BEIRUT (AP)
-- Syrian rebels went on the offensive in Syria's north Monday, seizing
three villages and attacking a main supply road, trying to counter
government advances in recent weeks throughout the country.
Monday's
clashes near the northern city of Aleppo killed more than a dozen
government soldiers, activists said. The battle came a day after forces
fighting for President Bashar Assad killed dozens of rebels near
Damascus.
The battles showed that more than
two years after it started, the Syrian civil war appears far from over,
and neither side is showing signs of fatigue. According to the U.N., at
least 93,000 people have been killed in the bloody conflict.
In
another rebel attack Monday, two suicide bombers from the
al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra blew up their cars in a military post
and an army checkpoint in the town of Sukhna near the central city of
Palmyra, killing and wounding large numbers of troops, according to the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said warplanes
bombed the town after the two blasts, causing casualties among
civilians.
The fighting in the northern
province of Aleppo came a day after opposition fighters sustained some
of their heaviest losses in months.
Government troops killed at least 75 rebels in and around the Syrian capital on Sunday, the Observatory said.
The rebel capture of the strategic village of Khan al-Assal and two smaller villages was a rare victory in recent months.
Khan
al-Assal has been a major front in the fight for Aleppo. In March,
chemical weapons were allegedly used in the village, killing more than
30 people. The Syrian government and the rebels blame each other for the
attack.
Opposition fighters on Monday took
control of the villages on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo, though
clashes were still going on near Khan al-Assal. Inside Aleppo,
airstrikes targeted several rebel-held districts, said the Observatory,
an anti-regime activists group that relies on reports from activists on
the ground.
The opposition's Aleppo Media
Center said several rebel factions are taking part in the operation that
aims to cut government supply lines to the southern areas of Aleppo
province. The AMC said rebels cut the road, but the Observatory said
fighting was still in progress there.
Regime
forces have been relying on the road to bring supplies and food to
government-controlled areas in the north after rebels cut the main
highway between Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's largest city, last year.
The Observatory said 14 government troops were killed Monday in the fighting in Aleppo province.
Fighting
also raged in Homs, Syria's third largest city, where the regime has
been trying to oust rebels from the city center in an offensive that
started in late June. Monday's clashes concentrated on the rebel-held
Khaldiyeh district, the Observatory said.
Rockets
fired by government troops on Khaldiyeh hit the historic Khalid Ibn
al-Walid mosque, damaging the tomb of a revered figure in Sunni Islam
inside the mosque.
"This is the first time
they hit the tomb," said Homs-based activist who identified himself only
as Abu Bilal for fear of government reprisals. "Ten rockets hit the
mosque today," he said.
An amateur video
posted online showed heavy damage in the mosque, including a hole in one
of its nine domes. The fence around the tomb was blown away and debris
was scattered all over the mosque.
The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
Diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis sputtered along on Monday.
In
Moscow, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil told reporters after
meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that they discussed a
possible Russian loan. Jamil did not give details. His comments came
after the Syrian pound hit a record low against the U.S. dollar,
crossing the 300-pound line, compared with 47 pounds to the dollar at
the start of the crisis 29 months ago.
"I hope a decision on offering Syria another loan will be made by the year's end," Jamil said.
Lavrov
said the opposition, including the Western-backed Syrian National
Coalition, is showing no interest in peace talks to end the civil war,
while the Syrian government has said it would take part.
"To
our great regret, unlike the government of Syria, a significant part of
the opposition, including the National Coalition, aren't showing such
readiness," Lavrov said at the start of the talks. "We are persistently
and continuously asking our partners, who have a serious influence with
the National Coalition, to use it for positive ends and persuade it to
revise its current unconstructive stance."
The
opposition insists that Assad must step down as the first step in any
diplomatic process. Assad insists he can run for president again next
year.
----
Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Moscow.r
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