Reports from the British Observatory for Human Rights say that Syrian rebels have captured the key city of Dael in the Syrian province of Daraa near the Jordanian border today.

It is reported that 16 rebels are those included in the deaths during the 24-hour skirmish there.

Dael is an important gateway to the Syrian capital of Damascus and is located approximately 13-miles south of the city. Other fighting around the capital continues today.

Aerial bombing and shelling by the Syrian government is a distict possibility after the capture of the city of 45,000. The government took up that strategy on Raqqah in northern Syria when that city fell to the rebels less than a month ago. Despite the brutal counter-attack, rebels managed to keep control of the city in northern Syria.

Rebels have managed to establish control in large portions of eastern and northern Syria but have done little in the southern region of the country up until now.

Dael is located about 18-miles to the east of Syria’s border with Israel. That area is becoming increasingly unstable. Israel opened fire and destroyed a machine-gun nest near the area on Sunday after reports that it had fired on Israeli troops nearby.