Beirut: An activist group says Syrian security forces have retreated from the streets of one of biggest suburbs of the capital after intense clashes with anti-government army defectors.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' head Rami Abdul-Rahman says that as of early Sunday, government troops had pulled back to a provincial headquarters and a security agency building in the Damascus suburb of Douma. He had no information on casualties.
Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso confirmed that security forces had abandoned Douma, but said he had no information about clashes.
Central Damascus has for most of Syria's 10-month uprising been under the tight control of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, but its suburbs have witnessed intense anti-regime protests.
