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Syria: reports of heavy firefight in western Damascus Syria: reports of heavy firefight in western Damascus
(40 minutes later)
A heavy firefight has broken out between Free Syrian Army rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in a main district of the capital Damascus, according to witnesses. Heavy fighting has broken out between Free Syrian Army rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in a main district of Damascus that is home to several security installations, according to witnesses.
The sound of heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades echoed through the night from the western neighbourhood of al-Mezze, one of the most heavily guarded areas of the capital and home to several security installations, residents told Reuters by telephone in the early hours of Monday morning. The sound of heavy machinegun fire and rocket-propelled grenades echoed through the heavily guarded Mezze district in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, residents said. There was no immediate word on casualties but residents said by telephone the fighting was intense.
"There is fighting near Hamada supermarket and the sound of explosions there and elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Security police have blocked several side streets and the street lighting has been cut off," said a woman who lives in the area. "There is fighting near Hamada supermarket and the sound of explosions there and elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Security police have blocked several side streets and the street lighting has been cut off," a resident of the area said.
Extra troops have been patrolling in Mezze, located on the Damascus-Beirut road, after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the neighbourhood in February to denounce Assad following the killing of several protesters. The fighting in the capital came after a car bomb ripped through a residential area of Syria's second city, Aleppo, on Sunday, and as activists reported heavy clashes across the country between state forces and rebels fighting to overthrow Assad.
Security in the district is already heavy. Along with embassies and secret police complexes, several security officials have homes in the district, including Assef Shawkat, President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and one of the central figures in the security apparatus underpinning the family-based power structure. As hundreds gathered on Sunday in Damascus to mourn victims of car bombings the previous day, activists said security forces beat and arrested people at a march of more than 200 when protesters began shouting "the people want to topple the regime".
On Saturday two car bombs struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing at least 27 people and wounding about 140, according to state media; while on Sunday the British-based opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least three people had been killed and 25 wounded by the explosion close to a state security office in Aleppo, Syria's second city. Among those arrested and beaten was Mohammed Sayyed Rassas, a leader of the National Co-ordinating Body for Democratic Change (NCB), an opposition group whose members have visited China and Russia in attempts to promote dialogue between Assad and the opposition.
Most opposition groups have rejected the NCB over its insistence on non-violence and its stance against foreign intervention.
Security forces also arrested Farzand Omar, a doctor and politician from the party Building the Syria State, when he arrived at the Damascus airport from his hometown of Aleppo.
World powers have been unable to stop more than a year of bloodshed in Syria. Recent army gains against rebel positions have shown no sign of quelling the violence and no negotiated settlement is in sight.
The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have been killed and humanitarian conditions are grim. The government says about 2,000 members of security forces have been killed.
In Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, the state news agency Sana said terrorists were behind the car bomb that killed two people and wounded 30 others when it exploded in a central area close to a state security office and a church.
The explosion came a day after twin blasts on Saturday killed 27 people in Damascus and wounded nearly 100 others.
The semi-official news channel al-Ikhbariya said security forces had been tipped off about the bomb in Aleppo and had been moving residents out of the area when it went off. It said the car had been filled with 200kg of explosives.
Pictures on the Sana website showed building fronts blasted open and aid workers standing near piles of shattered masonry and bomb craters, while Syria TV showed a street corner splattered in blood.
"The explosion came suddenly and the only thing I thought to do was fall to the ground," a girl told Syria TV, her hands and face covered in shards of glass. "Nothing remained. All the building fronts collapsed. God curse them."
No group claimed responsibility for the Aleppo attack and an activist from the opposition's local Revolutionary Council said the government was behind it.
Reports from Syria are difficult to verify as the government restricts foreign journalists' access.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 19 people, including four children, were killed in rocket attacks and by gunfire during army raids and fighting with rebels across the country on Sunday.
Fighting subsided overnight in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on the Euphrates river after army tanks shelled a Free Syrian Army hideout there in the morning, killing at least six rebels.
The insurgents retaliated by attacking roadblocks and security compounds in various districts of the city, residents and opposition activists said.
"The Free Syrian Army responded fiercely. Around 200 rebels took to the streets and hit army patrols stationed at roundabouts and schools and government buildings that have been turned into shabbiha [pro-Assad militiamen] headquarters," said Wael Ghaith, an opposition activist.
"The army has all but pulled out from the main thoroughfares by night."
A statement by rebels said they had killed Major Ayham al-Hamad, a key operative in Airforce Intelligence, a secret police division that has been spearheading the crackdown on the revolt in the city.
In Raqqa, another poor Sunni Muslim tribal city on the Euphrates, troops and military intelligence agents deployed and army snipers took to rooftops after security forces shot dead at least 20 people in the last three days, opposition activists said.
Most of the casualties were protesters killed when a large crowd tried to bring down a big statue of Assad's father in the middle of the city, they said, adding that sporadic demonstrations continued in Raqqa on Sunday and that fighting was reported between army defectors and loyalist troops.