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The Today's News

Syria wages new onslaughts on two cities, leaves 370 dead

The total death toll in Syria was 370 on Saturday including at least 200 in Damascus . Dozens of bodies were found as Syrian forces launched a deadly assault in the southwestern belt of Damascus on Saturday, in what activists said was a new bid to crush "once and for all" the insurgency in the capital.   Combat helicopters and tanks also pounded rebel-held areas of the battered northern city of Aleppo, an AFP journalist and monitors said, as the army pressed on with its war against fighters seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.   The total death toll in Syria was 370 on Saturday including at least 200 in the town of Daraya southwest of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The monitoring group, which had earlier reported the discovery of dozens of bodies in Daraya where troops have been waging a fierce assault against rebel holdouts, said 80 victims had been identified and the others were being identified.   Militants put out on YouTube a video titled "Massacre at the Abu Sleiman Addarani Mosque in Daraya" showing dozens of bodies on the ground.   The video, whose authenticity could not be checked, had a commentary stating: "An odious massacre committed by the gangs of ther Assad regime in the Abu Sleiman Addarani Mosque. More than 150 innocent martyrs fell in a brutal campaign by the criminal gangs against the city."   State television, for its part, said Daraya was being "purified of terrorist remnants." The fresh violence erupted a day after new international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi admitted he was "scared" of the enormity of the task he faces to try to end the increasingly ferocious conflict, now in its 18th month.   Brahimi, who takes over from former UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan next month, held talks with UN leaders in New York on Friday, saying the Syrian people "will be our first masters."   Annan, a former UN chief, quit earlier this month after the failure of his six-point plan to try to bring peace, which was left in tatters by the relentless bloodshed and divisions among world powers over how to tackle the conflict.   The army claimed to have retaken most of Damascus in late July, after about two weeks of intense fighting across the capital s southern belt.   Most rebel Free Syrian Army fighters were forced out into the nearby countryside, but have since resumed hit-and-run operations, according to activists.   In Aleppo, an AFP correspondent reported heavy shelling by tanks in several neighbourhoods, sending civilians scrambling for safety as exploding shells sent up clouds of smoke and dust.