47 Reported Killed as Fighting Picks Up in Syrian Capital

Fighting Continues in Aleppo, Daraa

Though the exact details are as ever impossible to verify, reports are that fighting is again picking up in the southern suburbs of Syria’s capital city of Damascus, with reports of as many as 47 people killed in the clashes.

The southern suburbs have been contested by rebel forces for weeks, and the rebels claim that they are coming under attack from helicopters and artillery. The Syrian state media reports a major weapons cache was seized in the suburb of Mouadamiya.

Fighting is also continuing in the northern city of Aleppo as well as the southeastern city of Daraa, with claims particularly in Aleppo that the weeks of fighting are a major hardship on civilians caught in the middle.

Daraa is the first city where protests were held against Bashar Assad some 17 months ago, though since the civilian protesters were sidelined by military defectors it has only recently become a major battleground, with most fighting in the northern half of the country.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.