The Arab League will offer Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "a safe exit" if he steps down quickly and leaves the country, a senior Arab League official said late Sunday after the group held an emergency meeting in Qatar.

The official provided no further details because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani did not discuss an exit plan when speaking with reporters after the five-hour meeting, but confirmed "there is an agreement on the need for the swift resignation" of Assad.

"We call on the opposition and the Free Syrian Army to form a government of national unity," Sheikh Hamad said.

Meanwhile, conflict continued in Syria, with the cities of Aleppo and Damascus bearing the brunt of Sunday's violence.

In a video posted online Sunday, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army in Aleppo announced an operation "to liberate the city of Aleppo from the rule of the Assad thugs, whose hands were blood-stained by heinous crimes against our people."

Brig. Gen. Abdel Jabbar Al-Obeidi urged regime soldiers to defect or step aside and not fight against his men, with the promise that no one would be harmed.

Late Sunday, Syrian state television broadcast an "important" statement from the Information Ministry saying Western intelligence and "some Arab parties" are planning to hijack Syrian TV frequencies and deliver false news reports of a coup, defections, or cities having fallen into rebel hands.

State TV said the stations "might use Syrian journalists under pressure after being kidnapped."

Fierce clashes erupted Sunday between regime and rebel forces in Aleppo, the commercial hub of Syria, opposition activists said.

"An entire building collapsed in Seif al-Dawla neighborhood after a regime tank ... targeted it with four shells," the Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC) said.

Syrian state-run TV cited an official media source as denying reports about Aleppo.

"Some terrorists are mobilizing their armed groups in the city in a similar attempt to distort the reality and the facts on the ground just like they tried to do in Damascus," the network said.

"Our heroic armed forces and the special authorities in Aleppo ... have been tracking down the remnants of the terrorists, killing a large number of them." Others surrendered, while still more fled toward Turkey, according to the report.

By the end of the day Sunday, 111 people had died across Syria, including 56 people in and around Damascus and three in Aleppo, the LCC said.

If rebels eventually gain control of Aleppo, it would mark a pivotal point in the Syrian crisis and deal a heavy blow to al-Assad's financial ties.

Separately, rebels said Sunday they had seized a border gate between Syria and Turkey at Bab al Salam.

"There were attempts to take over the border crossing of Bab al Salam for the last three days," Malik Kurdi, deputy commander of the Free Syrian Army, told CNN. "Yesterday, very late at night, FSA seized the gate completely, and now Syrian helicopters are flying around."

He said there are concerns Syrian forces could attack the gate.

Another FSA fighter, identifying himself as Abu Shawki, said the rebels gained control of all of Bab al Salam following fierce clashes in which many died. He said regime forces abandoned some of their tanks.

Aleppo and the capital city of Damascus have been al-Assad strongholds, but heavy clashes in Damascus over the past week, along with a recent bombing that killed four members of al-Assad's inner circle and government, suggest cracks in the regime's armor.

A mosque in Damascus came under attack Sunday from rocket and helicopter shelling while worshippers were inside, the LCC said. The mosque caught fire and "many" were killed, the group said.

But the Syrian regime denied reports of helicopter attacks in Damascus, saying it was "life as usual" in most of the city, Syrian state-run TV reported Sunday.

CNN cannot independently confirm reports of violence because the government restricts access by foreign journalists.

Alex Thomson, a correspondent with CNN affiliate ITN, wrote Sunday on Twitter that a military hospital in Damascus came under heavy fire, and a sustained firefight took place as rebels apparently attacked the building for about 90 minutes. The bodies of soldiers were at the hospital, he said; their funerals were canceled because of the hospital attack.