Syrian activist groups say rebels have captured a major air base in the north of the country after months of fighting.
The Aleppo Media Centre says rebels took Mannagh helicopter base before dawn on Tuesday.
The opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the base fell nearly 24 hours after rebels launched an all-out offensive against it.
"The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (jihadist group) and other opposition groups took total control at dawn today of Mannagh air base," the Observatory said.
Rebel groups have been fighting loyalists for Mannagh air base for some eight months, as part of a battle in Aleppo province to stop the regime from using warplanes to strike areas in opposition hands.
Rebels laid siege to Mannagh in December 2012, and have tried "dozens of times" before to storm the airport, said the Observatory.
The takeover comes a day after a new assault began early on Monday, when "a non-Syrian man blew himself up in an armoured vehicle at the entrance to the headquarters of the Mannagh air base," it said.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the suicide bomber was a Saudi.
The capture of the base would be a blow to President Bashar al-Assad's forces because it deprives them of one of their main outposts in the contested province.
The Observatory said there were casualties on both sides.
It added that rebels took prisoner a number of government troops.
Syria's state TV said troops were still defending the air base, adding that rebels "suffered very large losses around and inside the airport".
Quoting an unnamed Information Ministry official, the TV said "the heroes of our armed forces at Mannagh air base and nearby areas are confronting terrorists with great courage".
