Free Syrian Army rebels cleaning their AK47s in Aleppo, Syria, during the country's civil war on Oct. 19, 2012. Photo: VOA News/Wikimedia Commons.

Syrian rebel commanders said Sunday that they had seized a Syrian military intelligence compound near the Golan Heights.

According to Reuters,  sources said the compound in the town of Shagara, 5 miles from a ceasefire line with Israel, fell after a five-day siege.

“We have completely taken over this security compound this morning. It’s a command center for the shabbiha (pro-Assad militia). They retreated after strong blows dealt to them during a five day siege,” said Abu Iyas al-Haurani, a member of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade.

“Anyone who was arrested in the Yarmouk Valley was sent to this military intelligence headquarters to be tortured and it has a strategic importance. With its fall we have completed our liberation of the town of Shagara,” he added.

Earlier this month members of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade seized a convoy of United Nations observers in the same area, saying that they would not be released unless Syrian President Bashar al-Assad withdrew from the outskirts of the village of Jamla. The rebels later said that they had rescued the observers from Syrian army forces. The UN observers were released to Jordan several days later.