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Intense Fighting Rocks Syrian Capital, Fueling Perceptions of a Turning Point
(Washington Post) Babak Dehghanpisheh and Joby Warrick - Syrian opposition groups said their fighters were converging on Damascus, where fierce clashes with security forces stretched into a third day on Tuesday. The rebels are staging more attacks nationwide and inflicting significantly more casualties than they were even a month ago, said Jeffrey White, a former analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, now a defense fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It's gone from intermittent clashes to sustained fighting in key provinces." Casualties among Syrian troops have soared over the past few weeks to about 150 killed and wounded each day, White said. Heavy shelling of residential areas of Damascus continued Tuesday as the army deployed armored vehicles and helicopters in an effort to root out the rebels.