A Human Rights Center and activists have spoken about the assassination of a high-ranking officer from the regime forces in Damascus Monday, while clashes raged between regime forces and opposition fighters in Qalamoon north of Damascus, under a cover of air strikes.
Elsewhere, regime forces launched a raid on the "oil market" in the north east of the country.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "unidentified gunmen assassinated a major general in regime forces", while activists said that "the director of the reconnaissance department in the Syrian army, Major General Samir Sheikh was assassinated in Damascus."
Mortar shells landed on several places in the area of Tabbaleh near Bab Touma which has a Christian majority. In reaction to the incident, regime's forces increased the checkpoints in the area. Meanwhile a rocket fell near the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in the neighborhood.
Clashes took place between fighting battalions and regime troops in the neighborhood of al-Qaboun north of Damascus, few months after a reconciliation agreement was signed between regime forces and the opposition fighters.
In eastern Ghouta, warplanes carried out raids on several areas in the town of Maliha and its surrounds in a two-week-attempt to control the town.
Violent clashes broke out simultaneoulsy between regime forces and Islamists on the southern side of the city of Daraya south of the capital, and there were reports about casualties in the ranks of both parties, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported the dropping of at least eight barrel bombs on Daraya and raids on areas in the city of Douma, east of the capital, killing five people, including a child, and injuring many others.
Regime forces bombed the west mountain area of the city of Zabadani, between Damascus and the borders of Lebanon, simultaneously with continuous "clashes between the fighters from the Nusra Front and Islamic battalions on the one hand, and regime troops, supported by Hezbollah and National Defense Forces on the other hand in the area of Rankous," the Observatory reported.
Helicopters bombed areas of the city of Enkhel and the town of Almusherfeh in Daraa with explosive barrels, and warplanes carried out a raid on areas in the town of Atareb in northern Aleppo. Meanwhile, helicopters bombed areas in the industrial city in Sheikh Najjar in the city of Aleppo with explosive barrels.
In the northwest of the country, areas in the town of Kafr Wama in Edlib countryside were bombed by regime forces, while warplanes carried out a raid near the center of aid distribution in the city of Saraqeb near Khan Sheikhoun, where a fighter was killed during the clashes that broke out a few days ago. The clashes resulted in opposition fighters taking control of a number of regime points in the region and cutting off the supply lines between the center of the country and Aleppo in the north.
Helicopters bombed areas in the town of Kafr Zita which "the regime forces shelled with poison gas on Friday," the Observatory said. The National Coalition called for an "immediate investigation" about the use of gases in Harasta east of Damascus.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
......
