Summary Syrian rebels have captured the northern city of Raqa on Monday.
DAMASCUS (AFP) - 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.
Reflecting the regional spillover from the conflict, dozens of unarmed and wounded Syrian soldiers who had crossed the border to escape weekend fighting were killed in western Iraq along with nine Iraqis as gunmen from Syria ambushed their convoy, Iraqi officials said.
After days of fierce clashes, the rebels were now in "near-total control" of Raqa, "except for some regime positions, including the military security and Baath party headquarters," 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.
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.
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.
