Rebels seize military post on Syria’s southern border

Rebels groups including Islamists overrun outpost after four days of fighting, while regime forces gain control of tunnels and arms caches in Damascus.

BEIRUT // Rebel fighters including foreign Islamists took control of a military post on Syria’s southern border with Jordan on Saturday after four days of heavy fighting.

The former customs post on the edge of the city of Deraa, where Syria’s uprising against President Bashar Al Assad’s erupted in 2011, was seized by several groups including the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and the Islamist Ahrar Al Sham, activists said.

Rebels also seized a fuel depot north of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, while state media said Mr Al Assad’s forces made gains in rebel-held areas of east Damascus.

The Sana news agency said the army made major advances in the eastern Damascus districts of Jobar, Qaboun and Zamalka, where they found a network of rebel tunnels used to store weapons, including French-made anti-tank rocket launchers and parts of anti-aircraft guns, the report said.

The three districts are on the edge of Ghouta district, which was hit by chemical weapons on August 21.

United Nations inspectors said in a report two weeks ago that sarin was used in the attack. Western powers said the report showed Mr Al Assad’s forces were responsible, while the president and his Russian allies blame rebels.

The inspectors returned to Syria on Tuesday to continue investigations into allegations of chemical and biological weapons use, including three previously unreported cases around Damascus in the days following the Ghouta attack.

A car carrying members of the team was seen leaving their Damascus hotel on Saturday morning but there was no indication of where they were heading. They are due to complete their work in Syria on Monday and present a full report by late October.

The day after that team completes its mission, experts from the international watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will begin inspecting Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons, under the terms of a deal struck this month which averted US military action.

* Reuters