Article updated: 3/23/2013 1:43 PM

Rebels seize air defense base in southern Syria

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Mourners pray Saturday during the funeral of Sheik Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Buti, an 84-year-old pro-government cleric in the courtyard of the eighth century Omayyad Mosque, in Damascus, Syria. Al-Buti, his grandson and scores of others were killed Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a mosque.

Associated Press/Syrian official news agency SANA

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Fighting in Syria's southern provinces bordering Jordan and Israel has increased sharply in the past few days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of people, mostly opposition fighters, were killed in heavy clashes this week in the Quneitra region along the cease-fire line between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights.