Anti-regime groups entered Syria's third city Homs late Saturday taking control of some districts, a war monitor said in a statement.
The loss of Homs would be another major blow to the forces of regime leader Bahar al-Assad, as it lies at a strategic crossroads between Damascus and his stronghold on the Mediterranean coast.
"Anti-regime factions entered the city of Homs and took control of some neighbourhoods after the withdrawal of security forces and the army from their last positions in the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Hundreds of detainees had escaped from the city's central prison, he added.
