Summary Syrian rebels on Monday captured a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River in the country's north.
According to activists, the rebels have seized the dam after days of heavy clashes, carting off boxes of ammunition from defeated regime forces in the latest in a string of recent strategic advances for opposition fighters.
Also Monday, activists said rebels and pro-government Kurdish gunmen struck a truce to end days of fighting in the town of Ras al-Ayn near the border with Turkey that opposition forces entered earlier this month.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters overran regime defenses and captured the Tishrin Dam, near the town of Manbij, before dawn Monday. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the dam supplies several areas of Syria with electricity.
The rebels have scored a series of hard-fought strategic advances recently, perhaps even seizing the momentum in their relentless battle of topple President Bashar Assad s regime.
On Sunday, they captured a regime helicopter base outside Damascus before pulling back for fear of government airstrikes.
Amateur videos posted online showed gunmen inside the dam s operations room as an employee sat in front of five screens speaking by telephone about the level of water behind the dam. Another video showed gunman in front of dozens of green wooden boxes apparently full of munitions.
A gunman opened one of the boxes showing that it contained hand grenades. "The Free Syrian Army has fully liberated the Tishrin Dam," one of the rebels could be heard saying.
Syria s conflict started in March 2011 as an uprising against Assad s regime, but quickly morphed into a civil war that has since killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists. It has also prompted hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
Turkey s state-run Anadolu Agency said airstrikes by regime warplanes killed and wounded several people in the Syrian border town Atmeh on Monday.
The agency said some of the wounded were brought to Turkey for treatment, and several people were also heading to the Turkish border to seek refuge. Atmeh is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of the Tishrin Dam.
The Islamic militants, who are fighting on the side of the rebels, have played a bigger role in the Syrian conflict in recent months and many openly say they want to set up an Islamic state. The opposition is split, with some groups strongly opposed to the influence of extremists.
The Observatory also said that the health of leading opposition figure Abdul-Aziz al-Kheir, who it said is being held by one of the country s security agencies, has deteriorated recently. It did not disclose details of his health problems.
The National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria accused the regime of being behind the disappearance of two of its leaders, including al-Kheir, shortly after they arrived home from China in September.
Al-Kheir, 61, comes from Assad s hometown of Kardaha and belongs to the president s ruling Alawite minority sect. He spent long periods in jail in the past because of his opposition to the regime.
