Activists: Syrian copters battle rebels in capital

Free Syrian Army soldiers run for cover in Idlib, Syria, in this citizen journalism image taken July 13, 2012, and provided by Edlib News Network ENN. / AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN

(CBS/AP) BEIRUT - Syrian government forces backed by helicopter gunships battled rebels in heavy clashes in Damascus, a clear escalation in the most serious fighting in the capital since the country's conflict began last year, activists said.

CBS News' George Baghdadi reports from Damascus that explosions and gunfire rattled the historic city. Black columns of smoke billowed over the capital and the boom of government shells reverberated across the city.

Syrian officials tell CBS News that the deputy head of Damascus' police department, Brig. Gen. Issa Douba, was killed in the clashes in the capital's southern district of Midan on Tuesday.

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The fierce clashes, which have raged over the past three days in at least four neighborhoods across the city, were the latest sign that Syria's civil war is moving ever closer to the heart of President Bashar Assad's regime. Government forces have already thrown tanks and armored personnel carriers into the battle in the capital, but the use of airpower reflected the intensity and seriousness of the fighting.

The fighting spread to new areas of Damascus, including Baghdad Street and Sabe'Bahrat Square, where, until recently, pro-government marches were held, Baghdadi reports. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Damascus-based activist Maath al-Shami said the clashes Tuesday were concentrated in Kfar Souseh, Nahr Aisha, Midan and Qadam.

Syria's state-run news agency said Tuesday that troops were still chasing "terrorist elements" who had fled from Nahr Aisha to Midan. Syria refers to its opponents as terrorists.

An amateur video showed two armored personnel carriers with heavy machineguns on top along with troops who were said to be advancing in an empty road toward Midan on Tuesday.

Activists have dubbed the fighting in the capital the "Damascus Volcano" in what appears to be an attempt to bring the fighting into Syria's seat of power.

The clashes are the most sustained and widespread in the capital since the start of the uprising against Assad in March last year and a crackdown that activists say has claimed the lives of more than 17,000 people. In the past, clashes happened at night in the capital. Now, the fighting rages during the day.

Damascus - and Syria's largest city, Aleppo - are both home to elites who have benefited from close ties to Assad's regime, as well as merchant classes and minority groups who worry their status will suffer if Assad falls.

As the violence has spiraled out of control, diplomatic efforts to halt the bloodshed have faltered, with world powers still deeply divided over who is responsible and how to stop the fighting. The U.S. and many Western nations have called on Assad to leave power, while Russia, China and Iran have stood by the regime.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was headed to China on Tuesday as part of a diplomatic push to get Russia and China to back a tougher response to attacks by Assad's regime. Ban's trip comes ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote this week. A Western-backed resolution calls for sanctions and invokes Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter.

A Chapter 7 resolution authorizes actions that can ultimately include the use of military force, which U.S. administration and European officials - for now - are playing down as a possibility.

Ban was to hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, with Syria expected to top the agenda.

U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, meanwhile, was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss the conflict.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned against foreign intervention in Syria. Iran, one of Syria's strongest allies, offered to mediate and host a meeting between Syrian government and rebels to help resolve the conflict.

"Iran is prepared to use all its capacities to resolve the crisis in Syria," Mehmanparast told reporters Tuesday.

The Syrian opposition is unlikely to accept Iran, which has provided Assad with military and political backing for years, as a mediator.

The Observatory and al-Shami said helicopters fired heavy machine guns during overnight clashes in the neighborhoods of Qadam and Hajar al-Aswad.

Another activist in the capital, who asked to be identified only as Bayan because of fear for his safety, said troops fired mortar rounds at the neighborhoods of Qaboun and Jobar, causing a major fire near Jobar's Grand Mosque.

"People are trying to extinguish the fire with water hoses or buckets filled with water," Bayan said via Skype. She added that government troops had set up checkpoints around Damascus in response to the violence, and were searching cars and asking for passengers' identity cards.

Al-Shami said residents of hard-hit areas were fleeing to safer neighborhoods where they were staying at schools and mosques. He added that many of the wounded were being treated at secret hospitals for fear they might be detained if taken to official ones in Damascus.

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[spacengin]

I see the rebels strategy...take the fight to the centers of Assad's areas of support. His indiscriminant shelling and killing will bring the war directly to his supports who will feel what it is to be on the other side. This will erode his support base and accelerate his slide. Assad's days maybe numbered and one could now start putting odds on when. The question is where will he escape to? Will Russia or China take him? If they do, there will be unpleasant consequences for them...

[melpol12]

Freedom fighters from NATO are now battling for control of Syria. There is fear that Assad in desperation will use the Russian supplied nerve agent VX to destroy his opposition, in return NATO will distribute the nerve agent VX among their freedom fighters. VX cannot be filtered by face masks, when used by opposing armies 90% of the combatants will be dead in 24 hours.

[tigrissupinus]

There is no way that would ever happen. You are seriously misinformed.

[melpol12]

The exotic VX nerve gas is dense and hugs the ground, it is good for road kills. But Sarin is lighter and forms a traveling cloud. Both will wipe out a million holy warriors in a few days. Russia and the US have them in large supplies. They will both be used not only in Syria but in the greater Middle-East.

[IMFurious]

This is a civil war between the government and the rebels. Both sides issue casualty statements. The rebels said on one day the casualty count was 14,00; the next day they said the casualty count was 17,000. What casualty count does the media always use? The rebels, of course. Who will win in the end? The Islamists, who have the support of the Obama administration. Country after country is turning Islamists, all with the support of the Obama administration. The Americans who are fed up with this policy are going to vote for change in November. And then, and only then, will there be hope.

[UForgotPoland]

Man, you're a moron.

[hamiltongrad]

jUST AS Egypt. This guy is right on.
The left is full of dreamy ideas, wishing things, asking why, but the rest of the world is a cruel realityville.