18 rebels killed in Syria clashes

Government forces have killed at least 18 rebels in clashes in central Syria, activists said.

The fighting took place overnight near the town of Morek in Hama province, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The town lies along the main road that connects the capital, Damascus, with northern Syria.

The government has been battling rebels for control of the route for months.

President Bashar Assad’s regime wants to keep the road open so it can resupply its forces bogged down in fighting in the contested northern city of Aleppo.

The rebels want to cut the highway to prevent supplies and reinforcements from reaching those troops.

The fighting is part of the broader battle in Syria's civil war for control of the country's north. Over the past year, rebels have pried free most of the northern countryside from the regime, while the government still holds the provincial capitals, with the exception of Raqqa and parts of Aleppo.

Last week, opposition fighters captured a major air base in the north near the border with Turkey and swept through a string of villages in the heartland of Assad’s Alawite sect in Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast.

Those advances were some of the most significant rebel gains in months against government forces, which have been on the offensive in central Syria and around Damascus.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since the country’s revolt began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests. The conflict slowly shifted into a civil war that has destroyed many of the nation’s cities, forced millions from their homes and shattered the economy.