Syrian Tanks 'Cross Into Israeli-Held Territory'

Israel says three Syrian tanks have entered the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights for the first time in 40 years.

Israel restricted its response to complaining to the UN peacekeepers who monitor the de facto truce in the area, which was captured from Syria in 1967.

But the entry highlights the threat of the ever-worsening conflict spreading beyond its borders.

It was not immediately clear why the tanks had crossed the frontier, but Israeli media said the tanks had been in combat in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam where rebels have been trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad.

Stray ordnance has previously exploded on the Israeli side as Syrian forces have conducted operations nearby.

Rebels also launched a major assault on the Taftanaz airbase in the northern province of Idlib, which is used to deploy regime air power.

Video posted on the internet is said to show rebel fighters firing rockets at the airbase, and being fired on as they try to secure a strategic north-south corridor.

Israel seized the Golan Heights in 1967

The attack on the Taftanaz base, from where helicopter gunships raid opposition positions and rebel-held areas, comes after troops launched an unprecedented wave of air strikes to try to reverse the rebels' gains.

The video said eight battalions were taking part in the attack, including the radical Islamist Al-Nusra Front.

It showed a missile launcher mounted on the back of a pick-up truck firing on regime positions.

The development came as video emerged from Syria which purportedly shows rebels filming as an attack jet targeted them.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase".

Analysts said rebel forces clearly have the momentum in the battle for Syria's northwest.

"The rebels' gains in the north seem irreversible," said Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh's Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies department.

He said regime forces appeared to be concentrating their efforts in the region on defending the embattled commercial hub of Aleppo, which has been cut off from Damascus and the Mediterranean coast due to rebel advances in the past month.

"The problem with this strategy is that the Aleppo garrisons are now largely isolated. It is likely they will fall in the months to come," he said.

The fresh clashes came as the opposition prepared for key talks starting in Qatar on Sunday, where the United States is expected to push for a new umbrella organisation to unite the country's fractured regime opponents.

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