- Rebels make progress against Syrian air might
- Still, much of their weaponry is outdated
- They are producing instructional videos for use of military hardware
Editor's note: CNN's Arwa Damon and crew are some of the few international reporters in Syria, which has been restricting access of foreign journalists and refusing many of them entry. Read more from CNN inside Syria.
(CNN) -- The Soviet-made Mi-8 helicopter turns slowly in the blue autumn sky. It appears to be at an altitude of 3,000-4,000 feet, circling above the province of Aleppo in northwestern Syria. Suddenly, there's a streak of white and then an explosion -- as its engine bursts into flames.
Off camera, there are yelps of joy. It is a rare success for the Free Syrian Army: a precious ground-to-air missile has found its target. Trailing black smoke, the helicopter makes a hard landing. It's not known what happened to the crew.
In the last week, the rebels claim to have shot down one plane and two helicopters in Aleppo province. CNN's Arwa Damon went to the crash site of the plane Wednesday, and saw chunks of metal being carted off by locals.
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Syrian opposition claims to down jet "What was striking driving through Aleppo, and we were not too far from the city itself, was seeing villages and towns that two months ago one couldn't drive through," Damon reported. "They now have children playing in the streets and shops opening."
"There are some Free Syria Army checkpoints," Damon reported. "This is significant; you see where Assad forces might have been and were but are no longer."
Rebels who recently seized the base of the 46th Regiment some 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Aleppo told Damon they had captured as many as 300 MANPADs (man-portable air-defense systems), about half of which were in working condition.
There is no way of confirming the number. Videos uploaded after the rebels overran the base showed at least 10 large crates of anti-air missiles, each of which would hold two MANPADs.
Eliot Higgins, who tracks the Syrian conflict through dozens of YouTube channels on his blog Brown Moses, says that when the rebels capture "a couple of dozen [MANPADs] it gets exciting; 100 would be quite amazing"
Rebels also showed off captured tanks and artillery pieces, as well as Chinese-made multiple rocket launchers, seized at the 46th Regiment base.
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Free Syrian Army brigades are producing "instructional videos" for handling and arming their newly acquired hardware. One video shows a rebel on a rocky hillside opening a large packing crate, assembling a SA-7. Inside, there are two long olive-green tubes with Cyrillic lettering. Over the next three minutes, the rebel assembles the tube and points it skyward.
It is just one of dozens of anti-air missiles or MANPADs that the rebels are thought to have seized. They are mainly Russian-made SAMs -- some manufactured before the young fighters were born.
Videos uploaded to YouTube and evidence gathered on the ground suggest most of the MANPADs in rebel hands are SA-7s, which the Russians call Strela 2s. It is hardly state-of-the-art, having been developed in the 1960s. There have also been occasional sightings of more advanced SA-16s in rebel hands, which Higgins says has a much better targeting system than the SA-7.
But he notes that often these missile systems lack the all-important grip-stock or battery cooling unit, making them inoperable.
Despite the rebels' gradual acquisition of heavy weaponry, much of it is in poor shape and of a certain age. There is no sign that rebel units have been using more advanced anti-aircraft missiles such as the Stinger.
The Washington Post reported this week that rebels had acquired some 40 shoulder-fired missile systems in recent weeks, and some had been supplied by Qatar. CNN has been unable to confirm that.
But, in October, a diplomatic source told CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson that some rebel groups had a few Western-made anti-aircraft missiles under "close control."
Even so, the government retains vast superiority in firepower. And opposition sources say it's using that firepower in ever more indiscriminate ways.
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Higgins notes from the hundreds of videos he has analyzed that "rather than deploying all their most powerful weapons at once the air force appears to have escalated the air war."
He says "L-39s [a Czech-made jet trainer that can also fly combat missions] and OFAB 100-120 bombs [Russian-made fragmentation munitions] appeared after the battle for Aleppo began, and cluster munitions appeared after the Idlib highway was closed."
On Thursday, videos emerged from the city of Aleppo of an airstrike against a neighborhood in rebel hands. They showed the bodies of men, women and children, caked in white dust and blood, being pulled from piles of rubble by frantic rescuers. Above, the top floors of an apartment block have been sheared off, raining lumps of concrete on the street below. Opposition activists estimated at least 15 people were killed.
Other videos uploaded by opposition activists this week show the town of Maarat al Numan, captured by rebels in October, enduring a fourth week of air-raids. The town sits on the main highway linking Damascus with the north, an important artery that is no longer under government control.
Fawaz Gerges, Professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations at the London School of Economics, tells CNN: "I think the opposition is chipping away at the government's position. I think the opposition strategy is a war of attrition to exhaust the government's forces."
After spending several days among rebel fighters, Damon says that "On the one hand there's a certain sense of anger and frustration with the international community because they feel they have been abandoned. At the same time they haven't lost. They are making major progress and there is a sense of determination and belief that they can do this on their own."
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Arwa Damon reported from Syria and Tim Lister from Atlanta. CNN's Nic Robertson, Ashley Fantz, Raja Razek, Yousuf Basil, Hamdi Alkhshali and Brian Walker contributed to this report.
Rebels celebrate next to the remains of a Syrian government fighter jet, which was shot down at Daret Ezza on the border of the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo on Wednesday, November 28. View photos from November 2012 in this gallery, and
Syrian men inspect the scene of a car bomb explosion on Wednesday in Jaramana, a small town near Damascus that has provided a refuge for pro-government Syrians displaced in the civil war. Twin car bombs near the capital killed dozens, state media reported. 
Syrian men walk around a pool of blood at the site of a car bomb explosion in Jaramana on Wednesday. 
Syrian rebels celebrate on top of the remains of a Syrian government fighter jet that was shot down at Daret Ezza, on the border between the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, on Wednesday. 
The scars of war -- damage is readily visible at a government-controlled building in al-Layramun district of Aleppo on Monday, November 26. 
A man stands next to a crater in the village of Atme after a Syrian warplane launched an attack against a rebel command center near the border with Turkey on Monday. 
A Syrian man cooks a meal at a refugee camp in Qah, near the northwestern city of Idlib on Saturday, November 24. 
Syrian boys from Ras al-Ain attempt to cross back into Syria at the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar on Saturday. 
Syrian rebels and bystanders watch as a bulldozer removes debris from outside the Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo on Thursday, November 22. 
Rescue workers cover a corpse under the debris outside Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo on Thursday. 
A Syrian boy cleans debris from outside Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo on Thursday. 
Syrian refugees fleeing their homes in the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain walk to cross the border fence into Turkey, as seen from the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, on Wednesday, November 21. 
Syrian rebel fighters drive through the gate of Syrian Government Army Base 46 after its capture, near Aleppo on Wednesday. Defected Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Faj, who commanded the assault, hailed the capture of the base as "one of our biggest victories since the start of the revolution" against President Bashar al-Assad. 
Smoke and fire rise from the Roman citadel of Kalat al-Numan after it was bombed by a Syrian government jet on Tuesday, November 20, in Maaret al-Numan, Syria. The Roman-era town of 150,000 is now virtually deserted due to the heavy shelling and aerial bombardments. 
Syrians ride on a horse-drawn cart in the streets of the Tarik al-Bab neighborhood in Aleppo on Sunday, November 18. 
Syrian rebels stand guard outside a church in the town of Ras al-Ain near the border with Turkey on Friday, November 16. 
A picture shows a heavily damaged house after airstrikes by Syrian regime forces in Ras al-Ain on Friday. 
A Syrian rebel takes cover during fighting against government forces in Aleppo on Thursday, November 15. 
A Turkish soldier in a foxhole in Ceylanpinar, Turkey, watches Syrian opposition fighters praying in the strategic Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain on Wednesday, November 14. 
A Syrian rebel commander of the Halab al-Shabah battalion motivates fighters during clashes with regime forces in Al-Amariya district of Aleppo on Tuesday, November 13. 
Smoke billows from burning tires as a Syrian rebel fires toward regime forces in Aleppo on Tuesday. 
Syrian rebels take position in Aleppo on Tuesday. 
Smoke rises after Syrian aircraft bombed the strategic border town of Ras al-Ain, killing at least four people, wounding many others and sending panicked residents fleeing across to Turkey on Monday, November 12. 
Syrian opposition fighter Bazel Araj, 19, sleeps next to his gun in Aleppo on Sunday, November 11. 
Syrian opposition fighters pass a civilian as they patrol the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday. 
A Syrian opposition fighter walks in a destroyed house after hard clashes with Syrian regime forces in Ras al Ain on Saturday, November 10. 
Syrian nationals cross the border between the Syrian town of Ras al Ain and Ceylanpinar, Turkey, on Saturday. 
Syrian army soldiers ride along a street Saturday in the northern province of Aleppo. 
A Syrian opposition fighter stands in a destroyed house in Ras al Ain on Saturday. 
Syrians cross the border into Turkey on Friday, November 9, near the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar. 
Smoke rises after an explosion in the Syrian village of Bariqa near the the cease-fire line in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday, November 7. Israel is asking the U.N. Security Council to address an intrusion by Syrian tanks into the buffer zone between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights, which Israel says violates the two countries' Separation of Forces agreement. 
An Israeli Merkava tank crew sits in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on Tuesday, November 6. An Israeli military vehicle in the Golan Heights was hit by gunfire from Syria on Monday, the Israeli army said. 
A mortar shell explodes in the Syrian village of Breqa on Tuesday. 
Syrian rescue workers evacuate a woman and her two children from a building targeted by an airstrike from government forces in a town northeast of Aleppo on Sunday, November 4. An AFP correspondent reported three air strikes on the town in close succession. 
Syrian people take cover as a second bomb explodes during a rescue attempt in nearby a building that was hit during an air raid by government forces earlier on Sunday. 
A Syrian rebel fighter rests on a couch in a rebel-controlled building on the front line in Aleppo's northern Izaa quarter on Sunday. 
A mannequin used by rebel fighters as a decoy is seen in an area where clashes continue with pro-government forces in Aleppo on Friday, November 2. 
A member of the Free Syrian Army runs for cover from sniper fire in Aleppo on Friday. 
Members of the Free Syrian Army stand close to an unexploded bomb dropped by a fighter jet weeks earlier, at a checkpoint in Aleppo on Thursday, November 1. 
Buildings lie destoryed by what activists say were missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Erbeen, near Damascus on Thursday. 
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