Syrian rebels seize key army post in Daraa

BEIRUT -- Syrian rebels have captured a major army post in the southern city of Daraa after nearly two weeks of intense fighting, as battles raged between troops and opposition forces in the province that borders Jordan, activists said.

Daraa, the provincial capital of a region that carries the same name, is the birthplace of the uprising against President Bashar Assad that started 27 months ago. Rebels hope to one day launch an offensive from the area to take the capital, Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic militants led by members of the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, captured the checkpoint Friday after a two-week siege.

It said rebels blew up a car bomb Thursday, killing and wounding a number of soldiers. then stormed the post, made up of two of the highest buildings in the city.

Earlier, the Observatory said intense shelling by Syrian government troops on the village of Karak in Daraa province killed at least 10 women and girls overnight.

Meanwhile Saturday, government troops launched a series of attacks in central Syria, striking with artillery, tanks and warplanes in a drive to capture rebel-held neighborhoods in Homs, the country's third largest city, activists said.

The military, building on its capture of the strategic town of Qusair between the Lebanese border and Homs at the beginning of June, has overrun a number of nearby villages. It also has hammered the center of the city, a rebel stronghold since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. Homs, a city of about 1 million, has shown great sympathy for the opposition since the early days of the uprising.-- AP