In this Monday, March 4, 2013 image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad is pulled down in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. Syrian rebels pushed government troops from most of the northern city of Raqqa Monday, setting off celebrations in a central square where scores of cheering protesters tore down a bronze statue of President Bashar Assad's late father and predecessor, activists said. In this Monday, March 4, 2013 image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad falls in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. In this Monday, March 4, 2013 image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians attack a fallen statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian warplanes struck captured security buildings in Raqqa Tuesday, casting a pall over the northern city a day after euphoric rebels seized much of it and captured the provincial governor, one of the highest-ranking officials to fall into rebel hands, activists said. Fighters also battled pockets of regime loyalists for complete control of Raqqa, a city of some 500,000 people on the Euphrates River. If the opposition succeeds, it would mark the first time an entire city has fallen into opposition hands, dealing both a strategic and a symbolic blow to President Bashar Assad's regime. But airstrikes and intermittent clashes Tuesday raised questions about whether the rebels would be able to maintain their hold on the city. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said opposition fighters captured the governor of Raqqa province, Hassan Jalali, after clashes overnight near the governor's office in the provincial capital with the same name. The Observatory said the head of Assad's ruling Baath party in the province, Salman al-Salman, also was in rebel custody. Several key regime figures have defected to the rebel side, but Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said Jalali is one of the highest-ranking officials to be captured. An amateur video posted online by activists from Raqqa appeared to show Jalali and Salman seated on chairs surrounded by a group of rebels. "We just want to get rid of the regime," one of the fighters tells the pair. The video appeared consistent with Associated Press reporting from Raqqa. According to the state-run news agency SANA, Jalali, 62, was appointed Raqqa governor in September 2012. An activist in the city who gave only his first name Amir said the two were detained by Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida linked group that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization, and other fighters who swept into the city on Monday. "They are detained in a location secured by al-Nusra and are being treated well," he said. The group has emerged as one of the best organized and most effective forces on the opposition side, leading successful rebel assaults on military installations around the country. Fighting raged Tuesday near an intelligence building in the city as well as several other places, the Observatory director said, adding that "some of Raqqa is still under regime control." The government also remained in control of military air bases outside the city and was using them to deploy warplanes to fight back against the rebel gains. Abdul-Rahman said there were reports of more than 100 people killed over the past two days but the casualty toll could not be confirmed. Another Raqqa-based activist, Mustafa Othman, said the warplanes struck several targets in Raqqa, including former security buildings now under the control of the rebels. He said regime elements also were holed up in two other security buildings - one in the south and the second in the north of the city. Gunfire could be heard in the background as he spoke via Skype. He said at least six people were killed Tuesday. He insisted Raqqa was completely liberated but said as long as the regime controls the skies "I don't know if I'll be alive in the next minute." A Syrian government official in Damascus told the AP that the Syrian army raided "terrorist groupings" in Raqqa, causing many casualties. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Anti-Assad fighters stormed Raqqa's central prison on Sunday, and swept regime forces from much of the provincial capital on Monday. That prompted cheering residents to pour into the main square and tear down a bronze statue of Assad's late father, Hafez. The relentless violence also has devastated many cities and forced hundreds of thousands of Syrian to seek refuge abroad. A UNICEF assessment conducted in December determined that 2,400 schools have been damaged or destroyed and another 1,500 are being used to house displaced persons, the agency said. Associated Press writers Ryan Lucas in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus contributed to this report.