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Syrian rebels eye capital after gains in south

Syrian rebels continue to make significant inroads in the country’s south as the Syrian government focuses on key battles in Damascus.
A Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighter gestures towards fellow fighters operating a tank during what the FSA said was an offensive to take control of al-Zaalana checkpoint in Wadi al-Deif military camp, which remains under government control, in the southern Idlib countryside July 9, 2014. Free Syrian Army fighters started the al-Jaysh al-Wahad (The One Army) battle against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad over the al-Hamidiyeh and Wadi al-Deif military camps in Idlib, trying to take control of t
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DARAA, Syria — Syrian rebels launched a series of battles in southern Syria to open the route between Daraa and Quneitra and gain access to Damascus and its besieged western countryside.

The clashes took place at the end of September and beginning of October, and included the Sept. 27 al-Waad-al-Haq battle that resulted in rebels seizing Quneitra, and the Oct. 4 Daraa offensive that fighters announced on the first day of the Eid al-Adha festival in the northwest Daraa countryside. The rebels took control of al-Harra and its strategic Tel al-Harra hill.

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