video transcript

A fighter jet roars overhead and seconds later… an explosion. Dramatic new footage posted on to a social media website - which Reuters cannot independently verify - purports to show heavy fighting in Taftanaz in Idlib, northern Syria. Plumes of smoke can be seen rising from the distance in the aftermath of the attack. Meanwhile, fighters from the Islamist Front to Liberate Syria can purportedly be seen shooting rockets in a bid to 'liberate' Taftanaz military airport from government control. The government has used Taftanaz to fuel helicopter gunships and fighter jets that have bombarded nearby villages. Rebels fighters are trying to cut off Syria's biggest city Aleppo from capital Damascus and secure a strategic north-south corridor as the battle to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rages on. The bloodshed has endured despite an attempted ceasefire, proposed by UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, to mark last month's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.