Syria Rebels Kill Intelligence Officer, Seize Town near Turkey

Syrian insurgents ambushed and killed a military intelligence officer near Damascus while the army pounded several rebel bastions in and around the capital and insurgents seized a town near Turkey, a watchdog reported on Tuesday.

"Rebel fighters ambushed the military intelligence chief in Jaramana on Monday night, after which he was killed," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, is home to a majority Christian and Druze population and to pro-regime militia. It has suffered numerous rebel bomb attacks in recent months.

The Observatory said the army on Tuesday renewed shelling on the capital's southern districts as violence raged southwest of Damascus, mainly in the towns of Moadamiyet al-Sham and Daraya.

The watchdog said at least eight people were "summarily executed" in the area by regime forces.

Analysts say President Bashar Assad's regime wants to ensure its hold on the capital so it can be in a position to negotiate an end to the nearly 21-month conflict that the Observatory says has killed more than 44,000 people.

On Tuesday at least 31 people were killed across Syria according to preliminary figures given by the Observatory, a day after 126 people died.

Elsewhere in Syria, rebels seized the town of Harem in the northwestern province of Idlib, large swathes of which have slipped out of army hands, said the Britain-based monitoring group.

"Insurgents from several rebel groups have seized total control of the town of Harem, after taking ... the army and pro-regime militia's last bases there," said the Observatory.

Pro-Assad forces surrendered to the rebels after a siege lasting several months, said the watchdog.

Syria's conflict broke out when a peaceful uprising against Assad morphed into a bloody insurgency after the regime unleashed a brutal campaign of repression against dissent.

The latest violence comes as U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi visits Damascus in yet another bid to end the conflict.