Syrian troops capture historic mosque in Homs

            
Syrian government forces captured a historic mosque in the central city of Homs on Saturday, expelling rebel forces who had been in control of the 13th century landmark for more than a year and dealing a symbolic blow to opposition forces, state media said.                 

State-run news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops took control of the Khalid Ibn al-Walid Mosque in the heavily disputed northern neighborhood of Khaldiyeh.                    

This comes after Syrian state media accused insurgents of killing 123 people, the majority of them civilians, during a rebel offensive this week to take the northern town of Khan al-Assad.                    
State news agency SANA said that "armed terrorist groups" committed a "massacre ... mutilating the bodies of the martyrs and throwing them in a big hole on the outskirts of the town, in addition to incinerating a number of (their) bodies."             

The accusations come a day after a rebel group, calling itself the Supporters of the Islamic Caliphate, posted a video on YouTube of around 30 bodies of young men piled up against a wall who they said were pro-Assad militiamen.                 

Earlier in the day, talks between the Syrian government and a U.N. delegation tasked with investigating chemical weapons allegations in the nation's civil war have "resulted in an agreement on ways of moving forward," Syrian state media said.                         

President Bashar Assad's government invited a U.N. team to visit Damascus earlier this month after requesting that the international organization investigate an alleged chemical attack in Khan al-Assal, a village in the north. The Syrian regime and the rebels fighting to topple it accuse each other of using chemical agents in the March 19 incident.                              

A joint statement by the foreign ministry and the U.N. that appeared on Syria's official SANA news agency's website on Saturday said the meetings were "comprehensive and fruitful and resulted in an agreement on ways of moving forward."                             

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 largely as peaceful protests against Assad's rule. It escalated into a civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.                 

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict, according to the U.N.'s recent estimate.                         


AP/REUTERS