Syrian revolution forces battling troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad overran al-Raqqa after days of fierce fighting, and were now in "near-total control" of the northern city, activists said.

The fall of Raqqa, located on the Euphrates River, on Monday is a significant development in the two-year-old revolt against Assad. The revolution forces do not claim to hold any other provincial capitals.

Residents in Raqqa destroyed a statue of late President Hafez al-Assad (Bashar's father), according to amateur video footage distributed by activists.

Revolution fighters said loyalist forces were still dug in at the provincial airport 60 km from the city and they remained a threat. A resident said that a Syrian military intelligence compound was not in revolution’s hands but was surrounded by anti-Assad fighters.

"This is the first provincial capital in Syria where revolution forces have made such progress.

They now have near-total control of Raqqa city, except for some regime positions, including the military security and Baath party headquarters," Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP news agency.

Activists said a police chief was killed and two senior security officials captured by the revolution forces.

Raqqa was once home to 240,000 residents, but some 800,000 people forced to flee violence in other parts of Syria have sought shelter there ever since the start of the conflict.

In recent weeks, revolution forces cut off all the army's supply routes leading to the city and escalated their attacks on checkpoints and other regime positions.

Elsewhere, Syrian regime troops on Monday launched a major assault to capture revolution-held areas of the central city of Homs.

Regular troops backed by pro-regime fighters attacked the center of Homs where revolution forces are holed up, including the Old City and neighborhoods of Jouret al-Shiah, Khaldiyeh and Qarabees, it said.

Activists told Al Jazeera that the fighting in the embattled city was the worst since months, adding that scores of regime soldiers and revolution forces were killed.

PHOTO CAPTION

A statue of President Bashar Al-Assad's father, Hafez Al-Assad, is pulled down as people celebrate in Raqqa March 4, 2013.

Al-Jazeera