Two large explosions shook Syria's southern city of Daraa yesterday, causing multiple casualties and heavy damage, the state-run news agency Sana said.

It did not immediately give further information, but the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said the blasts went off near a branch of the country's military intelligence, followed by clashes between the army and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. Daraa was the birthplace of the Syrian uprising against Assad in March 2011.