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| Source: BBC; bbc.com |
Syrian security forces are engaged in fierce clashes with rebels
on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus, residents say. (Source:
bbc.com)
According to a report
obtained from bbc.com, Artillery shells and rockets landed inside the heart of
the city as part of a surprise rebel attack, they say.
The insurgents
detonated two suicide car bombs in Jobar district before trying to storm
government defence lines, observers said.
The military responded
to the attack with air strikes.
Syrian state media
says secret tunnels were also used to launch the assault in Jobar.
Damascus only has a
few opposition held areas, and Jobar is the closest to the city centre. Control
of the war-damaged area - which is split between rebels and jihadists on one
side and government forces on the other - has been fought over for more than
two years.
AFP correspondents in
Damascus said the army had closed routes into the strategically important
Abbasid Square as explosions reverberated across the city.
The UK-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels had initiated the attack to
relieve pressure on fighters under attack from government forces in the
districts of Barzeh, Tishreen and Qabun.
Last Wednesday, at
least 31 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at the main court complex
in the centre of Damascus.
Later, another suicide
bomber attacked a restaurant in the western district of Rabweh, injuring more than
20 people.
The attacks came on
the sixth anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Source link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39321098
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