Register | Login
 
 
In The News...

Boys warm up next to a fire outside a building in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus February 5, 2013. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Fighting erupts in Damascus as rebels launch attacks
Fighting erupts in Damascus as rebels launch attacks
Posted : Wednesday, 06 February 2013 04:41AM

AMMAN (Reuters) - Heavy fighting erupted in Damascus on Wednesday after opposition fighters launched a coordinated offensive from the suburbs against President Bashar al-Assad's forces, breaking a lull in the capital, opposition campaigners said.

The authorities closed the main Abbasid Square and the Fares al-Khoury thoroughfare as fighters attacked road blocks and fortifications with rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds, said several activists speaking form the capital.

"The areas of Jobar, Zamalka, al-Zablatani and parts of Qaboun and the ring road have become a battleground," activist Fida Mohammad said from the district of Qaboun.

Another activist said an army tank stationed at the main al-Kabbas roadblock on the ring road had been destroyed. Residents reported the sound of explosions across eastern and northern district of the capital.

(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp