Saturday was filled with reports, from both State media and opposition activists, of regime attacks around Damascus.
The activist Shaam News Network reported new fighting between insurgents and Syrian forces on the western edge of Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, as regime troops tried once more to enter the besieged town.
Moadamiyyat has been under an 11-month siege. In the last three weeks, three groups of civilians have been evacuated after the regime blockade brought many to the point of starvation.
The Syrian military, in between evacuations, was able to get about 200 meters inside the town last week before being pushed back.
Destruction in Moadamiyyat:
Shaam also reports artillery shelling of the suburbs of Douma and Yabrood and the town of Rankous.
Syrian warplanes also attacked Sbeineh, south of Damascus.
Insurgents fighting in Sbeineh:
State news agency SANA claims “Army units eliminated whole terrorist groups in Damascus countryside” and destroyed terrorists’ gatherings and hideouts with all the weapons and ammunition inside them”, including in Yabroud, northeast of the capital.
Meanwhile, insurgents continued to fire mortars into Damascus, according to SANA, including several rounds into the neighbourhood of Jaramana in the south of the city.
Casualties
The Local Coordination Committees claim 75 people were killed on Saturday, including 24 in Damascus and its suburbs, 14 in Aleppo Province, and 12 in Daraa Province.
The Violations Documentation Center records that 77,494 people have been killed since the start of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 107 since Saturday. Of the dead, 57,566 are civilians, a rise of 70 from yesterday.
