Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad fought intense battles with his troops today at two military air bases in northern Syria, activists said.

Activists are reporting intense clashes in north-western Syria as rebels attack a sprawling military air base.

Syrian activists have claimed rebels shot down a government warplane over the northern province of Idlib on Thursday, the second time in a week that opposition fighters claimed to have brought down an aircraft in the escalating civil war.