Suicide blasts in Syria kill at least 20 troops

Twin suicide bombings shook a southern Syrian city on Saturday, killing at least 20 regime troops, an activist group said.

The early morning blasts in Daraa targeted an encampment for government forces in the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.

The explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, said the Observatory. Its chief, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said at least 20 soldiers were killed in the blasts but the claim could not be independently verified.

The state-run news agency SANA said the explosions caused multiple casualties and heavy material damage, but did not provide further details.

"I heard two very loud explosions and a third smaller one followed by bursts of gunfire," said Mohammad Abu Houran, an activist in Daraa. He said the first two were likely car bombs and the third a mortar shell or rocket propelled grenade.

Abu Houran said black smoke could be seen over the high-security area, which was sealed off. Heavy shooting could be heard from the area for about 10 minutes after the explosions, he added.

State security institutions are recent targets

Daraa was the birthplace of the uprising against Assad, which erupted in March 2011. The conflict began largely with peaceful protests against Assad's rule but turned bloody after rebels took up arms in response to the regime's crackdown.

The crisis has since morphed into a vicious civil war and in recent months, rebels have driven regime forces out of much of a pocket of northwestern Syria and are battling troops in several key cities and towns.

Syrians throw their belongings while trying to cross a ditch after crossing Saturday from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain to Turkey in the border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province. (Murad Sezer/Reuters)

The fight has also taken on dangerous sectarian tones between a mainly Sunni opposition and a regime dominated by Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Bombings targeting state security institutions have become frequent in recent months, and military intelligence branches in Damascus and other cities have been hit. Most dramatically in July, rebels detonated explosives inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top regime officials, including Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.

The targeted area is considered a security zone that houses a branch of the country's Military Intelligence as well as an officer's club where dozens of regime forces are based. Around 30 tanks that regime forces use to shell Daraa and surrounding areas are also stationed in a nearby stadium, activists said.

Rebels ask for international support

Despite gaining control over large swathes of territory, particularly in the country's north, Syria's rebels are far outgunned by the military, which has increasingly relied on airstrikes against rebel strongholds.

The Syrian opposition, which is deeply divided and plagued by rivalries, says it needs weapons to break the military stalemate and defeat Assad. The rebels' Western backers have been reluctant to send weapons to the opposition fighters, for fear they will fall into the wrong hands.

George Sabra, the newly elected leader of the main opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council, urged the international community on Saturday to support rebels without any conditions. He blamed international inaction rather than divisions among anti-regime groups for the inability to end the bloodshed in Syria.

'Unforunately we get nothing from [our foreign allies], except some statements, some encouragement'—George Sabra, newly elected SNC leader

The Syrian opposition may have many foreign friends, he said, "but unfortunately we get nothing from them, except some statements, some encouragement." The regime "has few friends, but these friends give the regime everything," he added, referring to Assad allies Russia, China and Iran.

The U.S. has become increasingly frustrated with the SNC's failure to forge a cohesive and more representative leadership, which would provide a single conduit for future foreign support.

Sabra was heading an SNC delegation Saturday in talks with rival opposition groups on forging a new, broader and more inclusive opposition leadership group — an idea promoted by Western and Arab backers of those trying to oust Assad.

The outcome of the talks will be crucial not just for the SNC, widely seen as out of touch with activists and rebels fighting on the ground but for the future of the entire opposition. Without unity among opposition groups, the international community is unlikely to step up aid.

More than 36,000 dead

Activists say more than 36,000 people have died in Syria during the nearly 20-month-old conflict.

The Daraa bombings come a day after as many as 11,000 people were said to have fled Syria over just 24 hours, to escape fierce fighting between rebels and government forces — the latest surge of refugees fleeing the civil war.

The flood of Syrians into neighboring Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon was "the highest that we have had in quite some time," said Panos Moumtzis, the UN refugee agency's regional coordinator for the region said Friday.

About 2,000 to 3,000 people are fleeing Syria daily, and the recent surge brings the number registered with the UNHCR to more than 408,000, said Moumtzis.

The largest flow into Turkey came from the fighting at Ras al-Ayn in the predominantly Kurdish oil-producing northeastern province of al-Hasaka, where rebels were fighting government forces.

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