Syria's rebels fire scores of mortar rounds at Damascus, Aleppo

Tens of mortar shells struck several parts of Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo on Monday amid Syrian airstrikes against rebel-held areas in the war-torn country, a monitor group and local press reported.

Several districts of Damascus suffered from a violent mortar attack by rebels entrenched in the eastern countryside of Damascus, leaving many people wounded, some critically, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local media reports.

Some reports placed the mortar count in Damascus at over 80 mortar rounds.

Meanwhile, the pro-government Sama TV said eight people were killed by rebel mortar fire against government-controlled areas in Aleppo Monday.

The heavy shelling by the rebels on the capital started a day earlier and continued on Monday, in apparent retaliation to the government troops' shelling of rebel-held areas.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on ground, said Syrian airstrikes against the rebel-held suburb of Douma east of Damascus and the Jabal al-Zawyeih region in Idlib killed at least 23 people.

The intensification of shelling by both warring sides came amid an escalation of military showdown in several parts of the country. Endit