AS THEY CLOSE IN, OPPOSITION FIGHTERS TAKE ANOTHER MILITARY BASE DEFENDING ALEPPO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT:
In Aleppo this morning, Sunday, it is reported from the FSA that Opposition forces have taken Base 599, one of the military emplacements defending Aleppo International Airport and there are heavy clashes around the Muhallab military barracks in the Sabeel district.
Aleppo’s Airport Remains Closed
At the Menegh helicopter base, Opposition forces are able to freely survey the airfield and are within shooting distance of the aircraft remaining, HERE:
Russia, in another sign of the increasing isolation of Syria’s largest city, has suspended the operation of its consulate in Aleppo.
In the extreme north-east in Ras Al Ayn, the Kurdish National Council has called on the Syrian Opposition to stop Jihadists shelling Kurdish militia positions with tanks and heavy machine guns. Several hundred Jihadists crossed from Turkey earlier in the week and there is some suspicion that the Turkish authorities, in support of their own campaign against Kurdish militants both inside and outside Turkey, are encouraging the conflict between the two sides.
In Hasaka province, clashes between the Syrian Army and Kurdish Defence Units are being reported around the village of Karzero, just east of Al-Rmeilan city, Syria’s oil capital. The Syrian Army reportedly retreated under fire and 24 soldiers are said to have defected.
Lastly, on the “unconfirmed report” front there is one that the head of the police in Latakia has defected and another that a defected MIG pilot has attacked Assad military sites in the mainly Alawite neighbourhood of the mixed sect town of Moadamiyat al-Sham near Damascus.
Ray Lewis vs Tom Brady III http://gu.com/p/3d53n/tw NFL playoffs:#Ravens vs #Patriots preview by @GdnUSsports
Ray Lewis vs Tom Brady III
The Guardian Ray Lewis vs Tom Brady III
Sunday's AFC championship will be the third and final playoff meeting between Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The series is tied 1-1
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Tom Bradyof the New England Patriots faces down Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens during last season's AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images
For two players who have practically defined their positions for the past 13 years, Ray Lewis and Tom Brady have a surprisingly slim history of head-to-head action. The pair have faced-off just seven games in all that time, and only two in the NFL's post-season. Yet delve deeper into the numbers and it is arguable that Sunday's AFC Championship contest between New England and Baltimore is the pinnacle of a decade-and-a-bit battle for dominance between the two that has bubbled up with furious intensity at regular intervals.
When Lewis lines up opposite Brady on Sunday, there will be fully 32 years of playing experience between them, while they also combine for a staggering 42 play-off appearances (Lewis 19, Brady 23). For those with short-term memory problems, it is also a repeat of this exact stage last year, when fate seemed to conspire against a Baltimore trip to Super Bowl XLVI.
Just those short 12 months ago, the Patriots emerged from a typically hard-nosed encounter with a 23-20 victory but only after Lee Evans dropped what looked like a certain end zone pass from quarterback Joe Flacco and Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that would have sent the game into overtime. Unsurprisingly, neither Evans nor Cundiff will be anywhere near the action this weekend.
