Activists: Syrian rebels free hundreds from prison

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian activists say opposition fighters have seized large parts of the central prison in the city of Aleppo, freeing hundreds of prisoners there.

For months, the prison has been caught in the deadly stalemate of Syria's civil war. It is estimated to have around 4,000 prisoners.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several hundred prisoners were freed by the rebels on Thursday. The anti-government Aleppo Media Center confirmed rebels had seized most of the prison.

However, state-run Syrian television said the army foiled an attempt by "terrorist groups" to attack the prison.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140206/DABPQ6CG3.html

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In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, residents of the besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp wait to leave the camp, on the southern edge of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Over the past six days the U.N. continued to distribute food parcels in the Palestinian camp where activists say at least 85 people have died as a result of lack of food and medicine since mid-2013. (AP Photo/SANA)

[pampango]

1. Here's a report on this from the AP. Aerial bombs from one side; suicide bombers from the other.

Syrian rebels launched a new push in the northern province of Aleppo on Thursday to capture key symbols of the government and stormed a major section of a prison there, freeing hundreds of prisoners in the process, activists said.

The advance came amid a relentless air campaign by government forces that killed at least 11 people in an opposition held neighborhood of the provincial capital of Aleppo. Activists said government aircraft dropped so-called barrel bombs - containers packed with explosives, fuel and scrap metal that inflict massive damage upon impact.

At least 246 people, including 73 children, have died in the past five days alone in similar aerial bombardment of the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Thursday's push began when a suicide bomber from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra brigade blew himself up at the gates. That was followed by a ground offensive during which rebels managed to gain control of most of the facility.

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