These burned out trucks are at the Bab al-Hawa Syrian border post with Turkey on Friday, July 20. Syrian rebels seized control of the Bab al-Hawa border post with Turkey today after a fierce battle with Syrian troops, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.
Syrian soldeirs celebrate in the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday. Syrian regime forces routed rebel fighters from the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan, Syrian state television reported, saying troops had "cleaned" the district of "terrorists."
Journalists are shown a dead body on a guided government tour of the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday.
Members of Syria security forces rest in the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday.
Syrian army soldiers hang their national flag in a partially destroyed neighborhood in the al-Midan area in Damascus.
Smoke hangs in the air in a partially destroyed neighborhood in the al-Midan area in Damascus.
Members of Syria security forces pose for photographers in the al-Midan area in Damascus after driving out the rebel fighters.
Syrian residents take goods from a truck which rebels captured at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey on Friday.
A picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on July 19 shows Syrian General Fahd al-Freij (R) meeting with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus following his swearing-in ceremony as the new defense minister.
A man holds up a picture of President Bashar al-Assad at a former police station in Atareb after clashes between Syrian soldiers and Free Syrain Army near Aleppo on Thursday, July 19. Rebels seized control of border crossings with Iraq on Thursday, dealing a new blow to President Bashar al-Assad, as China and Russia dismayed the West by blocking U.N. action against his regime.
People walk along the street in Atareb amidst damage caused by clashed between Syrian soldiers and the Free Syrian Army.
A Syrian man checks the former police station of Syrian regime after a clash at Atareb on Thursday.
Smoke ascends from from alleged shelling of the Syrian village of Jebata al-Khashab as seen from the hill village of Buqaata in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Thursday.
The death toll in Syria on July 12, 2012 reached 287, making it the bloodiest day in Syria since the uprising began. As it has done consistently, Syrian state television blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the killings.
A Syrian woman sits with her grandson outside a damaged building after attacks in the Syrian village of Treimsa on July 13, 2012. More than 200 people were massacred in the town, according to activists.
A Syrian demonstrator holds an opposition flag during a protest in Damascus on July 2, 2012. There have been increasing reports of violence in the Syrian capital.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad waves as he arrives for a speech to Syria's parliament in Damascus on June 3, 2012. The embattled president denied that government forces were behind the "outrageous" massacre in Houla.
People gather at a mass burial on May 26, 2012 for victims reportedly killed during an artillery barrage from Syrian forces in Houla. The attack left at least 108 people dead, including nearly 50 children, according to the United Nations.
Members of the Free Syrian Army return to Qusayr on May 12, 2012 after an attack on Syrian regime forces in the village of Nizareer, near the Lebanese border in Homs.
A U.N. observer speaks with Syrian rebels and civilians in the village of Azzara on May 4, 2012, days before the country's parlianemtary polls were held against a backdrop of unrest.
Thousands of Syrians wave their national flag and hold portraits of President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, right, during a rally to show support for their leader on March 29, 2012 in Damascus.
Syrian rebel fighters man a checkpoint leading into the town of Taftanaz in the rebel stronghold province of Idlib on March 20, 2012.
A Free Syrian Army rebel mounts his steed in the Al-Shatouria village near the Turkish border in northwestern Syria on March 16, 2012, a year after the uprising began. The Free Syrian Army is an armed opposition group made up largely of military defectors.
Syrian refugees walk across a field before crossing into Turkey on March 14, 2012. International mediator Kofi Annan called for an immediate halt to the killing of civilians in Syria as he arrived in Turkey for talks on the crisis.
A day after the twin suicide bombings, Syrian mourners pray over the coffins of the 44 people killed during a mass funeral in Damascus.
A Syrian man who was wounded in a suicide attack rests at a hospital in Damascus on December 23, 2011. Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in the Syrian capital, killing dozens of people.
Arab foreign ministers attend an emergency meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on October 16, 2011, to discuss the crisis in Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to the media in Washington on August 18, 2011. Clinton said U.S. sanctions on Syrian oil "strike at the heart of the Syrian regime."
Syrian youths wave national flags while army troops drive out of Daraa on May 5, 2011. During a week-long military lockdown of the town, dozens of people were reportedly killed in what activists described as "indiscriminate" shelling on the city.
Syrians in Damascus protest in the street on March 25, 2011, after clashes with government forces in Daraa left several dead.
Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rally on April 1 in Istanbul, Turkey, as delegates from dozens of countries gather to push for ways to end the deadly violence in Syria. The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the crisis in March 2011. The conflict is now being labeled a civil war by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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- A rebel leader announces an operation "to liberate Aleppo" from "Assad thugs"
- Aleppo is the largest city and the commercial hub of Syria
- At least 140 people are killed across the country Saturday, opposition activists say
- Source: The Arab League will meet Sunday about Syria
(CNN) -- After 16 months of daily bloodshed, the Syrian crisis now zeroes in on Aleppo, the country's most populated city and a critical one for both President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebels.
In a video posted online Sunday, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army in Aleppo announced an operation "to liberate the city of Aleppo from the rule of the Assad thugs whose hands were blood stained by heinous crimes against our people."
Brig. Gen. Abdel Jabbar Al-Obeidi urged regime soldiers to defect or step aside and not fight against his men, with the promise that no one would be harmed.
He vowed to secure Aleppo and protect all minorities and sects, including the members of Alawite sect that the president belongs to.
Aleppo and the capital city of Damascus have been al-Assad strongholds. But heavy clashes in Damascus over the past week, along with recent bombing that killed four members of al-Assad's inner circle and government, suggest cracks in the regime's armor.
Fierce clashes broke out Sunday morning between regime and rebel forces in Aleppo, opposition activists said.
"An entire building collapsed in Seif al-Dawla neighborhood after a regime tank ... targeted it with four shells," the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
If rebels gain control of Aleppo, the commercial hub of Syria, it would mark a pivotal point in the Syrian crisis and deal a heavy blow to al-Assad's financial ties.
In May, a violent crackdown on a peaceful demonstration at Aleppo University was one of the turning points of the uprising, with anti-regime students and civilians shot in the streets.
Meanwhile, an opposition group reported Saturday that a senior scientist and expert in Syria's missile program was killed, along with his wife and son.
Retired Maj. Gen. Nabil Zugheib was assassinated in the Bab Touma district in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Thousands of Syrians race to borders
Damascus is now largely isolated by checkpoints and tanks, witnesses said Saturday, with tanks, artillery and mortars pummeled the neighborhood of Barzeh. Opposition groups said medicine is running out and residents are appealing for help.
At least 13 of 140 people killed across the country Saturday were in Damascus or the Damascus suburbs, the LCC said.
CNN cannot independently confirm reports of violence because the government restricts access by foreign journalists.
The crisis started in March 2011, when a fierce government crackdown against protesters morphed into a nationwide uprising against the regime.
The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed since the crisis began more than 16 months ago. But Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the United Nations has not been giving out overall death toll numbers since December "because it became impossible to verify the numbers in any meaningful way."
Opposition groups tracking deaths have issued higher tolls. The LCC, for example, estimates that more than 16,000 -- mostly civilians -- have died.
Video: How does Assad survive in Syria?
Military defections have hit the Syrian regime. An official from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said two brigadier generals from Syria arrived in Turkey on Friday night and one arrived the night before. He said about two dozen Syrian generals have fled to Turkey.
Diplomats have yet to come up with a plan to effectively stop what is now being called a civil war.
The Arab League is expected to meet Sunday in Doha, Qatar, to discuss Syria, according to a senior Arab League official. The secretary-general will meet first with a five-member committee handling Syria before presenting a proposal to the wider group, also Sunday night, the official said.
Why Syria could get even uglier
CNN's Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert contributed to this report.
