Monday, March 04, 2013

Provincial Capital Falls

Whoa:

Syrian opposition fighters captured the northeastern city of Raqqa on Monday and crowds toppled a statue of President Bashar al-Assad's father, opposition sources and a resident said. ...

Rebel fighters said loyalist forces were still dug in at the provincial airport 60 km (40 miles) from Raqqa and they remained a threat. A resident said that a Syrian military intelligence compound in the town was not in rebel hands but was surrounded by anti-Assad fighters.

It's a fairly large city at over 200,000.

Will Assad scrape up forces to head out there to try to eject the rebels?

UPDATE: Syria has so far just bombed the city. The article says the city has half a million people, too.