Rebel and government forces continue to clash in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city and commercial hub . . . government forces reportedly are staging tanks, fighter jets, and troops for a massive attack . . . UN human rights chief Navi Pillay urged both sides to avoid civilian casualties . . . rebels claim to have captured a military base in northern Aleppo, capturing more than 100 government loyalists, while activists say government troops killed at least 15 in new fighting today . . . Reuters reports Turkey set up a base in coordination with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to provide military and logistic aid to the rebels . . . Turkey reportedly established the base at the request of Saudi deputy foreign minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud . . . the three countries reportedly are providing weapons to the Syrian rebels . . . Ikhlas al-Badawi, a newly-elected member of parliament from Aleppo, defected to Turkey today . . . clashes between rebels and government forces continue to expand, both in breadth and in frequency . . . the increase of weapons provided to the Syrian rebels with weapons has greatly raised the level of violence and is threatening the Assad regime's grip on power . . .  the government starting to show cracks, with due to defections . . . however, neither new weapons for the rebels nor the defections will likely be enough for the rebels to defeat the regime and will probably lead to continued bloodshed and stalemate over the short term.