Syria: Troops clash with rebels in Damascus

Activists have said the fighting is among the worst since the uprising began 16 months ago.

The motorway that connects the city with the with Damascus International Airport and the city’s south was closed for a period, which activists say is unprecedented.

“It seems there is a new strategy to bring the fighting into the centre of the capital,” Mustafa Osso, an activist based in Syria, told reporters, referring to rebels who fight under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.

“The capital used to be safe. This will trouble the regime.”

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Mr Osso said the fighting was concentrated in the districts of Kfar Souseh, Midan and Tadamon.

An amateur video posted online showed Kfar Souseh as the sound of intense gunfire could be head in the distance. The presidential palace, on a mountain overlooking the capital, could be seen in the background. The authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed.

There have been sporadic clashes in Damascus in recent months, although president Bashar Assad’s forces remain firmly in control of the capital. Many of the Damascus suburbs, however, have risen up against the regime, prompting a ferocious response from the military in an attempt to clear out rebel fighters from the towns that ring the capital.

On Monday, activists reported government attacks in the Damascus suburb of Qatana.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said Monday’s fighting is taking place roughly one mile from the airport highway.

One Damascus resident who did not wish to be named said gunfire and sporadic explosions could be heard throughout the morning. The resident said that unlike previous clashes that occurred at night, the recent fighting took place during the day - a sign that the rebels are becoming more brazen.

Yesterday, Syria’s 16-month conflict crossed an important symbolic threshold as the International Red Cross formally declared it a civil war, a status with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions.

Also on Sunday, United Nations observers gathered new details on what happened in a village where dozens of people were reported killed in a regime assault. After a second visit to Tremseh on Sunday, the team said Syrian troops went door-to-door in the small farming community, checking residents’ IDs before killing some and hauling others away.

According to the UN, the attack appeared to target army defectors and activists.

“Pools of blood and brain matter were observed in a number of homes,” a UN statement said.

Syria denied UN claims that government forces had used heavy weapons such as tanks, artillery and helicopters during the attack on Thursday.

Anti-regime activists estimate that more than 17,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began.