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Fighting Rages in Damascus Suburb After Suicide Bomb Attack by Rebels Prisoner Swap Frees Lebanese and Turks
(about 4 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fighting raged between rebels and the Syrian military for control of a Damascus suburb on Saturday after a suicide bomber attack on a government checkpoint that an opposition monitoring group said killed at least 16 soldiers. BEIRUT, Lebanon — A flurry of back-room Middle East diplomacy led to the start of an ambitious international prisoner swap that has won the release of Lebanese citizens held by Syrian rebels and Turkish pilots kidnapped by Lebanese gunmen.
At least 15 rebel fighters were killed in heavy clashes after the attack, as the government launched airstrikes and rebels peppered a government-controlled area with mortar rounds, according to the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Late on Saturday, a plane carrying nine freed Lebanese captives arrived in Beirut from Istanbul while a second plane that took off at about the same time was making the opposite trip to take the Turkish pilots home, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.
Though the terms of the agreement were not publicly announced, it was brokered and carried out by Lebanese, Turkish, Qatari and Palestinian officials. Some local reports said that the Syrian government was expected to release a number of female prisoners as demanded by the rebels in exchange for the captives from Lebanon, the home of Hezbollah, a Syrian ally.
The full conclusion of the deal would be a rare bright spot in Syria’s civil war, which has left more than 100,000 people dead, sent millions of refugees streaming across international borders and exacerbated sectarian tensions across the Middle East. But it appeared unlikely that the agreement, which involved only one of Syria’s hundreds of rebel groups and focused solely on the exchange of prisoners, could be expanded to open the possibility of talks aimed at ending the war itself.
Movement on the swap began late on Friday, when nine Lebanese Shiites who had been taken captive by rebels in Syria and held for more than a year crossed from northern Syria into Turkey.
At the time of the men’s capture, the rebels accused them of belonging to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah officials and the captives’ families denied that, saying the men had been returning by bus from a religious pilgrimage to Iran.
Then on Saturday, two Turkish Airlines pilots who had been kidnapped earlier this year by armed gunmen were given to Lebanese security officials, who flew them by helicopter to Beirut’s international airport. It was widely believed that the gunmen had captured the pilots, hoping to pressure Turkey, which backs the Syrian rebels, to push for the Lebanese captives’ release. Late on Saturday, at roughly the same time, the two jets took off.
Inside Syria, fighting raged between rebels and the Syrian military for control of a Damascus suburb after a suicide bomber attack on a government checkpoint that an opposition monitoring group said killed at least 16 soldiers. After the attack, at least 15 rebel fighters were killed in heavy clashes as the government launched airstrikes and rebels peppered a government-controlled area with mortar rounds, according to the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
While clashes erupt daily in the area between the ring of mostly rebel-held suburbs around the Syrian capital and the government-held core of the city, the death toll in Saturday’s battle was high, reflecting the rebels’ determination to try to advance toward downtown even as the government had reclaimed territory elsewhere.While clashes erupt daily in the area between the ring of mostly rebel-held suburbs around the Syrian capital and the government-held core of the city, the death toll in Saturday’s battle was high, reflecting the rebels’ determination to try to advance toward downtown even as the government had reclaimed territory elsewhere.
The deployment of a suicide bomber to open a rebel offensive also reflects the increasing sway of extremist groups in the areas close to the capital. While two affiliates of Al Qaeda are active in Syria — the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — they are most prominent in the country’s north and east, where they can easily transport arms and foreign fighters across the Turkish and Iraqi borders. The deployment of a suicide bomber to open a rebel offensive also reflects the increasing sway of extremist groups in areas close to the capital. While two affiliates of Al Qaeda are active in Syria — the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — they are most prominent in the country’s north and east, where they can easily transport arms and foreign fighters across the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
Recently, however, their presence has increased in central and southern Syria, although they are still outnumbered by more mainstream rebel groups.Recently, however, their presence has increased in central and southern Syria, although they are still outnumbered by more mainstream rebel groups.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which supports the opposition, said Saturday’s battle began when a suicide bomber from the Nusra Front blew up the car he was driving near a government checkpoint between the suburbs of Jarmana and Al Mleiha. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which supports the opposition, said Saturday’s battle began when a suicide bomber from the Nusra Front blew up the car he was driving near a government checkpoint between the suburbs of Jarmana and Al Mleiha. The Syrian Observatory monitors the conflict from Britain through a network of contacts on the ground.
The Observatory monitors the conflict from Britain through a network of contacts on the ground.

Sebnem Arsu and Karam Shoumali contributed reporting from Istanbul.

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, also reported the bombing, calling it a terrorist attack, though it did not report fatalities, saying that the blast wounded 15 people. The government often underreports losses among its forces.
The fighting came amid reports that nine Lebanese Shiites who had been kidnapped by Syrian rebels near the Turkish border and held for more than a year had been released and were on their way back to Lebanon.
The Lebanese interior minister, Marwan Charbel, said Saturday that the captives had been released and would be arriving at the international airport in Beirut within hours, The Associated Press reported.
But much about the possible release, and the wider deal that would make it possible, remained unclear.
News of the release came after trips by high-ranking Lebanese and Qatari officials to Turkey and Damascus.
Mr. Charbel said the nine captives had crossed into Turkey from Syria late on Friday. The Turkish government did not confirm that, and no images of the captives in Turkey were released publicly.