Eastern Damascus was hit Tuesday by its fiercest fighting in months, a monitor said, as rebels stepped up a bid to break a siege and pro-regime forces tried to stop them.
The air force pounded the rebel-held eastern neighbourhood of Jobar, as opposition fighters launched mortars into army-held parts of Damascus, killing one person and wounding others, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
An AFP correspondent near the area said "very loud explosions could be heard starting late last night up until Tuesday afternoon."
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said: "Starting dawn Tuesday, Jobar saw the fiercest fighting in months, coupled with intense aerial bombardment."
"Jobar is under army control, and the fighting is taking place on the neighbourhood's edges," he told AFP.
The air force carried out at least nine strikes on the neighbourhood, he said, adding rebels were fighting troops backed by pro-regime paramilitary forces.
Jobar, on the eastern edge of Damascus, is important because it is located at the entrance to the besieged, rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area on the outskirts of the capital.
It also neighbours Abbasiyeen, one Damascus' main squares where the army "deployed tanks... and shelled rebel areas of Jobar," said Abdel Rahman.
Fighting in the area has intensified following a relative lull for months, after rebels launched an offensive and took an army checkpoint in Jobar.
The army has since reclaimed the checkpoint.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/23/Activists-East-Damascus-hit-by-fiercest-clashes-in-months-.html