Syrian warplanes bomb rebels in Damascus

Syrian regime forces bombarded rebel positions in Damascus and its surroundings on Saturday with air raids and artillery fire, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Air raids targeted parts of Juba," a neighbourhood on the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital where rebel fighters and regime troops have battled for months. Fighting was also reported around dawn on the outskirts of the Palestinian Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus, which also came under regime fire. Outside of the capital, regime troops fired mortar shells at several areas including western Moadamiyat al-Sham, southern Sbeineh and the region of Wadi Barada, north-west of Damascus. The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, said the shelling caused injuries and damage. Elsewhere in the country, regime forces were shelling parts of the central Homs region, Aleppo in the north and southern Daraa. The Syrian regime has pledged to launch an assault to retake the northern city of Aleppo and its surroundings, large swathes of which are under rebel control, in the wake of its capture of the town of Qusayr in Homs.