Hundreds Killed in Syria Police Academy Battle, Says NGO

Hundreds of Syrian troops and rebels were killed in a week-long battle for a police academy in the northern province of Aleppo, with insurgents seizing control of most of the complex, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

"Rebels have seized most of a police academy in Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province ... after eight days of fighting that left 200 troops and rebels dead," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based group said at least 120 army troops were among those killed in the battle for one of the regime's last remaining bastions in the west of Aleppo province. On Sunday alone, rebels had killed more than 34 troops at the facility.

A police source in Aleppo confirmed that much of the academy had fallen into rebel hands, reporting that 40 security forces were believed dead. As many as 300 rebels were among those killed, he said.

Amateur video shot by Islamist rebels and distributed by the anti-regime Aleppo Media Center showed a black flag flying over one of the academy buildings, while a large poster of President Bashar Assad had been torn.

Another video showed rebels aboard a captured military vehicle and stashes of ammunition seized from the academy.

Elsewhere, three mortars hit an area near the army general command headquarters and a customs complex in the heart of Damascus, said the Observatory.

The heavily-guarded area housing the army command headquarters was last year targeted by a car bombing claimed by the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, and two mortar rounds hit the area on February 21.

Also on Sunday, rebels in the southern province of Daraa seized an artillery battalion in Jamla village near the armistice line with Israel, according to the Observatory said.

Earlier on Sunday, Jihadist rebels seized control of a prison in the northern Raqa province and freed "hundreds" of detainees overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

"Government forces pulled out of Raqa's central prison located in the northern part of the provincial capital after clashes that lasted days," the watchdog said.

Rebels from Al-Nusra Front and other insurgents took over the prison late on Saturday "and liberated hundreds of prisoners," it said, adding some detainees were transferred to nearby Tal Abiad to appear before a local Islamist court.

The prison takeover came as battles raged Saturday on the outskirts of the city of Raqa between rebels and Syrian troops, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Sixteen rebels and 14 soldiers were killed in the fighting, which the Observatory said was "the most violent in the region" since the uprising against President Bashar Assad erupted nearly two years ago.

The rebels, who control most of the countryside of Raqa, have been attacking army checkpoint on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

In the oil-rich province of Hassakeh in northeast Syria, Kurdish militants opposed to the Assad regime captured the towns of Ramilan and Qahtaniyeh from government forces, the Observatory said.

At least 156 people were killed in violence across Syria on Saturday, including two Palestinians hanged at the Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus on suspicion of aiding the regime, it said.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground to collect information, circulated a picture of the hangings.