday the village of Aziza on a strategic road that links Aleppo with its airport and military bases, activists said. Rebels have been trying to capture that airport and the nearby bases for months now.

The regime seized back the village southeast of Aleppo after a 10-day battle with rebels, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"It's a setback for the rebels because the village is an important strategic point from which the army can shell (opposition) positions all around the area," Abdul-Rahman said.

It's also an outpost from which the army will be able to protect its convoys traveling the highway to ferry supplies to its bases at the airport.

Over the last year, rebels have greatly expanded the territory they hold in the northeastern provinces, including Idlib and Aleppo along the Turkish border.

In February, they extended their control into Raqqa province in the northeast, seizing the second hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River. Last month, the rebels captured Raqqa's provincial capital of the same name — the first city to fall entirely under opposition control in the 2-year-old conflict.

Capturing Aleppo's airport would be a major strategic victory that would enable the opposition to receive aid flights.

Aziza is one in a string of settlements along the Aleppo airport road that government troops have taken back.

The base inside the airport complex includes an airstrip from which regime fighter jets have been taking off to bomb targets around the country.

Sunday's airstrikes targeted Aleppo, the central cities of Homs and Hama and the city of Idlib in the north near the Turkish border. The western Mediterranean city of Latakia, and the eastern province of Deir el-Zour and the suburbs of the capital Damascus were also targeted.

Anti-government activists in Aleppo posted videos on line, showing the aftermath of Saturday's airstrike on what they say is Sukkary district in the northern city. Dozens of residents are standing on piles of rubble in front of a row of residential buildings, looking in disbelief at the front of the building that was blown off when a missile slammed into it.

In another video, men help a woman climb down from a balcony of the second floor of a building that has partially collapsed after a missile ripped through it.

The videos appear consistent with AP reporting from the area.

State television said the primary goal of the airstrikes was to "recapture areas taken by the terrorists," the term the regime uses to refer to opposition fighters in the civil war.

Regime fighter jets pounded villages in rebel-held areas in Latakia province before. But they do not frequently hit the city of the same name that is mostly populated with Syrian minority communities including many members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that Assad and his family belong to.

The rebels and opposition supporters are mostly Sunni Muslims, a majority in Syria.

The Aleppo strike was the deadliest air raid on Sunday, killing up to 12 people, according to another anti-regime activists group, The Local Coordination Committees.

In other violence, a man was shot and killed by an army sniper in the southern city of Daraa, the Observatory said, adding that clashes between troops and rebels raged in the opposition strongholds around Damascus. At least 15 people were killed in the fighting around the capital, the group said.

Daraa province has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks, with rebels making gains in the province and further south.

Last week, they looked poised to take over the area along the Jordanian border, which could be used to try to stage an attack on Damascus, Assad's seat of power.

Abdul-Rahman said there was little rebel advancement in the province on Sunday, despite rebel forces receiving heavier flows of weapons through Jordan as well as training there by the U.S. and other countries.

In Istanbul, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the first leg of a 10-day overseas trip. They discussed shared U.S. and Turkish efforts to support Syria's opposition groups, which have struggled to unify and strengthen links with rebels on the battlefield.

"The United States and Turkey will continue cooperating toward the shared goal of a peaceful transition in Syria," Kerry said.

More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict that began in March 2011.

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Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Bradley Klapper in Istanbul contributed to this report.

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Syria regime, rebels want probe of chemical attack

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's government and rebels on Wednesday both demanded an international investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack, as the country's feared arsenal became the latest propaganda tool in the 2-year-old civil war.

The U.S. ambassador to Syria said the Obama administration has no evidence that chemical weapons were used, but he warned that an increasingly desperate President Bashar Assad might be tempted to use his stockpile.

The use of chemical weapons by either side is a nightmare scenario. Along with its warnings about Assad, the West is just as concerned that rebel forces, including some linked to al-Qaida, could get their hands on Syria's chemical weapons supplies.

Despite the importance, any clear confirmation of the nature of the attack that took place Tuesday in the northern village of Khan al-Assal, killing at least 31 people, is unlikely. Syria's government seals off areas it controls to journalists and outside observers.

The two sides blamed each other for a chemical attack without offering clear proof or documentation, as has frequently been the case in the Syrian civil war.

If confirmed, it would be the first time a chemical weapon has been used in Syria's war that has already killed an estimated 70,000 people.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told reporters at the United Nations Wednesday that he had asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to form "a specialized, independent and neutral technical mission to investigate the use by the terrorist groups operating in Syria of chemical weapons" in Khan al-Assal.

Jaafari called the attack "very serious and alarming and unacceptable and unethical."

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said he would have something to say "once we receive any formal request, which we have so far not received." He said the secretary-general remains convinced that the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstances would constitute "an outrageous crime."

Syria's main opposition group also demanded an international investigation.

"All evidence now indicates that the Assad regime is using these weapons against its own people," the main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said.

"The Coalition demands a full international investigation, and asks for a delegation to be sent to inquire and visit the site," the group said in a statement.

President Barack Obama has declared the use, deployment or transfer of the weapons to be his "red line" for possible military intervention in the Arab country.

The U.S. ambassador to Syria said Wednesday the Obama administration has no evidence to support President Bashar Assad's claims that U.S.-backed rebels used chemical weapons in northern Syria, but is looking carefully at the conflicting reports.

"So far we have no evidence to substantiate the reports that chemical weapons were used yesterday," Robert Ford told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He later clarified that the administration was extremely concerned and was trying to verify reports that such weapons were used in the Aleppo province and the Damascus suburbs.

He warned that Assad might resort to using chemical weapons if he faces defeat.

Ford was withdrawn from Damascus in October 2011 and has not returned since.

Russia and Iran, Assad's main allies, backed his regime's charges.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast blamed "armed opposition groups," calling use of chemical weapons "an inhuman act."

"Undoubtedly, the responsibilities of a repetition of such crimes would fall on those committing it and the countries that support them," he was quoted by state TV as saying, apparently referring to Gulf states such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia

"There's definitely a propaganda war between the regime and opposition," said Ayham Kamel, a Middle East analyst at the Eurasia Group in London.

"Because we cannot verify either claims, we are going to be stuck in the same cycle of accusations, unless some international mission is actually sent there to verify what happened," he said.

Jordan's king warned Wednesday that an extremist Islamic state could form on his border.

King Abdullah II told The Associated Press in an interview that in his view, Assad was beyond rehabilitation, and it was only a matter of time before his authoritarian regime collapses.

"The most worrying factors in the Syrian conflict are the issues of chemical weapons, the steady flow or sudden surge in refugees and a jihadist state emerging out of the conflict," the king said.

The opposition's disunity was on display again Wednesday.

About a dozen members of the Syrian National Coalition suspended their membership a day after it elected the first rebel prime minister.

Among them were senior members including Suheir Atassi, Kamal Labwani, and spokesman Waleed al-Bunni.

Coalition member Mohammed Qaddah confirmed the suspensions. Asked whether it was related to divisions over the election of Ghassan Hitto, a little-known American-educated IT manger, to head an opposition interim government, he said "it was one of several reasons."

Atassi said she suspended her membership because there was a group in the coalition that seeks to control it, while the others are expected to follow. "I refuse to be a follower and I refuse to be simply a woman who decorates their gatherings and conferences while they make all the decisions," she wrote on her Facebook page.

Coalition members have complained of the dominance of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood in the SNC, and Hitto was one of the top Brotherhood candidates.

Kamal Labwani said Hitto "was just a face" since he had no popular support in the country and suggested he was imposed by the Brotherhood and its Qatari backers.

Assad made a rare public appearance Wednesday, visiting a fine arts school in Damascus and meeting the parents of students who were killed in the civil war, state TV reported.

Photos run by the Syrian state media showed Assad shaking hands and listening closely to people who were said to be parents of war victims. It was his first appearance outside his palace since January, when he delivered a speech.

In Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency said five rockets fell on the Lebanese side of the border in the town of al-Qasr. It said there were no casualties.

On Monday, the NNA said Syrian warplanes hit targets along Syria's border with Lebanon. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman condemned the air raid. The Foreign Ministry in Damascus denied Syrian aircraft bombarded Lebanon.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Ben Hubbard in Beirut, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Donna Cassata in Washington and Jamal Halaby in Amman contributed to this report.

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Activists say Syrian regime bombs rebel-held city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government airstrikes have killed at least 14 people in the northern province of Raqqa less than a week after rebels seized the area's provincial capital, their first since the start of Syria's civil war, anti-regime activists said Sunday.

The city of Raqqa, home to a half million people before Syria's uprising, could prove a test case for how rebels administer areas they capture. The rebel groups that led the battle for the city are strongly Islamist, some of them extremists, and videos released over the weekend indicate some fighters have summarily executed prisoners.

Recent government airstrikes, meanwhile, show the limits of rebel control. Even if they hold the ground, they can do little about the government's air force, which often bombards areas recently captured by the rebels, killing fighters and civilians alike.

Two airstrikes in Raqqa province killed at least 14 people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday. The attacks took place the day before, it said.

A video posted online from Raqqa city showed the dead bodies of seven people scattered in a street with destroyed buildings nearby. An off-camera narrator says they were killed in an airstrike.

The Observatory said at least seven others were killed in a separate strike Saturday near the province's eastern border.

Over the last year, Syria's rebels have greatly expanded the territory they hold in northern Syria, mostly in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo that abut the Turkish border. In February, they extended their control into Raqqa province, seizing a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates river. After storming a central prison, they seized most of Raqqa city on March 4, solidifying their control over the next two days.

Raqqa is the first of Syria's provincial capital cities to fall completely under rebel control.

Rebel actions since taking the city have raised concerns about how they will administer the area.

A number of videos have surfaced in recent days that show dead government soldiers and security officials lying on the ground, their heads bearing gunshot wounds.

One video showed rebels driving the dead body of a military intelligence official around in the back of a pickup truck to show it off. At one point, they lay out his body in a street next to another body. Both have large holes in their heads.

"No one hurt me more than this man!" a voice off-camera yells.

Rights groups have reported summary executions of regime officials and troops following the capture of other areas, especially of pro-government militiamen known as "shabiha" whom rebels say are guilty of atrocities. Rebels groups in some area have set up courts to try prisoners, though it is unclear whether they live up to international standards of due process.

Another video from Raqqa posted on Saturday shows three bodies in a street in pools of blood.

"These are the dogs of military intelligence and they were executed in Clock Square," a voice says, referring to a city landmark.

Other captured regime officials appear to have been kept alive.

Another video posted Saturday showed the provincial governor, Hassan Jalalil, along with the head of President Bashar Assad's ruling Baath party sitting in front of the black flag of Jabhat al-Nusra, an extremist rebel group the U.S. has designated a terror group.

The two were captured by rebels when they stormed the governor's palace on March 4.

In the videos, the second man, Suleiman al-Suleiman, says that before his capture he was scared that rebels were extremists.

"But my view has changed, and I have seen that Jabat al-Nusra has a religious program that follows Allah and his prophet," he said.

There was no way to establish if he was speaking under duress.

All videos appeared authentic and corresponded with other reporting by The Associated Press.

Syria's crisis began with anti-regime protests in March 2011 and has since spiraled into a civil war pitting government forces against hundreds of rebels groups.

The Syrian government portrays the war as fueled by an international conspiracy carried out by terrorists that seeks to weaken the country.

The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

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Activists: Syrian regime bombs rebel-held city

BEIRUT (AP) — Anti-regime activists say the Syrian government has bombed the northwestern city of Raqqa, killing at least seven people less than a week after rebel fighters seized most of the city from government troops.

An activist video posted online shows the dead bodies of seven people lying in a street with buildings destroyed nearby. An off-camera narrator says they were killed in an airstrike. The video appeared authentic and corresponded with other reporting done by The Associated Press.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday that the attack took place the day before.

Raqqa was the first provincial capital in Syria to fall under rebel control.

The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed in almost two-years of violence in Syria.

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