Syria’s army pounded the eastern belt of Damascus before dawn on Tuesday after opening a new front east of the capital, a watchdog said, adding that 60 people were killed in the province the previous day.
The violence followed a bloody on Monday in which 190 people – 116 civilians, 40 rebels and 34 soldiers – were killed across Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based watchdog reported fierce shelling overnight on the capital’s eastern neighbourhoods of Zamlaka, Qaboon, Jubar and Ein Tarma.
After launching a major offensive on the southwestern belt of Damascus last week which, according to the opposition, included a massacre in the town of Daraya, a rebel commander said that the army’s new focus was the Ghuta area in the countryside east of Damascus. The Syrian Revolution General Council, an activist network on the ground, said that regime forces on Tuesday shelled the eastern suburbs of Harasta and Irbin.
It reported shells being fired from Harasta to the nearby town of Irbin as helicopters hovered overhead.