Damascus: Syrian rebels have taken control of a number of crossings on the country’s borders with Turkey and Iraq.

According to The BBC, a senior Iraqi official said all crossings on Syria’s eastern frontier have been seized. The move comes a day after a blast claimed lives of three senior defence officials in Damascus.

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The rebels, perhaps, sensing that the regime is too preoccupied with the escalating battle for control of the Syrian capital, stormed all posts on the Iraqi border, the report said. Iraq’s Government, seen as sympathetic to President Bashar al-Assad, has threatened to shut its border. One official said that Baghdad was closing the Abu Kamal Crossing. On the frontier with Turkey, too, rebels were said to have taken control of two posts, at Bab al-Hawa and Jarablus. The UK, US and France said the UN had failed the people of Syria. British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the use of the veto as "inexcusable and indefensible".

ANI