Syria troops, rebels clash in northern Damascus

Syrian government troops fight fierce battles with rebels for control of key neighbourhoods in the north of Damascus.

BEIRUT // Syrian government troops fought fierce battles with rebels yesterday for control of key neighbourhoods in the north of Damascus, residents and activists said.

Also, a European Union staff member was killed in a rocket attack on an opposition stronghold south of the capital, the EU said.

Opposition fighters trying to topple president Bashar Assad have been trying to advance into Damascus for weeks, battering regime checkpoints and military bases in the heavily fortified capital. They have also fired mortars into residential districts and into the capital's main football stadium, sowing fear among residents.

Both sides see Damascus as the ultimate prize in the civil war.

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said a policy officer with the European delegation in Syria was killed on Tuesday in the Damascus suburb of Daraya. It was the first death of an EU employee in the Syrian civil war.

Ahmad Shihadeh, 32, worked for the EU for five years, a spokesman for Ms Ashton said yesterday. He said Shihadeh had lived in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus that has been one of the main battlefields in the capital.

Ms Ashton said he "died while providing humanitarian help to the community of Daraya." "Ahmad was known for his courage and selflessness."

The state-run Sana news agency said two mortar rounds exploded near an orphanage in Al Boukhtyar area of Damascus yesterday, killing and wounding an unknown number of people.

It was not immediately clear if any of the casualties were in the orphanage.

The pro-government Al Ekhbariya TV aired footage of the attacks, showing houses and cars on fire and firefighters working to extinguish the flames. People were shown weeping and cursing the rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday's clashes were concentrated in the capital's neighbourhoods of Jobar and Barzeh.

A resident in the area said shelling overnight "shook apartments" and terrified the inhabitants. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety.

A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Khan Sheih neighbourhood, west of Damascus, the Observatory said. The Britain-based activist group also said fierce clashes broke out after the blast but had no immediate reports of casualties.

Fighting also raged in other Syrian cities, including Homs, where the military pounded rebel positions with artillery and carried out several air strikes on the Baba Amr district, a former rebel stronghold which the opposition has tried to recapture in the past days.

According to UN figures, more than 70,000 people have been killed in the 2-year-old conflict and four millions Syrians driven from their homes.