BEIRUT // At least 16 members of Syria’s security forces were killed by a car bomb and ensuing clashes with rebels at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday.
Elsewhere near the capital, Syrian forces tried to storm the suburb of Mouadamiya, which the army has blockaded for months, leading to a rising death toll from hunger and malnutrition.
The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the checkpoint bomb, outside the suburb of Jaramana, was detonated by a suicide bomber from the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Al Nusra.
Syrian state television reported the blast, saying only that several people had been killed or wounded in a “terrorist bombing”.
The Britain-based observatory said Syrian fighter jets retaliated by striking nearby opposition-held areas nearby, when clashes erupted after the bombing. Video uploaded by activists showed a huge column of smoke billowing up from the scene and the sound of fighter jets streaking overhead could be heard.
Activists said rebel forces had captured the checkpoint hit by the car bomb and were battling to take a second one nearby.
Rebels also fired rockets into Jaramana, a suburb held by the government, according to the observatory. It said Bashar Al Assad’s forces launched four air raids on adjacent rebel-held districts.
More than 110,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict, which began with popular protests against Mr Al Assad before degenerating into civil war.
In Mouadamiya, activists said they were facing heavy bombardment from Mr Al Assad’s forces trying to storm the town.
“We’ve been doing our best to try to evacuate civilians from the western front of the town because they’re now exposed to shelling and tank fire,” said Qusai Zakariya, an activist in Mouadamiya.
Like most rebel enclaves in the suburbs that ring Damascus, Mouadamiya has been under an army-imposed siege for months, causing a particularly acute shortage of food and supplies.
Doctors in the town have reported an increasing number of deaths from malnutrition, especially among children.
The United States condemned the siege on Friday, saying the Assad government had only allowed a limited number of civilians to escape from Mouadamiya and that it must allow food, water and medicine to reach those still inside.
“We also warn the regime ... not to use limited evacuations of civilians as an excuse to attack those residents who remain behind,” it said. “The regime’s deliberate prevention of the delivery of life-saving humanitarian supplies to thousands of civilians is unconscionable.”
* Reuters
