SYRIAN forces moved to head off a new al-Qaida offensive against Aleppo yesterday, capturing ground and bombing militants.

Troops and Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas liberated the Air Defence Battalion base south-west of the city, establishing an important bulwark against the looming assault, and shelled nearby Khan Touman held by the al-Qaida-affiliated Levant Conquest Front (LCF).

They then attacked the Hikmah heights to the north-west, overlooking the hotly contested 1070 housing project.