Rebels seize dam in Syria’s north

Fighting spills beyond border, draws fire from Turkish gunners

— Fresh from declaring they had seized an important military airport and an air-defense base just outside Damascus, Syrian rebels Monday said they overran a hydroelectric dam in the north of the country.

INTERACTIVE

Uprising in Syria

On Monday, the conflict was reported to have spilled beyond Syria’s border, drawing in Turkish anti-aircraft gunners who were said by the insurgents to have opened fire on a government warplane that appeared to have entered Turkish airspace as it attacked rebel positions in the Syrian town of Atma, just across the Turkish-Syrian border.

According to two anti-government Syrian opposition groups - the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordinating Committees - and a fighter on the ground, who gave his name only as Saado, the Turkish fire deterred an attack on an area that includes a rebel headquarters and a camp for displaced Syrians. But there was no confirmation of the episode from Turkey, and the Syrian state news agency did not refer to the rebels’ claims.

Government warplanes also attacked the Bab al-Hawa border crossing at the Turkish border, an area where rebels have enjoyed control for several months, according to an anti-government activist in Turkey. Many displaced Syrians have taken refuge in the area and fled in terror from the fighting, said the activist, who gave his name as Abu Zaki. The strike showed the government’s ability to strike at will from the air even in rebel-held territory where it has no control on the ground.

Syria and Turkey have exchanged mortar fire on numerous occasions in recent months, and Turkey, a NATO member, has requested that the alliance provide it with Patriot anti-missile batteries, a possible step toward creating a virtual no-fly zone in northern Syria to protect rebels from Syrian government air attacks. Turkey has been criticized by Russia and others for the request.

On Monday, Turkey’s military insisted that the Patriot missiles would be used only to defend Turkish territory.

“Deployment of air- and missile-defense systems is a measure solely against potential air and missile threats that might come from Syria,” said a statement posted on the Turkish army’s website. “It is out of question for it to be used either for a ‘no fly zone’ or an offensive operation.”

A group of NATO experts was expected to start assessing Turkey’s southern border with Syria to identify sites for possible bases, and determine staffing and other technical details. The foreign troops who would accompany the Patriot systems would be subject to a special agreement,the statement said.

On Monday, amateur video, which could not be verified, showed purported rebel soldiers ransacking boxes of weapons, including hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades, at the Tishrin Dam near the town of Manbij.

“Here are your spoils, Bashar,” a voice can be heard saying, referring to President Bashar Assad. “Here are your weapons, Bashar. God is great,” a man exclaims as two others are filmed carrying off a trunk of munitions.

Rebel forces had been besieging the dam’s defenses on the Euphrates River for days.

The footage seemed to have been recorded in darkness. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which compiles its reports from militants on the ground, said the rebels overran the facility before dawn.

The dam supplies electricity to several parts of Syria, the activists said, and lies on an axis between the northern provinces of Raqa and Aleppo, apparently broadening the rebels’ potential supply lines in northern Syria.

While the rebels called the reported capture of the dam a strategic victory, it was not clear whether they were able to operate it or to withstand a government counterattack.

Information for this article was contributed by Hwaida Saad, Hania Mourtada and Hala Droubi of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 11/27/2012

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