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DAMASCUS, March 23 (KUNA) -- Helal Al-Assad, commander of the national
defense, a pro-regime paramilitary force, in Latakia governorate, was killed
in in Kassab town near, northwest Syria, near the borders with Turkey, the
state-run TV channel reported on Sunday.
The area has been the scene of raging conflict between the regular troops
and the paramilitary corps, on one hand, and the opposition forces, on the
other, over the last two days.
In a related development the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported
that the opposition fighters took control of Al-Nabeen border post while the
regular troops recaptured the post No. 45 and Al-Samra village.
At Al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, south Damascus, a man succumbed to
his illness due to the severe shortage of medicines and foods and poor living
conditions.
The general commission of the Syrian revolution put the death toll of
today's fighting at 40 mainly in Damascus, Aleppo and Idlib. (end)
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KUNA 240008 Mar 14NNNN