By Reuters

Published: Monday, March 11, 2013, 12:01 a.m.
Updated: Monday, March 11, 2013

Syrian rebels broke through government lines to ease a siege of their positions in the strategic city of Homs on Sunday despite coming under fierce aerial bombardment, opposition campaigners said.

The communally mixed city of Sunni Muslims and Alawites, the minority sect that has dominated Syria since the 1960s, has emerged as a major battleground in the 2-year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad. The bloodshed has claimed about 70,000 lives so far, according to the United Nations.

Homs, 88 miles north of Damascus, the capital, lies on a vital road juncture linking army bases on the Mediterranean coast, home to a large proportion of Assad's Alawites, and government forces.

In a counter-offensive, Sunni rebels punched their way through government lines in the north and west to loosen a months-long army siege on their strongholds in the center of the city, opposition sources said.

Insurgents based in the provinces advanced on Homs this weekend while brigades from rural Homs attacked government positions in its Baba Amro district.

1. Afghan students protest women’s rights
2. Soldier killed on London street; terrorist suspect filmed with cleaver, knife
3. Iranian soldiers fighting for Syria, State contends
4. Kerry: U.S. ready to step up aid to rebels
5. 6 Americans die in suicide blast in Afghanistan
6. Talks help free 7 kidnapped Egyptian soldiers
7. Obama vague on influence  in Syria
8. Japanese mayor notes insensitivity of telling U.S. troops to visit his nation’s adult establishments
9. More violence hits Iraq
10. In Syria, thousands disappear
11. Venezuela’s military sent into high-crime slums

There are currently no comments for this story.
Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.