Syrian Troops Battle Rebels in Damascus Suburbs
Syrian government forces are carrying out a broad offensive against rebels in the suburbs of Damascus, the state media said Wednesday.
The state-run SANA news agency said that troops have killed "scores of terrorists" — the government term for the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.
The suburbs of the Syrian capital have been opposition strongholds since the uprising started in March 2011. The rebels have recently made significant advances in in the area, capturing air bases and military installation and clashing with a pro-government Palestinian group for control of the Yarmuk refugee camp, located in the capital's southern part.
SANA said Wednesday's fighting was taking place in the capital's southern outskirts of Daraya, Harasta, Douma and al-Hajar al-Aswad, an area neighboring Yarmuk.
On Tuesday, Syrian fighter jets bombed Yarmuk for the second time in a week, sending thousands fleeing from the camp.
There were no reports on casualties from those strikes. Similar airstrikes on Sunday killed at least eight people in Yarmuk, activists said.
The rebel offensive in the camp, which began Friday, is aimed at driving out pro-government Palestinian gunmen of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
Most of the fighting on Wednesday was concentrated on surrounding districts outside the camp, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said the rebels took control of large parts of the camp after resistance from the PFLP-GC gunmen ceased that morning. The group relies on reports from activists on the ground.
When the revolt against Assad's rule began 21 months ago, the half-million-strong Palestinian community in Syria stayed on the sidelines. But as the civil war deepened, most Palestinians backed the rebels, while some groups — such as the PFLP-GC — have been fighting alongside the troops. The group is led by Ahmed Jibril, Assad's longtime ally.
The fighting in the camp has forced an exodus of Palestinian refugees and Syrians who came to the camp in past weeks to escape violence elsewhere in the city, according to United Nations officials.
More than two-thirds of the roughly 150,000 Palestinian residents of Yarmuk have left the camp since Friday when the fighting flared up, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. They have either sought shelter in the outskirts of the camp, in other parts of Damascus or other Syrian cities, or headed to the Syrian-Lebanon border, said Sami Mshasha, an UNRWA spokesman.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in since the revolt started in March 2011 as mostly peaceful demonstrations against Assad's rule. It morphed into a civil war after some members of the opposition took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.