Syria crisis: Rebels capture key air base - according to activists

President Assad. 

Rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Al Assad have captured a key air base, according to activists supporting them. The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels took Minnig airport in Aleppo province near the Turkish border, on Tuesday. The rebel groups have been trying to capture the strategic base - it was one of President Assad's forces major supply routes into Aleppo -  since last year. But government forces have also made gains in recent weeks: recapturing the city of Homs from rebels, controlling the capital Damascus and other areas of Aleppo. In the last few days, there have also been more allegations of chemical weapons use, with many videos [which we cannot verify] emerging online of what allegedly show civilians and rebel fighters taking cover from chemical gases and hospitals full of people showing symptoms of chemical weapon poisoning - including many young children. A UN team has been given permission to enter the country and investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad government.  More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict since it began in 2011, according to U.N estimates.