Syrian Army's elite Fourth Division shells Daraya as clashes, shells rock Damascus

The city of Daraya in southwestern Damascus has been the scene of heavy shelling by pro-regime troops that have been recently trying to take control of it, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Activists reported Sunday that the bombing came from the headquarters of the Syrian Army's elite Fourth Division.          

In turn, the General Authority of the Syrian Revolution reported that the city is being shelled by heavy artillery and tanks from the Mezze military airport and the mountains of Maadamiya, headquarters of the Fourth Division, adding that many blasts are ripping through the city.      

The Fourth Division is one of the most prominent elite divisions in the Syrian Army, led by Colonel Maher al-Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar Assad.         

According to the Observatory, pro-regime troops continued shelling Damascus’ southern neighborhoods on Sunday as warplanes pounded al-Qadam and al-Assali neighborhoods. Meanwhile, fierce clashes erupted in the area, causing the closure of the international Damascus-Daraa road.     

In Damascus Reef, warplanes launched many raids on the towns of East Ghouta.      

In turn, the Syrian state TV reported that 3 cars transporting weapons and ammunition were destroyed in Damascus Reef while many terrorists were killed in Idlib Reef.      

This as the Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned Damascus that any sign of a possible use of chemical weapons might lead to Israeli military strikes.      

On the humanitarian level, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos is checking up on displaced Syrians in Lebanon. Amos reportedly met with some of them in a school in al-Barzeh and is due to meet with a number of Syrian officials to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country.

The 22-month-old Syrian crisis has already killed over 50,000 people including around 35,000 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.    

On another note, the United Nations said on Friday that a record number of Syrians had streamed into Jordan in January, doubling the population of the kingdom's already-cramped refugee camp to 65,000.     

Melissa Fleming, chief spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in Geneva that Jordan had experienced a record number of refugees, with more than 30,000 arriving at Zaatari camp since the beginning of the year.     

This compares to some 16,400 in December, 13,000 in November and 10,000 in October.  Fleming said over 4,400 Syrian refugees had arrived in the camp on Thursday, and a further 2,000 had arrived during the course of the night.   

The newcomers were mostly families, women, children and elderly who fled from southern Syria, Fleming added.    

Many of the new arrivals at Zaatari are from the southern town of Daraa, where the uprising against Assad first erupted nearly two years ago, the Britain-based Save the Children charity said on Friday.     


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