Rebels capture town in northwest Syria near the Turkish border

BEIRUT – Activists say rebels have captured a small town in northwest Syria near the Turkish border.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says opposition fighters took Kassab in Latakia province on Sunday. The activist group says fighting is raging Monday outside the town.

Rebels have also seized a nearby border crossing to Turkey just outside of Kassab since launching an offensive in Latakia late last week. The mountainous coastal province is a bastion of support for President Bashar Assad.

In an amateur video posted online, two opposition fighters stand on a rooftop in Kassab and raise their arms in victory. The camera pans past the base of two smashed statues that the narrator says were of Assad's late father, Hafez.

The video appears genuine and corresponds to other AP reporting.