Syrian rebels launch 'decisive' push for victory in Aleppo The chance that some of Syria's chemical and biological weapons stockpiles might fall into the hands of one of the armed groups fighting for control of the country has been a key concern for western governments. Mr Panetta said he believed the main stocks remained secure but could not rule out that rebel groups might have acquired some material. Eyewitnesses in Aleppo on Friday reported seeing smoke plumes rising into the sky as the concrete walls of a military base in Salaheddin on the southwest front disintegrated under rebel mortar fire. A second rebel unit fought for control of Minig military airport and a third front was opened in the Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheikh Maksoud. The artillery college in Aramouseh district in Aleppo came under attack late on Thursday night with "several hundred" men from the division reportedly defecting and fighting alongside rebels to take the base, Mr Mokdad said. We heard soldiers on their radio calling their chiefs to ask for reinforcements. They were crying and saying 'we are all going to die,'" one of the rebels said of an attack on a military base. Fighters from the neighbouring "liberated" Idlib province and from the city of Hama joined Aleppo's hardened fighter, creating checkpoints on the city's arterial roads to cut government supply lines, FSA coordinators told The Daily Telegraph. In-fighting and competition for scant weaponry has fragmented the Syrian armed opposition and residents said attempts at prolonged co-ordination would fail. "Civilians in Aleppo demonstrated against the FSA recently and told them to stop fighting each other," said Abo Hamdo, a medical coordinator for the rebels in Aleppo. Yesterday they decided to work all together on this attack but I can assure you it will not stay more than one week! Assad's war machine hit back against the attacks in the city, escalating its fearsome bombing campaign across the city, with air strikes continuing through the night activists said. As fear mixed with the desperate need to show dominance, government soldiers made a public display of summary executions, residents told The Daily Telegraph. "Al-Ardomiyeh neighbourhood where I am from has become the place for killing arrested people," said Abo Hamdo who claimed to be a resident of the area. I had to take my grandmother with me to go and retrieve possessions from my home. If the soldiers see a young man alone they will shoot him.