Syria rebels shoot down military helicopter

Syrian rebels have shot down a military helicopter in the country’s east, killing eight government troops on board, as President Bashar Assad’s troops battled opposition forces inside a sprawling military air base in the north for the second straight day.

In the past months, rebels fighting to topple Assad have frequently targeted military aircraft and air bases in an attempt to deprive his regime of a key weapon used to target opposition strongholds and reverse rebel gains in the two-year-old conflict.