Sunday, October 7, 2012

Northern Syria Opposition fighters reportedly seize Khirbat al-Joz near Turkey border


Rebels 'cement gains' in northern Syria 
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8:20 AM - 7 Oct 12 · Details
Rebels 'cement gains' in northern Syria
Opposition fighters reportedly seize Khirbat al-Joz near Turkey border but are pushed back in the province of Damascus.
Last Modified: 07 Oct 2012 11:30
Syrian troops on Sunday pressed their offensive to retake rebel-held areas in Homs [AFP]
Syrian rebels have cemented their control of the country’s northern frontier with Turkey, as their bastions in other parts of the country came under heavy shelling.
Activists on Sunday said that opposition fighters seized the town of Khirbat al-Joz in the northwest province of Idlib after fierce clashes with regime forces.
 
"The fighting [a day earlier] lasted more than 12 hours and resulted in at least 40 dead among the regular forces, including five officers, and nine [rebel] fighters," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Meanwhile, in the province of Damascus, Syrian state television said that government forces had pushed rebels out of two of their strongholds in Damascus province, Qudsaya and Hameh, where activists said that the bodies of 20 men were found.
Also on Sunday, Syrian troops pressed their offensive to retake rebel-held areas in Homs and southern villages on the border with Jordan.
In Aleppo, where fighting has raged since mid-July, the bombardment targeted the embattled district of Sakhur in the east and Kalasseh in the southwest.
Tension with Turkey
On the border with Turkey, regime forces reportedly pounded the town of Tal-Abyad in the northern province of al-Raqqa.
Nearly 80 per cent of towns and villages along the Turkish border are outside the control of Damascus, according to activists.
In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria
AFP news agency correspondents have passed through large swathes of territory in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces of northern Syria that have fallen outside government control, with residents managing their own affairs.
That followed heavy bombardments of Syrian military positions near the border since Wednesday, when a shell smashed into a Turkish town killing five civilians and sparking outrage in Ankara and a UN Security Council condemnation.
Turkey had on Friday shelled a Syrian military position south of Tal- Abyad in retaliation after a Syrian shell landed on its territory near the border.
Posted by Robby Ball at 5:40 AM