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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces launched a major offensive today against rebels in Homs, a centre of the two-year uprising.
It is Mr Assad’s latest drive to secure an axis linking Damascus to the Mediterranean.
Activists said jets and mortars pounded rebel-held areas of the city which have been under siege by Mr Assad’s troops for a year, and soldiers fought battles with rebel fighters in several districts.
A roadside bomb killed eight soldiers in Thailand’s restive south, an army spokesman said, raising questions over the durability of a fragile peace process aiming to end the near-decade long insurgency.
More than 5,700 people have been killed in a festering insurgency in Thailand’s Muslim-majority southern provinces, but optimism for peace has flickered recently after talks between authorities and some rebel groups including the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN).
Syrian rebels advancing from the Jordanian border seized a strategic army position in the southern city of Daraa on Friday as fighting raged in the surrounding province, a watchdog said.
“They seized two buildings in the provincial capital that regime forces were using to keep the whole city under surveillance,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Health Minister Nurideen Doghman announced five people were killed and nearly 100 people were wounded during clashes between rival militias in Tripoli on Wednesday.
Reports of heavy gunfire and explosions carried on into the night, while heavily armed groups continued to fight for power.
One government soldier has been confirmed dead and 9 others have sustained serious injuries after al-Shabaab attacked a government troops convoy between Qansax Dere and Awdinley towns in Bai region. The troops were attacked as they were heading towards Awdinley when Alshabab fighters launched a sudden attack on the government forces.
AMISOM troops and additional government soldiers arrived at the scene to scare away the al-Shabaab fighters who faced the travelling government convoy. The injured government soldiers have been rushed to Baidoa general hospital.