Al Jazeera.
Intense fighting between the opposition and government forces is
raging in a half-dozen areas of the Syrian capital Damascus, the day
after a bomb struck at the heart of Syria's senior command, killing at
least three of President Bashar al-Assad's top brass.
Columns of black smoke rose over Damascus on Thursday as troops
shelled Qaboon and Barzeh, while fighting raged in al-Midan and Zahira
and loud explosions were heard in Mashrou-Dumar, said the Syrian Local
Coordination Committees.
Violence also erupted in Ikhlas neighbourhood near the government
headquarters after rebels attacked forces loyal to Assad, who have
deployed armoured vehicles, attack helicopters and increased roadblocks
across the city.
Rebels fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in the
Jdeidet Artouz area, killing at least five officers, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said, as the chief UN observer warned that
Syria was not "on the track for peace".
