Beirut - Activists say Syrian rebels have gained control of a strategic hospital in the city of Aleppo despite days of relentless barrel-bombings of opposition-held areas in the northern city.
Two activist groups - the Aleppo Media Center and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - say the rebels captured the hospital on Friday.
Aleppo-based activist Abu al-Hassan Marea says the rebels who overran the shattered building of the Kindi hospital in Aleppo included both conservative Muslim groups and al-Qaida linked factions.
The hospital is close to Aleppo's besieged central prison, which rebels have been trying to capture for months to free their comrades.
Syrian warplanes, meanwhile, pushed on with dumping deadly barrel-bombs on opposition strongholds in Aleppo for the seventh day Saturday.
Sapa-AP