The rebels have been making strategic advances recently. On Sunday, Nov 25, 2012, they briefly captured a regime helicopter base outside Damascus. — AFP Photo/File

BEIRUT: Activists say Syrian rebels have captured a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates river in the country's north in a strategic victory that followed days of fighting.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says the Tishrin Dam, near the town of Manbij, fell to the rebels before dawn on Monday. Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, says the dam supplies several areas of Syria with electricity.

The rebels have been making strategic advances recently. On Sunday, they briefly captured a regime helicopter base outside Damascus.

Syria's conflict started in March 2011 as uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, inspired by other Arab Spring revolts.

It quickly morphed into a civil war that has since killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists.

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