Syria: Rebels kill 78 soldiers
Syrian rebels killed 78 soldiers on Thursday, about half of them in attacks on military checkpoints in the north just hours after a wave of bombings hit the Damascus area, activists said.
The unusually high toll for regime forces came after days of intense air bombardment of rebel positions around the country that killed hundreds more.
Anti-regime activists say President Bashar Assad’s regime has been making even heavier use than before of airstrikes to try to win back territory rebels have captured, including the strategic northern city of Maaret al-Numan on a key supply route from the capital Damascus to the commercial hub of Aleppo. Rebels have been using the city as a base to disrupt government supplies to Aleppo, a key front in the civil war.