Reports claim five civilians and six soldiers killed as up to 2,000 troops and tanks move into capital's outskirts
Haroon Siddique and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 January 2012
"Fierce fighting has been reported in the suburbs of Damascus as thousands of Syrian troops battle to take back control of areas that have fallen into rebel hands, according to activists.
They said five civilians were killed in the suburbs of the capital on Sunday, a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of mounting violence.
About 2,000 soldiers in buses and armoured personnel carriers, along with at least 50 tanks and armoured vehicles, moved at dawn into the eastern Ghouta area on the edge of Damascus to reinforce numbers surrounding the suburbs of Saqba, Hammouriya and Kfar Batna, activists said. The army pushed into the heart of Kfar Batna with four tanks in its central square.
Haroon Siddique and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 January 2012
"Fierce fighting has been reported in the suburbs of Damascus as thousands of Syrian troops battle to take back control of areas that have fallen into rebel hands, according to activists.
They said five civilians were killed in the suburbs of the capital on Sunday, a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of mounting violence.
About 2,000 soldiers in buses and armoured personnel carriers, along with at least 50 tanks and armoured vehicles, moved at dawn into the eastern Ghouta area on the edge of Damascus to reinforce numbers surrounding the suburbs of Saqba, Hammouriya and Kfar Batna, activists said. The army pushed into the heart of Kfar Batna with four tanks in its central square.
"Mosques that have turned into field hospitals are requesting blood," Raid, an activist in Saqba, told Reuters by satellite phone. "They cut off the electricity. Petrol stations are empty and the army is preventing people from leaving to get fuel for generators or heating."
The Local Co-ordination Committees, which report on protests in Syria, said security forces had opened fire in Kfar Batna, killing 16-year-old Khaled Tassah and two other people, and that explosions could be heard. It said security forces opened fire on a funeral in Jobar and there were clashes between troops and the rebel Free Syrian Army in the suburbs of Zabadani, Maleiha and Ghouta.
The deaths brought to 17 the number of people killed in the suburbs since Saturday, when the army launched an offensive against rebels who seized them last week, activists and residents said....
In the mountain town of Rankous, 20 miles north of Damascus near the Lebanese border, Assad's forces have killed at least 33 people in recent days in an attack to dislodge army defectors and insurgents, activists and residents said. They said Rankous had been under tank fire since Wednesday when it was besieged by several thousand troops. Restrictions on access for foreign reporters make it difficult to independently verify reports of casualties...."
The Local Co-ordination Committees, which report on protests in Syria, said security forces had opened fire in Kfar Batna, killing 16-year-old Khaled Tassah and two other people, and that explosions could be heard. It said security forces opened fire on a funeral in Jobar and there were clashes between troops and the rebel Free Syrian Army in the suburbs of Zabadani, Maleiha and Ghouta.
The deaths brought to 17 the number of people killed in the suburbs since Saturday, when the army launched an offensive against rebels who seized them last week, activists and residents said....
In the mountain town of Rankous, 20 miles north of Damascus near the Lebanese border, Assad's forces have killed at least 33 people in recent days in an attack to dislodge army defectors and insurgents, activists and residents said. They said Rankous had been under tank fire since Wednesday when it was besieged by several thousand troops. Restrictions on access for foreign reporters make it difficult to independently verify reports of casualties...."
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