A man walks along a damaged street filled with debris in Deir al-Zor, July 5, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS
Fresh fighting meanwhile erupted in several flashpoint areas around the capital, while the army renewed its shelling on besieged rebel areas of the central city of Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Warplanes carried out several air strikes on the edges of Assali (in the south) and Qaboon (east)," said the Britain-based group, referring to areas on the outskirts of Damascus.
The Observatory also reported fresh clashes in Assali as well as in the southwestern neighbourhood of Qadam, adding that the army shelled rebel-held Yarmuk in the south and Jubar in the east.
Air strikes also targeted other rebel areas east of Damascus, among them insurgent bastion Zamalka, said the group.
Violence has encroached deeper into Damascus in the past few months, with several outlying districts battered by shelling and fighting. Central Damascus is still squarely in army hands.
Elsewhere, an assault by the army and pro-regime militias on rebel areas of Homs went into a seventh day.
The army "intensely shelled" Khaldiyeh Saturday, said the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a grassroots network of activists.
Amateur video distributed by the group showed clouds of smoke rising above the neighbourhood.
More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's 27-month war, says the Observatory.
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Let the Syrians try a parliamentary form of government.
As a result of using tyrannical invasive policies over most of the world the US has caused more deaths and destruction than any other country since the 1940s. The US/Zionist duo have a tip-toe policy of picking off, one by one, the countries they object to. Of course, the countries they object to usually have valuable resources such as oil and minerals. They invariably start by defaming the leadership of every country they wish to attack, prior to the actual attack, and this usually works in convincing their compliant, unquestioning citizens. This may be somewhat unfair to the seemingly compliant American’s, because the US Government, under the guise of so called democracy have built up a vicious, tyrannical banking/fascist police state, and many people who question the dreadful methodology used are treated very badly, or completely ignored . Thus, if President Assad wished to create a new Constituent Assembly, I wonder who could be the role model, and which system should be selected? For example, American elections are merely an opinion poll of the people, because US leaders completely ignore their wishes, and the Constitution, as soon as elected. A recent President was heard to say, and I use a polite version, “the Constitution is just a piece of paper”. Most candidates are vassals of Zionists, bankers or other doubtful high ranking people who hide themselves in the background, but pay out huge bribes. The said vassals are then compliant with unknown policies due to the bribes. Moving on, the candidates are elected with the use of Diebold voting machines, which are programmed to give the desired results, and nobody is allowed to question the results. After that the results go to the Electoral College and nobody clearly knows how they make their choices. So what do we have? A bunch of unknown Wall Street banker/fascists, who form and dominate a Government of no account, using several mysterious and complicated methodologies, which no one is allowed to question. Once elected the servile candidates do exactly what they are told to do, and along with the fellow who gets to be President ignore the wishes of the people and the Constitution. All this whilst the Oval Office incumbent waits for his daily instructions from Tel Aviv. I do not think the Syrians would wish to have this type of questionable Government.
By following a tyrannical policy, Asad has given the motivation and impetus to the so-called "terrorists" to attempt to dislodge the "legitimate," (actually usurper/dictatorial/minority) government and so Asad has become a party to "US/Zionist plot to totally dismantle the independent Middle-Eastern countries," if that theory indeed is a reality. Asad can resign and hand over the government to a neutral authority to prepare for elections for a new Constituent Assembly to be charged for writing a democratic/liberal Constitution to pave the way for a truly representative/democratic government. But a (power-hungry) dictator hardly relinquishes power easily and as such a peoples' movement is necessitated to bring his downfall and peace shall remain elusive unless and until that end is achieved.
It is obvious to anybody with an IQ over 30 that the Syrian disaster is part of the US/Zionist plot to totally dismantle the independent Middle-Eastern countries and install governments who will cooperate with the Western Alliance plans to have a system of global banking, and one world government, which is totally controlled by the aforesaid duo. By one way or another, be it saturation bombing as in Iraq, or supplying terrorists to fight legitimate governments as in Syria the US/Zionist duo have created or are creating appalling damage in large areas of the Middle-East, Asia and Africa. My sympathy goes out to the brutality they are inflicting upon the Syrian people.
@kaz: Asad should hold free and fair elections. His dictatorial rule is a denial of democracy. He is making his people fight for democracy, which the opponents term as terrorists.
This is a continuation of the creative chaos theory for the new world order. Pakistan is also in the sights, at some stage. More people have been killed by this outside intervention in Iraq, Libya, Syria Yemen, Mogadishu, Somalia, and now the drama unfolding in Egypt. Price of democracy?
@kaz, Asad regime terrorizing his own peoples with the help of shia iran regime shamfully.
@Khadim Karrar: He's not. He's attacking and killing terrorists who are trying to take over Syria. These terrorist control some parts of Syria and are probably sponsored by KSA,Turkey,USA,Qatar. I don't know who pays our media to portray Assad as if he's some kind of terrorist when he's defending his own people without caring much for his own life.
Why is Asad killing his own people?