Rebels seize key Syrian military base

Syrian rebels have seized a key military base with artillery stockpiles in the country’s east, activists say.

The capture of the base in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province near the border with Iraq follows the seizure of a military airport in the same area last week.

The rebels have been making advances in the strategic province for weeks.

Activist groups and a local fighter said the Mayadeen base fell today after a three-week siege.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group says the base was considered the last stronghold for regime forces in the eastern Deir el-Zour area.

Activists also said warplanes have flattened a building next to a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 13 people.

The Observatory said a doctor and two children were among those killed in the bombing last night that struck near the city’s Dar al-Shifa hospital.

The hospital was once a private clinic and now operates as a rebel field hospital that also treats civilians.

It said at least 10 fighters were killed.

Another activist group, the Local Co-ordination Committees, confirmed the bombing and said 40 people died in airstrikes in Aleppo.

At least 40,000 people killed across #Syria since outbreak of anti-regime
revolt in March 2011, observatory says | http://t.co/cNpC6TaI

— Al Jazeera Breaking News (@AJENews) November 22, 2012