(Reuters) - Syrian army forces pounded rebel-held suburbs around Damascus with
fighter jets and rockets on Sunday, activists said, killing and wounding dozens
in an offensive to push rebels away from the airport and stop them closing in on
the capital.
The army struck hard after a week of rebel advances, including the capture of
two military bases near the capital. Rebels had been planning to push into
central Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts and fighting in the
past week has been fierce.
Activists said heavy rocket fire struck towns close to the Damascus airport
highway, where rebels and the army were locked in three days of clashes. Some
described constant shelling, similar to carpet bombing, in towns like Beit
Saham.
"It was frightening because it was the first time we heard continuous
shelling. Really powerful explosions, one after the other, were shaking the
area. I could see fire coming up from the town," said Samir al-Shami, from the
opposition's Syrian Youth Union, speaking by Skype.
"This was the worst day in those people's lives."
In a sign the government had regained some control over the airport, EgyptAir
said it was resuming flights to Damascus and Aleppo on Monday after a three-day
halt in which Damascus airport was effectively closed due to unrest. The
airline's head said conditions were stable.
No comment was immediately available from Emirates Airline, which also
suspended its flights indefinitely.
The army's assaults appear to have staved off a rebel advance into central
Damascus so far. But neither side has gained ground in recent days, and fighting
continued along the outskirts of the city despite heavy shelling by Assad's
forces.
But rebels said the area around Damascus airport was not secure, with clashes
still erupting along the highway. It is difficult to verify opposition reports
because the government restricts media access into Syria.
Other activists said the highway was in army hands but the area was still
unstable due to fighting in nearby towns like Beit Saham, about 1 kilometer
away.
"No one controls that road. The army has tanks along the road, but the whole
area is exposed to rebel attacks and they could fire on it any time," said one,
asking not to be identified.
ROCKET ATTACKS AND LEBANESE BORDER CLASH
Rocket attacks on Sunday killed at least 10 in the town of Deir al-Asafir, 12
km east of Damascus, activists said. Video published by activists from the town
showed at least five bodies, one of them a young boy and one an elderly man. The
other bodies were wrapped in blood-spattered white sheets.
Syrian security officials and diplomatic sources say the army's goal is to
push rebels back and seal off central Damascus from the surrounding suburbs
where the opposition is dominant.
Rebels say they want to control the airport because the army has used it to
bring in weapons. Western intelligence reports earlier this year said that Iran, Assad's main backer, had
been using civilian aircraft to fly military equipment and personnel through
Iraqi airspace into Syria.
American officials say the arms flow into Syria has continued due to Iraqi
reluctance to check flights, according to a New York Times article. It said only
two inspections had occurred since Iraq agreed to a U.S. request in September
and that Iran may have been tipped off about the searches.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told reporters in a press conference in Baghdad
that there was no such request.
"There is no ability to inspect all planes destined to Syria and there was no
U.S. request to inspect all aircrafts because they know that this is not
possible," he said on Sunday.
Lebanese troops on Sunday clashed with Syrian rebels on the border between
the two countries on Sunday, in what a security source called the first such
fight between Lebanon's army and the rebels.
The clash occurred when a Lebanese border patrol spotted the rebel fighters
along the border and the rebels opened fire to prevent the patrol from
approaching, a Lebanese military source said. He said there were no
casualties.
CAR BOMBS
In Syria's central city of Homs, a car bomb killed at least 15 people and
wounded 24 on Sunday, Syria's state news agency SANA said. It said the blast in
the city's Hamra district also damaged many nearby residential buildings. The
government and the opposition traded blame for the blast.
There has been a rise in the number of car bombs around the country. The
British-based Observatory, which has a network of activists across Syria,
reported four car bombs on Saturday.
The group gave a preliminary death toll for Sunday's fighting of 140,
including about 39 in the Damascus suburbs.
Violence has risen in Syria particularly since rebels began to contest
Assad's control around the capital and Syria's largest city Aleppo, but foreign
powers remain deadlocked.
Western countries support the opposition but Russia, Syria's main arms
supplier, and China have blocked three U.N.
Security Council resolutions condemning Assad and reject sanctions.
Assad, whose family has ruled Syria autocratically for four decades, says he
is fighting off radical Islamist militants funded by the West and Gulf Arab
countries.
State television on Sunday said the army was "eliminating al Qaeda
terrorists" in the rebel stronghold of Daraya.
Rebels said the army entered part of Daraya, a suburb on the southern
outskirts of Damascus where fighters have launched mortars into the capital.
Rebel spokesman Abu Nidal said the army had entered one side of the town but
that rebels were still in control of the rest of the area and were fighting
back.
The army was firing heavy artillery and rockets into the town, rebels
said.
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