Syrian troops battle rebels near Iraq border

Syrian government forces fought rebels on Wednesday for control of a military base and an airfield near the eastern town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, a local Iraqi official and a Syrian rebel commander said.

"There is fierce fighting between the Free Syrian Army and Syrian border guards to control the base, where tanks and artillery were used to bombard (Albu Kamal)," Farhan Ftiakhan, mayor of the nearby Iraqi town of Qaim, told Reuters. (Reuters)