Syria: Clashes Reported 8 Kms From Damascus
Deserters from the Syrian army on Sunday took control on some areas of the province of Homs, according to opposition sources. This came as Syrian human rights activists reported about heavy fighting between government troops and deserters in the town of al-Rastan.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the free Syrian army said that clashes between the elements of this army and the government forces approached in the past few hours to the capital. According to him, government forces launched a “fierce and unprecedented attack” on a number of areas in the Damascus countryside.
The Turkey-based Maj. Maher Al Nuaimi said that according to the information and reports from fighters of the free army speak about clashes at a distance of eight kilometers from the capital. “This indicates the battle is approaching Damascus” .
According to Reuters, Syrian government soldiers killed 19 people in fighting to retake Damascus suburbs from rebels on Sunday, activists said. Some 2,000 soldiers in buses and armored personnel carriers, along with at least 50 tanks and armored vehicles, moved at dawn into the Ghouta area on the eastern edge of Damascus to reinforce an offensive in the suburbs of Saqba, Hammouriya and Kfar Batna, activists said. The army pushed into the center of Kfar Batna and four tanks were in its central square, they said.
