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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- At least 21 people are killed across Syria on Saturday, opposition activists say
- LCC: Tanks, artillery and mortars pummel a Damascus neighborhood
- The opposition group says at least 286 people are killed across Syria on Friday
(CNN) -- After a week of intense clashes, the Syrian capital of Damascus is now largely isolated by checkpoints and tanks, witnesses said Saturday.
"When I went outside to get some food and medicine I noticed that the streets are almost empty," an activist named Lena said from the city's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. "Only those who have an urgent need to be outside like me were walking on the street. ... No one can really go in or out of the city without passing a checkpoint."
In the southeastern neighborhood of Tadamon, witness Abu Qais said all roads out of the south and east of the capital were blocked off.
The apparent clampdown came after days of fighting that dealt a blow to President Bashar al-Assad's government and cracked the image of invulnerability surrounding the regime.
The government resolved to take on its foes after a bombing Wednesday killed four members of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle and government. The dead included al-Assad's brother-in-law, his defense minister, a security adviser, and the head of the national security bureau.
The chaos in Damascus continued Saturday, opposition activists said, when tanks, artillery and mortars pummeled the neighborhood of Barzeh.
Elsewhere in the country, at least 21 people were killed in early Saturday violence, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. The group said rockets and shelling from helicopters fell on the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where two people were killed.
In one of the capital's bloodiest days, more than 124 people were killed in Damascus and its suburbs, according to the LCC. The opposition network reported at least 286 deaths throughout the country on Friday.
The government maintained its aim is to get rid of "terrorists" in the targeted areas. A Syrian security official told Al-Arabiya TV the military has started an operation to take over all Damascus neighborhoods.
CNN cannot independently confirm reports of violence because the government restricts access by foreign journalists.
Rebel fighters seeking control of the country's northern and eastern borders reported success on the border with Iraq. A senior Iraqi army official in Anbar province said eight crossing points are in rebel hands. The official did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
Iraqi security forces have increased their military and security presence at the border in Anbar, the official said.
Late Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged Iraqis in Syria to return home.
"Given the difficult security conditions experienced by our brothers and our sons in Syria, we call on them -- men, women and children -- to return to their country ... And we tell them to please come back home, the place of your safety and honor. We will forgive all those who ... do not have blood on their hands so everyone can live in peace and security," he said in a statement.
Travelers along the Syrian-Turkish border told CNN they saw rebels controlling border points.
Video: How does Assad survive in Syria?
In another sign of what seems to be his crumbling power, the Syrian president did not appear in public after the killings of the top officials but
showed up on television Thursday during a swearing-in ceremony for the new defense minister.
The whereabouts of the president or the location of the ceremony remain unclear, though some have suggested al-Assad is not in the capital.
Blog: Time to drop the Annan plan
The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed since the crisis began in March 2011. But Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the United Nations hasn't 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 have died.
CNN's Amir Ahmed, Saad Abedine, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.
