Kalakh

The second explosion, near the border town of Tel Kalakh east of Homs, caused a fire which could be seen across the frontier in Lebanon, Lebanese media reported.

The army's progress in Khalidiya comes a month after it launched an offensive in Homs city, building on its capture of the border towns of Qusair and Tel Kalakh, which were both used to bring rebel arms and fighters into Syria from Lebanon.

Last week the rebels lost another border town, Tel Kalakh.

Three weeks ago Hezbollah spearheaded the recapture of the border town of Qusair, a former rebel bridgehead for guns and fighters smuggled into Syria, and last week secured another border town, Tel Kalakh.

The fall of Tel Kalakh, two miles from the border with Lebanon, marks another gain for Assad after the capture of the rebel stronghold of Qusair this month, and consolidates his control around the central city of Homs, which links Damascus to his Alawite heartland overlooking the Mediterranean coast.