Syrian rebels seize Turkish border crossing

DHAKA: Syrian rebels seized a crossing at the Turkish border Wednesday, tearing down the Syrian flag and ripping posters of President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish media reported.

Rebels fired into the air in celebration after taking control of a customs building at the Tal Abyad border gate, the Anadolu Agency reported, says CNN.

‘Their kinsmen in Turkey joined them in their celebration from across the Turkish side of the border,’ Anadolu said.

Rebel fighters have been trying to take control of border crossings to secure a safe haven near Turkey, a country sympathetic to the Syrian opposition movement.

At least 61 people were killed in fresh violence Wednesday, including 30 in Damascus and its suburbs, opposition activists said.

Among the dead, 20 people were executed in the capital’s Jobar neighbourhood, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

Warplanes shelled civilians gathered at a bakery in Deir Ezzor province, the LCC said, killing three people and wounding more than 15.

Government forces inflicted ‘heavy losses’ against ‘terrorists’ in Aleppo, the nation’s most populous city, and its countryside, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said Wednesday.

They destroyed an ammunition warehouse and seized weaponry in the Aleppo operations, the agency said.

Soldiers also said they cleared a Damascus countryside neighbourhood of militants, destroyed an ammunition warehouse in Homs and seized a truck in Hama loaded with weapons and ammunition.

BDST: 1837 HRS, SEP 19, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor