A rebel bomb attack on an army base near Damascus has killed 31 Syrian soldiers, as loyalist warplanes launched air raids on a town near the border with Lebanon.
The blast came amid a major regime offensive against rebel positions all around the capital and on second city Aleppo in the north.
"Three generals and a brigadier-general were among 31 troops killed in a bomb attack that caused a building in the army transport base in Harasta to collapse," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abddurrahman on Sunday.
"The timing of the attack is significant," coming days after troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad recaptured several areas that had been under rebel control for a year, he told AFP.
The explosives appeared to have been placed "either inside or beneath the building in a tunnel", Abdel Rahman added, suggesting rebels may have infiltrated the base.
A rebel group, the Direh al-Aasmeh (Shield of Damascus) brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack.
A video distributed by the group, which is part of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, showed the building collapse completely.
North of the capital, Syria's air force launched air raids on Qara near the border with Lebanon as loyalist forces tried to storm rebel positions in the town, the Observatory said.
"Since the morning, the town of Qara has been hit by air strikes," said the Observatory's Abdel Rahman.
"Warplanes bombarded the town heavily yesterday (Saturday).
Regime troops are trying to storm it and to drive the rebels out."
The Britain-based group said opposition fighters in Qara appeared determined to resist despite the onslaught.
Pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan reported that "the army hit the Qalamoun mountains hard, closing in on the terrorists around Qara," using the government's term for rebels.
More than 800,000 Syrians fleeing the civil war have taken refuge in Lebanon, and local authorities and international agencies are struggling to provide for them.
Elsewhere in Syria on Sunday, Damascus and several parts of the south were hit by a power cut lasting several hours.
Electricity Minister Imad Khamis called it "the result of sabotage by armed terrorist groups against the high voltage cables that feed the southern areas".
Anti-regime activists blamed regime bombing of the Qalamoun area for the outage.
Also on Sunday, mortar rounds slammed into areas of central Damascus, killing at least two people, said the Observatory.
The escalation of violence in and around Damascus comes as loyalists advancing towards Aleppo.
More than 120,000 people have been killed in Syria's brutal war, and millions more forced to flee their homes.
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