Syrian rebels overran the northern city of Raqa on Monday, scoring their biggest victory since the outbreak of a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad almost two years ago. In central Syria, insurgents battled a major army offensive to capture rebel-held areas of the city of Homs, a watchdog reported, as the US said it would work to "empower" the opposition.
After days of fierce fighting, the rebels were now in "near-total control" of Raqa, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "This is the first provincial capital in Syria where rebels have made such progress," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "They now have near-total control of Raqa city, except for some regime positions, including the military security and Baath party headquarters."
The Observatory said Al-Nusra Front jihadists fought alongside other rebel groups in the battle for the northern city, which is strategically located on the Euphrates river near the Turkish border. In Raqa, residents destroyed a statue of Assad's father and predecessor Hafez al-Assad, according to amateur video footage distributed by activists.
"Come here Bashar (al-Assad) and see what happened to your father's statue!" cried an unidentified cameraman, as he filmed young residents beating the fallen statue with their shoes, in scenes reminiscent of the 2003 fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The air force then deployed warplanes to bombard an area near the city's presidential palace, according to the Observatory. The watchdog reported that rebels killed a police chief and captured two senior security officials.
Raqa was once home to 240,000 residents, but around 800,000 people forced to flee violence in other parts of Syria have sought shelter there since the start of the conflict, which has claimed more than 70,000 lives, according to the UN. On Monday alone, at least 105 people were killed across Syria, said the Observatory, adding that 30 of them were civilians.
In the central city of Homs, insurgents fought a fierce army onslaught aimed at crushing rebel enclaves in what activists have dubbed "the capital of the revolution". The fighting in Homs "is the worst fighting in months and there are dozens of dead and wounded among the assailants," said the Observatory, which relies on a network of medics and activists on the ground for its information.
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