By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
, Al Quwwat al-Jawwiyah al Arabiya as-Souriya) is the Aviation branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948. - Source: Wikipedia
Syrian troops and rebels fought Tuesday in suburbs of Damascus as well as near Aleppo's airport, stopping all flights in and out of the northern city, activists and state media said.
Syrian rebels stepped up their siege of a military base in north of the country Friday as government warplanes bombed surrounding areas to support the defenders, activists said.
Syrian warplanes and artillery blasted parts of Damascus and its rebellious suburbs on Sunday, activists said, part of intense fighting as rebels try to push their way into capital, the center of President Bashar Assad's power base.
Twin suicide car bombs ripped through a Damascus suburb minutes apart on Wednesday, killing at least 34 people, state media said, and rebels claimed they shot down a Syrian air force fighter jet.
A former Syrian air force general who was also the country's first astronaut said Tuesday that only about one-third of Syria's fighter pilots are carrying out the daily bombing raids of rebel strongholds because President Bashar Assad's regime cannot count on the loyalty of the rest.
A Syrian warplane flattened a three-story building, suspected rebels detonated a deadly car bomb and both sides traded gunfire in several hotspots across the country Saturday, activists said, leaving a U.N.-backed holiday truce in tatters on its second day.
Syrian warplanes on Tuesday struck a strategic rebel-held town in the country's north in an attempt to reopen a key supply route, activists said, as a U.N.-proposed cease-fire meant to start this week appeared increasingly unlikely to take hold.
