Syrian Troops Retake Border Crossing

Syrian rebels have launched an offensive to "liberate" the country's largest city of Aleppo, an opposition commander said Sunday, while in Damascus government troops backed by helicopter gunships wrested back control of rebel-held neighborhoods.

The fighting showed that even as President Bashar Assad's forces appeared close to regaining control of Damascus after days of intense street battles, the rebels could still mount a new operation in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and bedrock of support for the regime.

With Syria's civil war moving from the countryside and smaller cities into the country's two main urban centers, an activist group said the death toll had risen to more than 19,000 since the uprising began in March 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said July is shaping up to be the deadliest month in the conflict so far, with 2,752 people killed in the first three weeks.

The bloodshed has escalated as the rebels have taken the fight to the government with a week of fighting in Damascus, including a bombing that struck at Assad's inner circle and killed four senior regime officials. In a bid to seize the momentum, the opposition has also taken control of four border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, most recently the Bab al-Salamah post on the Turkish frontier.

AP

RETRANSMISSION FOR ALTERNATE CROP - This... View Full Caption

RETRANSMISSION FOR ALTERNATE CROP - This citizen journalist image shows a dead body lying in the street in the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in south Damascus, Syria, Saturday, July 21, 2012. This week, fierce fighting between troops and rebels reached the Syrian capital, the central bastion of Bashar Assad's rule, shattering parts of the city and sending thousands of people fleeing to neighboring Lebanon and Iraq. Activists and residents reported a tense calm in Damascus Saturday but said sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard throughout the night. (AP Photo) Close

A video posted online by activists Sunday showed about a dozen gunmen standing in front of the Bab al-Salamah crossing as they raised the Syrian opposition flag.

In a sign that the regime may be striking back, Gen. Qassim al-Dulaimi, commander of Iraq's forces around the border region of al-Qaim, reported the sounds of fighting at the Bukamal crossing, suggesting Assad's troops are trying to retake that frontier post.

The fighting in Damascus and Aleppo has shaken the government's once seemingly iron grip on the two cities, which are both home to elites who have benefited from close ties to Assad's regime, as well as merchant classes and minority groups who worry their status will suffer if Assad falls.

Col. Abdul-Jabbar Mohammed Aqidi, the commander of rebel forces in Aleppo province, said "we gave the orders for the march into Aleppo with the aim of liberating it."

"We urge the residents of Aleppo to stay in their homes until the city is liberated," he said in a video posted by activists on YouTube. He added that rebels were fighting inside the city while others were moving in from the outskirts.

Aqidi called on government troops to defect and join the opposition, and said rebels will protect members of President Bashar Assad's Alawite minority sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam, saying "our war is not with you but with the Assad family."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said the fighting is concentrated in several neighborhoods.

Saeed said rebels are in full control of the central Salaheddine district and the nearby Sakhour area. He added that thousands of residents have fled tense quarters of the city for safer neighborhoods and the suburbs.

"Aleppo is witnessing serious street battles" and many shops are closed, Saeed said.

He said there were fierce clashes on the road leading to the city's international airport, known as Nairab, as rebels tried to surround the airfield to prevent the regime from sending reinforcements.