Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The Syrian Army is said to have sustained one of its
biggest losses since the revolt against President Bashar Assad began in
March.

The opposition said at least 30 Syrian soldiers were killed in a rebel
attacks in central and northern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights reported two rebel operations in late October — one in Homs and the
other in the northwestern province of Idlib.

“During clashes between the regular army and Syrian gunmen believed to
be dissidents in the Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs, 20 soldiers of the
regular army were killed and 53 were injured and taken to a military
hospital in Homs,” the British-based organization said.

The Syrian opposition group said the ambush on late Oct. 29 was
conducted by defectors from Assad’s military. The group said another 10
members of the security forces were killed in an ambush of a convoy in Idlib
on Oct. 28.

“Eleven people in the province of Idlib, including 10 policemen and a
dissident, were killed in the ambush,” the group said. “After the battle
another five were killed.”

Opposition sources said the effectiveness of the rebels has increased
significantly over the last month. They said the rebels, most of them
equipped in neighboring Iraq and Jordan, were using improvised explosive
devices and rocket-propelled grenades in ambushes and other attacks.

The Assad regime has acknowledged the rebel attacks. The official Syrian
news agency, Sana, said seven members of the military and police were killed
in Homs and the suburbs of Damascus.

Assad said his regime was targeting what he termed terrorists and
insisted that the revolt was fading. At the same time, the president warned
against Western intervention amid calls by the opposition for a NATO fly
zone over Syria.

“Syria is the hub now in this region,” Assad in an interview with
Britain’s Sunday Telegraph. “It is the fault line, and if you play with the
ground you will cause an earthquake. Do you want to see another Afghanistan,
or tens of Afghanistans?”

  Homs, Rebel ambushes take heavy toll on Syrian Army, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights