Gunmen kill high-ranking army official in Damascus

Beirut: Gunmen assassinated an army general in Damascus yesterday in the first killing of a high ranking military officer in the Syrian capital since the uprising against President Bashar Al Assad's regime began in March, the state-run news agency said.

The attack is a sign that violence in Syria is reaching the tightly controlled capital, which has been relatively quiet compared to other cities.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility, it could also indicate that rebel soldiers who have risen up in numerous cities and towns are trying to step up action in Damascus.

SANA news agency said three gunmen opened fire at Brig. Gen. Eisa Al Khouli in the morning as he left his home in the Damascus neighbourhood of Rukn-Eddine. Al Khouli was a doctor and the chief of a military hospital in the capital.

Such assassinations are not uncommon outside Damascus and army officers have been killed in the past, mostly in the restive provinces of Homs and Idlib.

Violence in other parts of the country left at least 11 people dead as regime troops pushed into rebel-held neighbourhoods in the restive central city of Homs and shelled the mountain town of Zabadani, north of Damascus.

Aiming to regain control

For the past week, Syrian forces have been bombarding rebel-held neighbourhoods in Homs, aiming to regain control of one of the main cities involved in the uprising. Activists said more than 400 people have been killed in the campaign.

Yesterday, troops shelled the Baba Amr district in Homs, killing at least four people, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said 15 people were killed in Baba Amr yesterday.