Syrian rebels have captured two air defence bases from regime forces, one in the central province of Homs and the other near Damascus, a monitoring group said.

Rebel fighters seized a base in Deir Foul village near the rebel-held town of Rastan in Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Other rebel Free Syrian Army fighters took control of an air defence base in Atibah in Damascus province after an eight-hour battle with regime forces, the Britain-based watchdog added.

“There has been an increase in the number of attacks and seizures of air defence bases,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

A rebel spokesman in Homs province, Qassem Saadeddine, told AFP via the Internet that the capture of Deir Foul would “help the FSA break the siege of Homs because it has provided us with new ammunition”.

The army launched an all-out assault on rebel-held, besieged districts of Homs last week in an attempt to wipe out pockets of resistance in what activists refer to as “the capital of the revolution”.