Damascus rocked by heavy fighting

BEIRUT – Fierce clashes between rebel troops and Syrian forces rocked a Damascus district bristling with security facilities yesterday just hours before experts sent by peace envoy Kofi Annan arrived in the capital.

The fighting, the heaviest in Damascus since a revolt against President Bashar Assad’s regime erupted a year ago, came as the capital was still reeling from deadly weekend bombings.State television said three ‘terrorists’ and a security force member were killed in the clashes that erupted early morning in the upscale and heavily guarded Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus, where several security facilities are housed.It said several people were also wounded on both sides.A resident of Mazzeh, located near the presidential palace and home to several embassies, said locals were terrified by the sound of gunfire.’We were very scared but now the roads are clear and stores are open for business,’ she told AFP.Violence was also reported yesterday in the central province of Hama, where several houses in the town of Qalaat al-Madiq were destroyed in shelling by security forces, the Britain-based Observatory said.It added that troops also besieged and stormed the town of Kafar Shams, in the southern province of Daraa.Yesterday’s clashes came after twin car bombs ripped through two neighbourhoods of Damascus on Saturday killing 27 people according to the Syrian interior ministry.Another car bomb exploded on Sunday in a residential neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria’s second city and commercial hub, killing two people.Assad enjoys a strong support base in Damascus and Aleppo, both of which had so far been largely spared the unrest shaking the country since the revolt against the regime began last March.On the diplomatic front, a mission sent by UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus for talks on a monitoring operation to end the bloodshed.’The mission has arrived. There are five people with expertise in political, peacekeeping and mediation,’ Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for Annan, told AFP.’They will be staying for as long as they are making progress on reaching agreement on practical steps to implement Mr Annan’s proposals,’ he added.Technical experts from the UN and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation were yesterday also working in Syria to assess the humanitarian impact of the regime’s deadly crackdown on the protests.In parallel with the mission, Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, flew to Moscow for talks Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the ‘extremely difficult’ humanitarian situation in Syria’s protest centres.’A daily ceasefire of at least two hours is imperative to allow the evacuation of the wounded,’ he said ahead of the mission to Moscow, an ally of Damascus which is seen as having some influence on Syria’s leadership.- Nampa-AFP