Fierce fighting engulfed Damascus yesterday, inching closer to the heart of the Syrian capital as troops shelled pockets of resistance, activists said, adding that the army was losing control of some areas.
“Al-Midan and Tadamon are out of the army’s control,” said Ahmed al-Khatib, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army’s military council in Damascus.
“The army has no presence inside either of these neighbourhoods any more, though they are shelling from the outside, and clashes on the edges of the neighbourhoods continue.”
Though AFP cannot independently verify this information, Mr Khatib’s statements were backed by an activist with the Local Coordination Committees who identified himself as Jacob Hussein.
“This is the beginning of the end,” said Tadamon-based Hussein. “The regime tried to put out the revolt in Damascus by attacking Tadamon. Instead, clashes have spread into several areas of the capital.”
Electricity, water and communications in Tadamon are now cut off, he said, adding that rebel fighters had poured into Damascus from southern areas of the countryside.
“A whole police battalion defected yesterday in Tadamon, with their weapons,” said Hussein. “But fighters are also coming into the city from rebel areas of the countryside in Damascus province.”
The regime, Mr Khatib said, is “now on the defensive. There were many FSA fighters who came in from neighbouring areas of Damascus province.”
The unprecedented escalation was described as a “turning point” in Syria’s 16-month uprising by an activist who identified himself as Abu Musab from the central neighbourhood of Al-Midan.
Following clashes on Sunday, which activists called the most violent in Damascus since the revolt broke out in March 2011, regime forces resumed their assault on parts of the city including Tadamon.
The battles were “the first of their kind. You can say there is a before and after in the Syrian revolution, and the turning point was July 15,” Abu Musab said.
In Tadamon, “mortar shelling resumed in the early morning,” said the LCC, adding there were clashes in the western district of Kfar Sousa.
Activists said many residents fleeing Tadamon were seeking shelter in the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk, as well as other areas.
The military deployed armoured vehicles in Al-Midan for the first time since the anti-regime uprising broke out, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“This is the first time that armoured and military transport vehicles have been deployed in Al-Midan,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory said.
“Before, the security forces were deployed to suppress protests. Now, we have armed troops engaged in combat,” he said.
Abu Musab said that Free Syrian Army rebels were fighting the troops, but “they are only lightly armed, and cannot stop the armoured vehicles.”
The Observatory said that clashes have also erupted in the Damascus district of Assali.
The pro-government newspaper, Al-Watan, carried a front page headline apparently addressed to activists that read: “You will never take Damascus.”
According to the daily, armed forces were battling “terrorist groups who are trying to take root in the suburban districts” including Tadamon, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Daff al-Shok, Nahr Ayshe, Qadam and Kfar Sousa.