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Fighting Escalates in Syrian City, Opposition Says Rebels Reported to Seize Provincial Capital After Heavy Fighting
(about 3 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Opponents of President Bashar al-Assad said fighting between rebels and government forces backed by tanks and warplanes had escalated in the central city of Homs on Monday a day after high casualties on both sides in separate battles further north in Aleppo. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rebel fighters seized control of the contested north-central city of Raqqa on Monday after days of heavy clashes with government forces, smashing a statue of President Bashar al-Assad’s father in the central square and occupying the governor’s palace, according to activist groups and videos uploaded to the Internet.
Details of the clashes were scarce, but the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and draws its information from a network of contacts inside Syria, said fighting flared in several neighborhoods of Homs, which had been relatively quiet, after government forces launched an offensive to dislodge rebels on Sunday. If the insurgents manage to retain control of Raqqa, capital of Raqqa province, it would signify a potentially important turn in the two-year-old Syrian conflict. Raqqa, a strategic city on the Euphrates River, would be the first provincial capital completely taken over by the armed resistance to President Assad. For the government, the loss of Raqqa would diminish the prospects that Mr. Assad’s military, now fighting on a number of fronts, could retake a vast swathe of northern and eastern Syria from the rebels.
An activist in Homs, contacted via Skype, who identified himself as Abu Bilal, said there had been a successions of “explosions that shook the entire city” on Monday and clouds of black smoke blanketed some neighborhoods. The Local Coordination Committees, another opposition group, said there had been “fierce and continuous shelling from heavy artillery and rocket launchers” directed at insurgents in several areas. The Raqqa news coincided with reports from Iraq that at least 40 Syrian soldiers who had taken temporary refuge from rebels on the Iraqi side of the border on Sunday were killed on Monday as the Iraqi military was transporting them back into Syria on a bus. Iraqi officials said the bus was damaged by bombs and that unidentified gunmen killed most of the occupants. If confirmed, it would be the most deadly case of cross-border violence between Iraq and Syria since the Syrian conflict began.
Rebel videos posted on YouTube about the Raqqa takeover included the destruction of a statue of Hafez al-Assad, the former president and father of Bashar, whose four-decade-old control of the country is now threatened by the insurgency. Footage showed anti-Assad activists pulling the statue down, its head smashing in the fall.
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of anti-Assad activists in Syria, said the governor’s palace in Raqqa had been seized by insurgents. An activist reached by phone in Raqqa, Abu Muhammad, said he also believed the palace had been “completely liberated.” The whereabouts of its loyalist occupants was not clear.
“The only place still under control of the regime, in the entire province of Raqqa, is the military security building,” the activist said. “Clashes are raging there right now between the heroes of the free army and regime forces.”
Raqqa had been under insurgent siege for days, but a breakthrough came Saturday when government forces abandoned the city’s central prison. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based anti-Assad group with a network of observers inside Syria, said fighters from the al-Nusra Front and other insurgent units seized the prison and released hundreds of inmates.
Earlier Monday, anti-Assad activists reported heavy fighting was raging between rebels and government forces backed by tanks and warplanes in Homs, the central Syrian city that had been relatively quiet recently.
Details of the clashes were imprecise, but the Syrian Observatory said fighting flared in several neighborhoods of Homs after government forces had launched an offensive to dislodge rebels on Sunday.
An activist in Homs, contacted via Skype, who identified himself as Abu Bilal, said there had been a successions of “explosions that shook the entire city” on Monday and clouds of black smoke blanketed some neighborhoods. The Local Coordination Committees said there had been “fierce and continuous shelling from heavy artillery and rocket launchers” directed at insurgents in several areas.
The clashes seemed to shift attention from Aleppo, where fighting had swirled for days around the Khan al-Asal police academy in Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city and once regarded its economic heart, after months of attempts by the insurgents to storm it.The clashes seemed to shift attention from Aleppo, where fighting had swirled for days around the Khan al-Asal police academy in Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city and once regarded its economic heart, after months of attempts by the insurgents to storm it.
Both sides in the civil war, which started as a peaceful uprising almost two years ago and has now claimed an estimated 70,000 lives, acknowledged relatively high death tolls in the fighting for Khan al-Asal.Both sides in the civil war, which started as a peaceful uprising almost two years ago and has now claimed an estimated 70,000 lives, acknowledged relatively high death tolls in the fighting for Khan al-Asal.
The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper in Syria on Monday accused opposition fighters of massacring 115 police officers and wounding 50 there.The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper in Syria on Monday accused opposition fighters of massacring 115 police officers and wounding 50 there.
On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some 200 government soldiers and rebels died in the fighting. With other fatalities elsewhere, the Observatory said, the tally for the day stood at 260, among them 115 government troops, 104 rebels and 45 civilians. On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 200 government soldiers and rebels died in the fighting. With other fatalities elsewhere, the Observatory said, the tally for the day stood at 260, among them 115 government troops, 104 rebels and 45 civilians.
The Local Coordination Committees said on Sunday that the rebel Free Syrian Army “liberated the police academy” and “is now conducting a search of the place.”
The fighting coincided with new efforts by outsiders, including the United States, Britain and their allies, to support the rebels with nonlethal aid. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, has hinted, however, that Britain might consider arming the insurgents — a stance that prompted Mr. Assad to say in an interview published on Sunday that Britain was seeking to “militarize” the conflict.The fighting coincided with new efforts by outsiders, including the United States, Britain and their allies, to support the rebels with nonlethal aid. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, has hinted, however, that Britain might consider arming the insurgents — a stance that prompted Mr. Assad to say in an interview published on Sunday that Britain was seeking to “militarize” the conflict.
In an interview published in The Sunday Times of London, Mr. Assad also restated his terms for peace talks that seemed likely to preclude any negotiations with rebels who are pressing the Obama administration to go beyond the $60 million in nonlethal aid promised by Secretary of State John Kerry last week.In an interview published in The Sunday Times of London, Mr. Assad also restated his terms for peace talks that seemed likely to preclude any negotiations with rebels who are pressing the Obama administration to go beyond the $60 million in nonlethal aid promised by Secretary of State John Kerry last week.
“How can we ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarize the problem?” Mr. Assad said. “How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists?” The Syrian authorities call their armed adversaries terrorists.“How can we ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarize the problem?” Mr. Assad said. “How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists?” The Syrian authorities call their armed adversaries terrorists.
Mr. Hague responded by saying: “I think this will go down as one of the most delusional interviews that any national leader has given in modern times.”Mr. Hague responded by saying: “I think this will go down as one of the most delusional interviews that any national leader has given in modern times.”
Britain plans to announce a new package of aid for the rebels this week, but Mr. Hague has declined to specify what it contains.Britain plans to announce a new package of aid for the rebels this week, but Mr. Hague has declined to specify what it contains.
In the interview with The Sunday Times of London, Mr. Assad said he was “ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants, who surrender their arms.”In the interview with The Sunday Times of London, Mr. Assad said he was “ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants, who surrender their arms.”
But, he went, “We are not going to deal with terrorists who are determined to carry weapons, to terrorize people, to kill civilians, to attack public places or private enterprises and to destroy the country.”

Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, Alan Cowell from London and Rick Gladstone from New York. Reporting was contributed by an employee of The New York Times bureau in Baghdad, Iraq.

“We have opposition that are political entities and we have armed terrorists,” Mr. Assad said. “We can engage in dialogue with the opposition, but we cannot engage in dialogue with terrorists. We fight terrorism.”
“Syria lies at the fault line geographically, politically, socially and ideologically,” Mr. Assad said. “So playing with this fault line will have serious repercussions all over the Middle East. Any intervention will not make things better. It will only make them worse. Europe and the United States and others are going to pay the price sooner or later with the instability in this region. They do not foresee it.”
His remarks illuminated the gulf between his depiction of the fighting and the perceptions of many Western and regional governments that have swung their support behind the rebels and regard the conflict as a civil war with strong sectarian overtones.
The publication of Mr. Assad’s remarks came hours before Sheik Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, the leader of the Syrian opposition coalition, was reported on Sunday to have paid his first visit to areas of northern Syria under the control of rebel fighters.
Reuters said Mr. Khatib crossed from Turkey to tour several towns after meeting with rebel commanders and opposition politicians in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.

Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Alan Cowell from London.