Fierce fighting between rebels and the troops loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, supported by artillery was reported Monday morning in the two main cities of Syria, Damascus and Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Government troops bombarded the Hajar al-Aswad district, in the south of the capital, said the SOHR, amid clashes between rebels and soldiers in the area, as well as fighting in Tadamoun district, also in the south of the capital. Some reports claimed the rebels took control on Tadamoun.
According to the SOHR, many residents fled from these two districts to find a shelter in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, located at their edges.
Late Sunday, eight civilians including a woman were killed by a mortar shell in Yarmouk, where rebels battled Palestinian fighters from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) of Ahmad Jibril, a staunch ally of the regime.
According to the SOHR, Palestinian fighters were divided between the regime and the rebellion.
Also in Damascus, the rebels launched coordinated attacks against several army checkpoints throughout the city, according to the SOHR.
In the north, the SOHR reported heavy fighting in the city of Aleppo, as well as bombing that killed one civilian and causing a fire near a security building at the north- west of the city.
Clashes also erupted near Aleppo International Airport, according to SOHR.
In Homs in central Syria, where the International Red Cross had access for the first time in several months to two besieged neighborhoods, the SOHR reported fighting and bombing in several neighborhoods.
The SOHR also reported about aerial bombardments in the province of Idleb (northwest), where the Air Force has recently intensified its raids and arrest.
