Story Summary

In Homs, Syrian forces battled rebels near the border with Lebanon as part of a counteroffensive aimed at regaining control of territory.

Meanwhile, fighting between rebels and opposition forces also broke out in the eastern city of Qamishli on the Turkish border, ending a de facto truce in the mainly Christian and Kurdish area.

In the past two days, troops have clashed with rebels on the edges of the province along the Lebanese border, in some of the worst fighting in the area in months.

Sporadic explosions inside Syria could be heard from the Lebanese side of the border Friday and an Associated Press reporter said Syrian warplanes carried out at least one airstrike inside Syrian territory.

The border area is strategically important to both sides fighting in Syria’s civil war and battles there have been frequent in past weeks, particularly in and around the town of Al-Qusair.

The Observatory said the advance includes rebels of the Free Syrian Army and the hard-line Islamist Nusra Front, who have clashed in the past with Christians and Kurds whom the opposition has tried to persuade to abandon Assad.

In January, Kurdish militants and rebels fought battles with each other for weeks after Assad’s forces retreated from Ras aL AIN.

read more here on THE DAILY STAR LEBANON: http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Apr-13/213587-fighting-rages-across-syrias-borders.ashx#axzz2QLeRfkJW