Rebels are reported to have taken control of a strategic military airbase in north-western Syria after weeks of fierce fighting with government forces.
Opposition activists say the Free Syrian Army, which had beseiged Taftanaz airport since November, were in full control of the base.
Video footage posted online purportedly showed fighters inside the facility, in Idlib province.
Helicopters based at the sprawling base, which lies near the motorway between the capital Damascus and the second city of Aleppo, have been used to bomb rebel-held areas in the north and deliver vital supplies to government forces struggling to halt rebel advances.
Meanwhile, top US and Russian officials are attending talks in Geneva with the United Nations envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.
They were expected to discuss how to advance a peace plan proposed by world powers in June, but a BBC correspondent says a diplomatic breakthrough is unlikely.
