ALEPPO, Syria, Aug 25 (AFP) -Syrian army forces launched arrest raids and clashed with rebels in the southwestern belt of Damascus on Saturday in what activists say is a renewed bid to crush the insurgency in the capital “once and for all”. Combat helicopters and tanks also fired on rebel-held areas in the battered northern [...]

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ALEPPO, Syria, Aug 25 (AFP) -Syrian army forces launched arrest raids and clashed with rebels in the southwestern belt of Damascus on Saturday in what activists say is a renewed bid to crush the insurgency in the capital “once and for all”.
Combat helicopters and tanks also fired on rebel-held areas in the battered northern city of Aleppo, activists and an AFP journalist said, as the government pressed on with its campaign against fighters seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
The fresh violence erupted a day after new international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi admitted he was “scared” of the enormity of the task he faces to try to end the escalating conflict, now in its 18th month.

Brahimi, who takes over formally from former UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan next month, held talks with UN leaders on Friday, saying the Syrian people “will be our first masters”.

A Free Syrian Army fighter runs away to take cover from the exchange fire with regime forces in Aleppo (REUTERS)

“We will consider their interests above and before anyone else. We will try to help as much as we can, we will not spare any effort,” added Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat who brokered a 1989 accord that ended Lebanon’s civil war.
Annan, a former UN chief, ended his six-month bid to bring peace to Syria, complaining of a lack of international support for his efforts to bring about a ceasefire.

On the ground, troops fired mortar rounds at several areas on the southern outskirts of Damascus following a week of ferocious attacks on rebel positions, intended to deal a crushing blow to insurgents in the capital, activists said.
In the town of Daraya, just south of Damascus, 15 people were killed in the attacks including three children and two women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding to at death toll of over 100 people in the past four days.
“Security forces have launched a campaign of arrests and residents are anxious and afraid that there will be another civilian massacre” in Daraya, said the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground.

The army claimed to have retaken most of Damascus in late July after some two weeks of intense fighting across the capital’s southern belt.

Most rebel Free Syrian Army fighters were forced out into the nearby countryside, but have since then resumed some hit-and-run operations, according to activists.

In Aleppo, activists reported that combat helicopters were strafing rebel pockets while an AFP reporter reported shelling from tanks in at least one district, sending civilians scrambling for safety as exploding shells sent up clouds of smoke and dust.
Opposition fighters said they were digging in for a war of attrition in Aleppo, where the regime had warned last month of “the mother of all battles.”




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