By McClatchy Newspapers

Published: Thursday, January 10, 2013, 9:08 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

BEIRUT — A Syrian rebel group that the United States has labeled an affiliate of al-Qaida in Iraq appeared Thursday to be on the verge of overrunning a government air base that's used to launch helicopter strikes against rebel-held areas in Syria's north.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and video of the fighting posted on the Internet, the offensive at Taftanaz, an air base near the road that links the Syrian cities of Idlib and Aleppo, was being led by the Nusra Front, which the State Department designated a terrorist organization last month.

Ahrar al Sham, another rebel group that, like Nusra, has called for establishing an Islamic state in Syria, is participating in the offensive, according to its Internet postings.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland offered an upbeat assessment of the rebel advance, saying that the likely takeover of the base was a sign that the abilities of the “armed opposition” were growing. She added that the capture of the base would help the rebel side by cutting off the Assad regime's ability to resupply its troops in the north.

She didn't acknowledge in her remarks that the assault on the base was spearheaded by Nusra, whose Arabic name is Jabhat al Nusra, and it was unclear whether she knew of the group's role. State Department spokesmen didn't respond to later requests for comment.

Nusra and Ahrar al Sham have proliferated across Syria in recent months, leading rebel advances and eclipsing the role of more moderate rebel groups. In its designation of Nusra as a terrorist organization, the State Department said that the group, which announced its presence a year ago with massive bombings in Damascus, was just another name for al-Qaida in Iraq, a radical Sunni Muslim group responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqi civilians.

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