Syrian rebels said they had captured an air defense base with a cache of missiles outside Damascus, a rare advance on the city after a series of opposition setbacks in the capital.
Rebel forces overran the base in the Eastern Gouta area, a few kilometers east of Damascus, on Thursday, according to videos posted on YouTube.
Across the country about 180 people were killed in violence on Thursday, including 48 government soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In New York, the UN Security Council condemned a cross-border mortar attack by Syrian forces that hit a Turkish village and demanded that such violations of international law stop immediately.
Turkish artillery bombarded Syrian positions on Wednesday and Thursday in retaliation, but the border area appeared to be quiet yesterday.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which began with peaceful street protests, but is now a full-scale civil war.
The video of the assault on the airbase showed dozens of rebels dressed in army fatigues celebrating as black smoke rose from a military installation behind them.
Turkey has made clear it is ready to launch retaliatory strikes again if the war spills over the border, but it has also said it will act under international law and in coordination with other foreign powers.
This week’s cross-border violence was the most serious so far in the conflict.
Five Turkish civilians were killed in the southeastern town of Akcakale by the Syrian mortar attack. The Turkish salvoes killed several Syrian soldiers.
Turkey’s parliament on Thursday authorized cross-border military action in the event of further aggression. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would never want to start a war and the parliamentary vote was merely a deterrent.
Turkey is sheltering more than 90,000 refugees from Syria and fears an influx similar to the flight of half-a-million Iraqi Kurds into Turkey after the 1991 Gulf War.
The UN condemnation was issued after two days of negotiations on an initial text rejected by Russia.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite