AMMAN/ALEPPO |
They said aerial attacks by at
least two fighter planes late on Monday had targeted the neighborhood of
Zemalka and the more easterly suburb of Saqba where Free Syrian Army
fighters had attacked and overrun several army roadblocks earlier in the
day.
Both suburbs are poor and
inhabited predominantly by Sunni Muslims, who make up the majority of
Syria's population and have been at the forefront of fighting against
President Bashar al-Assad.
Video
footage seen by a Reuters reporter of the aftermath of an attack by one
of the planes firing rockets at an apartment building showed people
running away with their children and the six-storey building collapsed
like an accordion.
Syrian
authorities have banned entry to most foreign media, making it
impossible to verify accounts by activists and residents of activity in
the capital.
The focus of the
17-month struggle appears to have returned to the outskirts of the
capital after weeks of battles centered on the northern city of Aleppo.
Opposition
activists said earlier at least 62 people had been killed in an assault
on suburbs of Damascus on Monday, some summarily executed, a day after
they accused Assad's troops and sectarian militia of massacring hundreds
of people in the neighboring town of Daraya.
At
the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Daraya
killings as "an appalling and brutal crime" that should be independently
investigated immediately.
Egypt's
new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, preparing to make his debut on the
stage of world diplomacy, called on Monday for Assad's allies to help
lever the Syrian leader out of power.
"Now
is the time to stop this bloodshed and for the Syrian people to regain
their full rights and for this regime that kills its people to disappear
from the scene," Mursi told Reuters in his first interview with an
international news organization before embarking on a trip to China and Iran.
"There is no room to talk about reform, but the discussion is about change," Mursi said.
HELICOPTER DOWN IN CAPITAL
Syria's
state television confirmed a helicopter had crashed in Damascus on
Monday but gave no details. Opposition activists said rebels had shot it
down; opposition video footage showed a crippled aircraft burning up
and crashing into a built-up area, sending up a pillar of oily black
smoke.
The possible shooting down
of the helicopter, the latest of several such successes claimed by
lightly armed rebel fighters, bolstered morale in their 17-month
struggle battle to bring down Assad. However, even more intense army
bombardments followed the helicopter crash, witnesses said.
"It
was flying over the eastern part of the city and firing all morning,"
an activist calling himself Abu Bakr told Reuters from near where the
helicopter came down in the eastern suburbs. "The rebels had been trying
to hit it for about an hour," he said. "Finally they did."
Video footage carried the sound of people celebrating the helicopter's dive with shouts of "Allahu akbar" (God is great).
Although
rebel commanders have asked foreign governments for anti-aircraft
missiles, Western nations are unwilling to supply such weapons for fear
of them falling into hostile hands. There was no indication fighters in
Damascus had used any missiles.
Later
footage showed a fighter jet swooping on a built-up area. An explosion
is heard and a voice says: "It is firing rockets." Activists said it had
struck targets on the eastern outskirts of the capital.
"This
is the first time a warplane strikes the edges of Damascus," a
Damascus-based activist told Reuters by Skype. "This plane was swooping
over the area all afternoon."
Activists said that at least two fighter planes had caused the casualties in the eastern suburbs.
"The
60 casualties were recorded in Zemalka and there were many dead as well
in Saqba but their numbers could not be ascertained," said Osama
al-Dimashqi, an activist speaking from Zemalka and giving an alias for
fear of reprisals.
"Most of those killed were civilians and the Free Syrian Army had attacked the roadblocks then left," he said.
"SUMMARY EXECUTIONS"
Activists
said 11 of Monday's dead were killed in the district of Jobar, where
the helicopter came down. Five of the Jobar victims had been captured
and summarily executed by security forces, and the others died when
their homes were hit.
Army
helicopters had been rocketing and strafing crowded working class
suburbs on the eastern outskirts of the city since Sunday. "The sound of
gunfire and mortar shells exploding hasn't stopped," an opposition
activist, Samir al-Shami, said from the area. "I see smoke rising
everywhere."
Video from campaigners showed 20 bodies on the floor of a mosque, including three children.
On
Sunday, opposition activists said they had found about 320 bodies,
including some of women and children, in Daraya, just southwest of
Damascus. Most had been killed execution-style, they said. Videos on the
Internet showed rows of bodies wrapped in sheets. Most seemed to be
young men, but at least one video showed several children who appeared
to have been shot in the head. The body of one toddler was soaked in
blood.
At the United Nations, Ban demanded an investigation.
"The
secretary-general is certainly shocked by those reports and he strongly
condemns this appalling and brutal crime," Ban's spokesman Martin
Nesirky said. "This needs to be investigated immediately, in an
independent and impartial fashion."
HIGHEST DAILY TOLL
The
uprising, which began as peaceful protests, has become a civil war.
U.N. investigators have accused both sides of war crimes but laid more
blame on government troops and pro-government militia than on the
rebels.
In Paris, French President
Francois Hollande warned Assad that any use of chemical weapons would
be a legitimate justification for military intervention. The United
States and Britain have made similar warnings.
"With
our partners we remain very vigilant regarding preventing the use of
chemical weapons, which for the international community would be a
legitimate reason for direct intervention," Hollande said in a speech.
Clashes are raging across Syria
as the rebellion grows increasingly bloody, particularly in Aleppo,
Syria's biggest city and its economic hub, where the army and rebels
appear stuck in a war of attrition.
(Writing by Michael Roddy; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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