Syrian forces 'hammer rebels' near Damascus

Members of PPU stand guard during comrade's funeral President Bashar al-Assad's forces hammered rebel positions with artillery and air strikes around Damascus on Sunday, in a strategic assault aimed at securing the Syrian capital, reports the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.   Fierce fighting erupted in Irbin, a town east of Damascus, as troops also shelled Zabadani to the northwest of the capital and the village of Mliha, leaving many wounded, said the Syrian Observatory.
Mliha, southeast of Damascus, is located in the region of Eastern Ghouta, where troops have launched a drive to secure the airport highway - scene of sustained fighting this week.
Assad's forces have been trying to establish a secure perimeter around Damascus at all costs, turning the region into one of the main battlegrounds of the country's 20-month conflict.
Analysts say the objective of the military campaign is to put the regime in a position to negotiate a way out of a conflict which the human rights organisation says has cost more than 41,000 lives since March 2011.
In the north, the air force bombed the province of Aleppo, where ground troops have been locked in street fighting with rebels in Aleppo city for more than four months, the Syrian Observatory added.
The area around Aleppo has also seen some heavy clashes during the past few days, particularly since the rebels shot down two regime aircrafts late last month.
Fighting has been particularly fierce around Damascus airport road this week. The 27-kilometre (17-mile) highway remains perilous a day after troops said they had reopened the link to the outside world amidst heavy fighting, the human rights organisation said.
On Saturday troops were in action against rebels entrenched in both the south western outskirts of Damascus and the eastern suburbs where the airport lies, prompting the cancellation of a string of international flights.
Southwest of the capital, the army staged new airstrikes on key rebel positions including the town of Daraya, where anti-regime sentiment is strong.
Activists cited by the Observatory said the army has deployed new forces to the town.
"Daraya will be secured in the coming hours," the pro-regime daily Al-Watan said.
Damascus has frequently declared battles are coming to an end, but such claims have rarely materialised as rebel resistance has proven hard to crack.
"The Syrian army has opened since Thursday morning the gates of hell to all those who even consider getting close to Damascus or of attacking the capital," Al-Watan added.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said that to the disappointment of the administration of President Barack Obama, US efforts to persuade the Iraqis to randomly inspect the flights have been largely unsuccessful.
It was not immediately clear whether Turkish border forces struck back.
Sunday's shells were the first to land on Turkish territory since Ankara officially requested from NATO last month the deployment of Patriot missiles along its border.
NATO foreign ministers meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels are expected to signal support for Turkey by giving the go-ahead to deploy the missiles, diplomatic sources said.