4.22pm BST

• The Syrian chargé d’affaires in London has resigned saying he is no longer willing to represent a "violent and oppressive" regime. Khaled al-Ayoubi was the most senior Syrian diplomat serving in London. His departure was announced by the UK Foreign Office, which described it as "another blow to the Assad regime". It urged others to follow his example.

• Rebel fighters claim to have captured the Hryatan military base and Anadan checkpoint, north-west of Aleppo. Video showed them celebrating on captured tanks and removing supplies. Colonel Abdel Naser, the commander in charge of the battle told the Guardian's Luke Harding that his troops seized eight tanks and 10 armoured vehicles, as well as mortars and lots of weapons. He said one rebel fighter was killed. The rebels now control a strategic land corridor in northern Syria from Turkey all the way to Aleppo's outskirts.

• Opposition activists have denied government claims that troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad have "purged" the neighbourhood of Salaheddin, in Aleppo. Salaheddin has been a rebel stronghold since the battle began 10 days ago and the scene of intense clashes in recent days. One activist told the Guardian that there had been heavy bombardment of the area overnight but Free Syrian Army troops remained, in defensive positions. Abu Obeida also said that 90% of residents had fled the area because of the fighting.

• A Syrian brigadier general who was deputy chief of police in Syria's Latakia region, has defected to Turkey. The official says the general was among a group of 12 Syrian officers who crossed into Turkey late Sunday. The brigadier general's defection raises the number of generals to have defected and crossed into Turkey since the start of the 17-month-old uprising to 28, according to AP. Latakia is the de facto capital of the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast,

• The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, criticised the Syrian army's use of heavy weapons in putting down the rebellion, describing it as "a nail in Assad's coffin". Beginning a tour of the Middle East, he said:

If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people ... I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad's coffin.

• France, which is to assume the UN security council's rotating presidency in August, is to call an emergency ministerial meeting on Syria. Foreign minister Laurent Fabius said the aim of the meeting would be "to try to stop the massacres and to prepare a political transition".

• Reports suggest that jihadists are playing a bigger role in the uprising against the Assad regime. Al-Jazeera said: "Some groups say they are affiliated with al-Qaida, fly its flags, and say they now have training camps inside the country." The New York Times reported: "Even less-zealous resistance groups are adopting a pronounced Islamic aura because it attracts more financing." The Free Syrian Army has acknowledged the presence of jihadists in the country, while distancing itself from them. The opposition insists they are few and far between.