Syria rebels overtake strategic base in south
Syrian insurgents including fighters from al Qaeda's Jabhat al-Nusra, seized an important government army base in the southwestern Deraa province on Sunday, fighters who took part in the battle said.
The base, one of several used to pound rebel-held villages and towns in southern Syria and along the frontier with Jordan, lies at the heart of a heavily fortified zone which has formed a southern line of defence protecting the capital, Damascus.
The fighters said hundreds of insurgents armed with rocket launchers and anti-aircraft weapons had taken over the Brigade 82 base near the town of Sheikh Maskeen, close to the main north-south highway between Damascus and Jordan.
