Syrian troops kill 70 rebels

The Syrian army killed 70 armed rebels as they were trying to sneak into a suburb here, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported Wednesday.

The rebels were ambushed while trying to infiltrate the eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus from the Adra area, Xinhua reported.

The rebels recently stepped up their attacks in northern and western Syria, seizing a strategic airbase in Aleppo province and unleashing a ferocious battle against several towns in the countryside of the coastal Latakia province.

The flare of violence came at a time when the international community was trying to push for the planned international conference on Syria, designed to hammer out a political solution to the country's 28-month-long civil conflict.