BAGHDAD — Syrian rebels took control of all border crossings between Iraq and Syria Thursday, Baghdad’s deputy interior minister said.



The fighters also took over a crossing on the Turkish border, seizing control of the customs and immigration buildings on the Syrian side of the northern frontier, a rebel fighter and a spokesman said.



“All the border points between Iraq and Syria are under the control of the Free Syrian Army,” Adnan Al-Assadi told AFP by telephone.



“The Syrian army are focusing on Damascus.”



The fighters attacked Syrian forces Thursday on two spots along the nation’s porus border with Iraq, killing 21 soldiers and seizing control of one of the four major border posts, a senior Iraqi army official said.



“We have security concerns because the border crossing now is out of the Syria government’s control, and nobody can anticipate what will happen,” said Iraqi Army Brig. General Qassim Al-Dulaimi.



On the Turkish/Syrian border, the fighters overran the Bab Al-Hawa gate, which they had tried to seize several times in the last 10 days.



Bab Al-Hawa is a vital commercial crossing.



Footage which activists said was filmed at Bab Al-Hawa showed the fighters climbing onto the roofs of buildings at the crossing and tearing up a poster of President Bashar Al-Assad.



“The army withdrew,” a rebel fighter who would only be identified as Abu Ali told Reuters on the Turkish side of the border, where he was being treated for wounds. “The crossing is under our control - they withdrew their armoured vehicles.”



Meanwhile, a frustrated White House said Russia and China placed themselves on the “’wrong side of history” and the “wrong side of the Syrian people” Thursday by vetoing a UN resolution pressuring Assad to end the bloody conflict in his country.



White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One that the vote was “regrettable” and “highly unfortunate.”



The 11-2 vote, with abstentions from South Africa and Pakistan, was the third double veto by Russia and China of a resolution addressing the crisis. Both countries are Syria’s most important allies.



Carney said the lack of UN consensus “will have repercussions for the countries that vetoed the resolution for a long time in terms of how they’re viewed by the Syrian people. Because there is no doubt that Syria’s future will not include Bashar Assad.”



The vote creates uncertainty for the 300-strong UN observer mission in Syria, whose mandate expires Friday. — Agencies