President Bashar Assad has proclaimed that "Syria has emerged victorious" in the fight against rebels trying to topple his regime, according to comments published Tuesday in the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper.

"The conspiracy against Syria is nearing its end," al-Akhbar said, citing unnamed politicians who met with Assad in the Syrian capital.

Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's forces captured the governor of the northern province of Raqa after overrunning the provincial capital, a watchdog said on Tuesday.

A short amateur video filmed by rebels and distributed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights showed the governor, Hassan Jalili, and Suleiman Suleiman, the ruling Baath party's secretary general for Raqa province, seated among rebels.

A "terrorist group" from Syria carried out a deadly ambush in western Iraq on Monday that killed 48 Syrian soldiers being transferred to the border and nine Iraqi guards, the defense ministry said.

The ambush was carried out "by a terrorist group that infiltrated into Iraqi territory coming from Syria," the ministry said on its website.

The Phalange Party warned on Monday of the dangerousness of the situation along the Lebanese-Syrian border, saying they may soon turn into an “open front.”

It therefore demanded after its weekly politburo meeting that the border areas “be declared a military zone under the control of the army.”

Gunmen killed 48 Syrians and nine Iraqis Monday as they ambushed a convoy in western Iraq carrying Syrian soldiers to the border, the premier's spokesman said, vowing to resist attempts to spread Syria's conflict to its neighbor.

The ambush, a day after a key Syrian opposition group accused Iraq of interfering in Syria, threatens to entangle Iraq in its neighbor’s bloody, prolonged civil war -- something Baghdad has sought to avoid.

Registered unemployment in Spain surpassed five million for the first time in February, government data showed Monday, as the euro zone's fourth-largest economy contracted and the government imposed steep spending cuts.

The number of people registering for unemployment benefits rose 59,444 or 1.19 percent from the previous month to 5,040,222 as companies in all areas of the economy continued to lay off staff, the labor ministry said in a statement.

Syrian rebels battling troops loyal to President Bashar Assad overran Raqa on Monday after days of fierce fighting, and were now in "near-total control" of the northern city, a watchdog reported.

"This is the first provincial capital in Syria where rebels have made such progress. They now have near-total control of Raqa city, except for some regime positions, including the military security and Baath party headquarters," Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly expressed concern on Monday over the security situation in Lebanon and along its border, stressing that the parliamentary elections should be held on time.

“I share the concern about the security situation within Lebanon and along its borders,” Connelly said after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri.

Syrian troops on Monday launched a major assault to capture rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The offensive comes after at least 264 people were killed across the strife-torn country on Sunday, among them 115 regime soldiers, 104 rebels and 45 civilians, the Observatory said.

A key Syrian opposition group on Sunday accused the government in Baghdad of intervening in the country and "attacking the Syrian people," a day after clashes were reported near the border.

"After the Iraqi government headed by (premier) Nouri al-Maliki gave political and intelligence support to the Syrian regime... the Baghdad regime has moved on to a new level of intervention in Syrian affairs," the Syrian National Council said.