Syrian opposition forces have captured a major army post in the southern city of Deraa after nearly two weeks of intense fighting, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists around the country, said opposition forces captured the checkpoint on Friday after a two-week siege.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said the fall of the army post was strategically significant for Deraa, where protesters first marched against four decades of Assad family rule from the city's Omari mosque in March 2011.

"Now the army is under threat there. The opposition forces haven't liberated all of the old city. There are still two neighborhoods with soldiers, but this could change the balance of power there," Abdulrahman told Reuters.

The Syrian conflict began in Deraa as a peaceful protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, but has spread across the country and degenerated into a full war.

He added that the capture opens the way for opposition forces to take the southern neighborhood of Manshiyeh that is close to the Jordanian border.

Earlier, the Observatory said intense shelling by Syrian regime troops on the village of Karak in Daraa province killed at least 10 women and girls overnight.

The United Nations has estimated that more than 6,000 children are among some 100000 people killed in Syria's more than two-year-old conflict, which started with largely peaceful protests against the rule of Assad.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map of Syria locating Deraa

Aljazeera