Syrian rebels were engaged in fierce battles today with regime forces trying to capture the town of Yabrud, their last stronghold in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border, an NGO said.
Meanwhile, in the northern city of Aleppo, eight soldiers were killed by a rebel suicide bombing at the city's central prison, which rebels have long been trying to capture, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
And 18 rebel fighters were killed when they launched a dawn assault against an Alawite village in central Homs province.
The Observatory said rebels were fighting on Yabrud's outskirts against government troops, backed by National Defence Forces militia and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah.
The rebel side included Islamist brigades and Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Britain-based Observatory said.
"There have been many losses on both sides, but there are not exact figures yet," the Observatory said, adding that a citizen journalist with the rebels was among those killed.
A source close to Hezbollah said the government would seize Yabrud soon.
"Yabrud will be take by the Syrian army very soon, by force or through negotiations. Then the mountain leading to the village of Arsal (in Lebanon) will be taken."
Syria's Al-Watan newspaper said the "army is advancing around the town and is ready to take control," with a security source telling AFP the plan was to advance incrementally on all sides of the town "until it is taken completely."
The battle is crucial for Hezbollah, which says most of the vehicles used in recent car bombing of its strongholds in Lebanon have come from Yabrud, which lies just over the border.
Yabrud was once home to some 30,000 residents, around 90 per cent Sunni Muslim and 10 per cent Christian.
