Clashes rage in Syria, opposition meets abroad

Rebels fought the army in northern Syria on Saturday, activists said, and Syrian dissidents abroad gathered to try to unify and project themselves as a credible alternative to President Bashar al-Assad.
   
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fighting in Idlib province, on Syria's northern border with Turkey and a hotspot of the 14-month-old revolt against Assad's rule.
   
"Violent clashes are raging between Syrian regime forces and armed military defectors ... The sounds of strong explosions were heard followed by security forces using heavy and medium machinegun fire," the British-based Observatory said.

Opposition leaders abroad flew to Rome to try to strengthen their fractured Syrian National Council (SNC), which is seeking international help in the struggle against Assad.
   
Political jockeying within the SNC has prevented it from gaining full international endorsement. Executive members told Reuters they may choose a new president or restructure the council in a bid to garner broader support.
   
In Damascus, crowds gathered for prayers to commemorate 55 people killed in twin suicide bombings in the capital on Wednesday, the deadliest there since the uprising began.
   
A little-known militant group claimed responsibility in a video posted online on Saturday for the twin bombing in Syria's capital that killed at least 55 people earlier in the week.      

The video was narrated by a man whose voice was garbled to disguise his identity. There was no decisive proof in the video to show suspected Islamist group al-Nusra Front had a hand in the operations, which the government said were suicide bombings.        

The online video said the blasts were in response to security force strikes on rebellious towns that have shared in the 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.    

"Al-Nusra Front, God strengthen it, undertook a military operation in Damascus against the dens of the regime to target the Palestine and Dawriyat (security) branches. This is due to the regime's continued strikes on residential neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs, Idlib, Hama, Deraa and other areas," said a man's voice on the video, reading from text shown on screen.    

"We tell the regime: Stop your massacres of Sunni people or you will bear the sins of the Alawites. What is coming will be more disastrous. We ask Sunnis to avoid any security force branches or other dens of the regime."    

The al-Nusra Front has previously claimed responsibility for other bombings in Damascus and Aleppo. Its latest video was not posted on commonly-used Islamist sites, where most Al Qaeda statements and the group's previous announcements have appeared.

Meanwhile, two Turkish journalists who went missing while reporting on the uprising in Syria two months ago were released on Saturday with Iran's help, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced.     

The release of the pair demonstrated Iran's influence with its ally Syria, which lost Turkey's friendship when it cracked down on pro-democracy protests that erupted last year. Iran and Syria, both isolated by the West, have stuck by each other.       

The two journalists were flown to Tehran, where they told Turkey's Anatolian news agency they were in good health and looking forward to being reunited with their families.     

Separately, twenty-four armored vehicles donated by the European Union arrived in Syria on Saturday.   

Vassilis Bontosoglou, the EU's ambassador to Syria, said the cars were to help the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS).    

New observers for UNSMIS were still arriving in the Syrian capital on Saturday - bringing the total number to around 100.    

AP/Reuters