Conflict in the World - Syria

The commander of FSA forces in Aleppo province, Col Abdul Jabbar Mohammed Aqidi, vowed to "liberate" the whole city, called on government troops to defect and vowed to protect members of the president's minority Alawite sect.

There were also reports of violence in the eastern city of Dayr az-Zawr on Sunday, July 22, 2012. . Witnesses told Reuters that it was being attacked with artillery and rockets from helicopter gunships.

BBC sources in Syria also confirmed that rebels were now in control of the Bab al-Salam border crossing with Turkey. Turkey is not allowing non-Syrian nationals through so the border remains effectively closed.

Rebel fighters took Al-Salam on July 22 after hours of fighting during the night, and that the sounds of the battle could be heard from the Turkish side of the border. Syrian rebels are now in control of the Jarabulus, Bab al-Hawa and Al-Salam posts along the nearly 900-kilometre (560-mile) frontier with Turkey

Syrian forces regained control of one of two border crossings seized by rebels on the frontier with Iraq, Iraqi officials said, but rebels said they had captured a third border crossing with Turkey: Bab al-Salam, north of Aleppo.

Rebels also seized an army infantry school in the town of Musalmiyeh, 16km north of Aleppo, and captured several loyalist officers, while others defected, a senior military defector in Turkey and rebel sources inside Syria said.

"This is of big strategic and symbolic importance. The school has ammunition depots and armoured formations and it protects the northern gate to Aleppo," Brigadier General Mustafa al-Sheikh said by phone from the town of Apayden on the Turkish border.