Dramatic footage has been released showing the moment Syrian rebels detonated 60 tonnes of explosives underneath a large army base.

Insurgents say they dug an 2,800-feet tunnel below the Wadi al Deif base before the blast earlier this month.

Video showed ground on a hillside ballooning up before breaking into a cloud of earth that engulfs the area.

An Islamic Front commander who provided the footage said rebels had surrounded the facility but it has remained inside government control for the whole of the three-year-long civil war.

He said he did not know how many government soldiers were killed but said the blast would help rebels break into the base, which has been used for attacks in the surrounding province of Idlib.

Rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad regularly carry out guerrilla attacks.

But they have only recently started using large tunnel bombs in recent weeks on military targets, including a hotel used by soldiers in Aleppo last week.