Intensified violence in Damascus kills more Syrians

DAMASCUS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Mortar shells rained down the capital Damascus on Tuesday, leaving many people killed or wounded, a police source told Xinhua.

The rebels in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus fired many mortar shells that slammed several residential parts of the capital, leaving at least five people killed, including a nine-year-old and six-year-old kids in the city of Jaramanah east of Damascus, the source said, asked not to be named.

The mortar attacks have intensified recently against residential areas in Damascus amid a new wave of a military showdown in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area between the rebels and the government forces.

For its part, the opposition monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 44 people, including 20 children and women, were killed on Tuesday alone by airstrikes in Eastern Ghouta, the highest daily causality toll since the intensification of violence started 45 days ago.

The violence has flared up in Eastern Ghouta since 45 days when the rebels started an offensive to capture a key military base in the Harasta area, prompting a counter-offensive by the Syrian army and retaliatory mortar attacks on the capital. Enditem