Beirut: The Syrian military pounded the rebel-held central town of Qusayr, killing 13 people, in an apparent preparation for a ground assault, a watchdog said. “After two days of calm, planes bombed the town of Qusayr in the early hours of the morning,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdul Rahman said. “At least 13 people, including rebels, were killed in these raids and in artillery and mortar fire by the army.
“It seems that this is preparation for a major operation,” he added. The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, also reported an intense bombardment of Qusayr, which the Syrian regime has been trying to recapture. “A rain of shells on the city, at the same time as artillery fire and mortar fire from dawn. Homes were destroyed and burnt down,” the group said. The Qusayr district of Homs province has been the focus of fierce fighting between government forces and the rebels in recent weeks. Regular troops have been bolstered by militiamen and by fighters of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a staunch Damascus ally.
The area is considered strategically important because it connects the capital to the Mediterranean coast. Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed and 10 others wounded when a car bomb ripped through a Damascus district on Saturday night, local media and activists said.
A huge explosive device was planted under a car in the northeastern district of Ruken Addien, the state media said, adding that bomb squads dismantled another explosive device in the same area, reports Xinhua.
Meanwhile, the oppositional Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four of those killed were government soldiers and the bomb was affixed under a government troops’ vehicle.
Earlier in the day, several explosions rocked the countryside of Damascus, killing at least eight people in all. Bombing and mortar attacks have become daily routine in Syria whose government blames the Al Qaida terrorist network for creating chaos across the country.
