Activists: Clashes erupt in flashpoint Syrian neighbourhood as regime tries to retake area

BEIRUT – Syrian activists say rebels are clashing with government troops in a flashpoint neighbourhood in central Syria, a day after opposition fighters entered the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the government forces are firing heavy machine-guns and have launched an airstrike to dislodge the rebels on Monday from the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs.

The neighbourhood gained notoriety early in the uprising as a centre of opposition to President Bashar Assad’s regime. Government forces shelled the neighbourhood for months, then retook it after a month-long siege last year. Hundreds were killed.

The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed in Syria’s crisis, which began in March 2011 and has since become a civil war.