Damascus region under attack
2013-01-22 18:27
-
Syria
Options and Implications for Lebanon and the Region
Now R196.00
buy now
Beirut - Syrian warplanes and tanks shelled rebel strongholds
in the province of Damascus on Tuesday, a watchdog said, as pro-regime daily
reported clashes in a camp housing Palestinian refugees.
Fighter jets launched strikes on the town of Douma,
northeast of Damascus, and overflew parts of Eastern Ghuta region, home to some
of the rebel Free Syrian Army's fiercest and best-organised groups, said the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The army, as part of its campaign to suppress the
insurgency near Damascus once and for all, used tanks to pound the towns of
Daraya and Moadamiyat al-Sham, southwest of the capital, and Yalda and Beit
Sahem, just to the city's south.
Meanwhile, a pro-regime newspaper made a rare, open
admission of the air force's use of strikes in Damascus province.
"The Syrian army has continued to chase armed men
from their lairs, in battles using all kinds of weapons, including artillery
and air power," said Al-Watan.
It also reported that tension prevailed in the Yarmuk
camp housing Palestinian refugees in the capital.
"The situation in the Yarmuk camp, where armed men
have flocked, is still tense, and clashes between Palestinian [pro-regime]
popular committees and armed groups have continued," Al-Watan reported,
citing fleeing residents.
There was "an acute bread shortage, as bakeries have
come to a standstill" in the camp.
Yarmuk witnessed fierce clashes in December when
warplanes staged two air strikes on the densely populated camp, leading
thousands of people to flee.
Despite bids to demilitarise the area, clashes pitting
rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad against the army and
pro-regime Palestinian militia have been reported.
Elsewhere, at least 56 fighters were killed in six days
of fighting in the majority Kurdish city of Ras al-Ain, on the Turkish border,
said the Observatory which uses a network of doctors, medics and lawyers on the
ground for its reporting.
Tuesday's violence came a day after at least 178 people
were killed in violence across Syria, including 31 pro-regime militiamen who
died in a suicide attack in the town of Salamiyeh, in the central province of
Hama, the Britain-based watchdog said.
- SAPA
