video transcript

Smoke clouds on the horizon in Damascus. Amateur video out of Syria which could not be independently verified by Reuters, comes amid reports of fierce fighting on the outskirts of the Capital. Airlines are now suspending flights into the country. More footage shows damaged helicopters outside the city. Rebels claims this base after an overnight assault. It's the second military base in the area that has fallen into rebel hands. Footage out of Aleppo appears to show the downing of a fighter plane. President Bashar al-Assad is fighting an insurgency that grew out of peaceful protests 20 months ago. It is now a civil war that has cost the loves of at least 40,000 people. Foreign powers have condemned Assad but have stopped short of among rebels out of fear that weapons could land in the hands of radical Islamist units.