Syrian rebels tighten grip on airport

A Syrian rebel mans a Dska heavy machine as he scans the skies for Syrian air force fighter jets in Maarat al-Numan. Rebels say they control a swath north of Damascus International Airport The territory is connected by roads and includes a military chopper port Syria's Internet and phone systems remain down, but the opposition is using work-arounds Video images out of Syria have become rarer with the Internet outage (CNN) -- In a continued strategic attempt to knock down President Bashar al-Assad's air prowess, Syria's resistance fighters have surrounded the country's main airport on one side. Despite government bombardments, which have rained death and destruction indiscriminately from above for months upon rebel stronghold neighborhoods, revolution fighters have gained ground. They have taken over towns, villages and checkpoints. They have captured military bases, driving out regular army troops, heisting their heavy weaponry and turning it back on them -- including anti-aircraft guns and missiles. Friday, rebel groups claimed to tighten their grip on Damascus International Airport. They have taken control of a crescent shaped swath of land about 20 kilometers long just north and east of the main road leading to the airport, according to a revolutionary council for the Damascus area. Residents return to homes in Syria Assad shuts down internet in Syria Syrian crisis nearing end game? The airport is "the gate of death that supplies the regime in Damascus and its suburbs with more tools to kill the Syrian people," said Abu Eyaad, spokesman to the Revolutionary Military Council in Damascus and its Suburbs in an audio message posted late Friday. Although rebel forces have not taken the airport, they have shut down its operations, claimed Abu Eyaad, which is his nom de guerre. "Our main goal is to sap the strength of the regime's air force and supplies." He accused Russia and Iran of delivering arms to Assad's army via the airport. The captured swath stretches from the town of Harran Al-Awameed, almost within a mile of the airport, up to the Damascus suburb of Deir Asafeer and includes a captured military helicopter airport and a road to connect them all, the military council said. 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. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday called for ongoing support of the opposition's "current momentum" via non-military aid to Syrian rebels in a speech in Washington. The United States and many of its allies have thrown their support behind the rebel movement and openly advocate the overthrow of President Assad's government. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged the international community Friday, "in particular the Security Council," to pull together in their actions. Council members China and Russia, which are allies of Assad, are at loggerheads over the handling of the crisis with the other permanent members France, Britain and the United States, which oppose Assad. Ban said he would soon visit Syrian refugees who have fled over the borders to neighboring countries. Syria's Internet and phone systems, which blacked out Thursday, remained off line Saturday, three opposition spokesmen said. Fighters are relying on radio communication, which they say is easier for the Syrian government to tap. The US Embassy in Damascus and expat opposition supporters are urging people to use "Speak to Tweet," a service which allows users to leave an audio message which is tweeted out as a link for people to click on and play. The phone service outage could make it difficult to use. As a result of the Internet shutdown, the flood of daily video images of fighting and decimation has dried up. Abu Eyaad accused the government of creating the blackout to hide its mass killings from the outside world. Samira Said contributed to this report