At one point during the summer of 2015, it seemed that the Free Syrian Army was on the verge of taking control of the city and expelling the pro-Assad Syrian Army and its militias. Disposition of Syrian rebel and Syrian Army forces in Aleppo, Spring 2016. It is the Free Syrian Army that now finds itself largely surrounded and, its recent successes notwithstanding, in danger of collapsing. Al Qayyarah also hosts a former Iraqi Air Force base (Saddam Air Base), about 15 miles due west of the town. Modest as its air forces were, they was still more than those possessed by the Free Syrian Army.

Source: Huffington Post May 22, 2016 09:52 UTC