& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Battle rages for Syria capital

Rebels launch full-scale offensive amid chemical weapon fears

AFP, Damascus
Syrian rebels declared the battle to "liberate" Damascus has begun as heavy fighting raged across the capital yesterday marking a new chapter in the 16-month-old uprising.
The proclamation by the Free Syrian Army came as UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said the crisis, which
FROM PAGE 20
is increasingly being described as a civil war, was at a "critical time."
The spokesman for the FSA's Joint Command, Colonel Kassem Saadeddine, said in Floms that "victory is nigh" and that the fighting would not stop until the whole of the capital has been conquered.
"We have transferred the battle from Damascus province to the capital," said Saadeddine. "We have a clear plan to control the whole of Damascus. We only have light weapons, but it’s enough."
"Expect surprises," he added, without elaborating.
Meanwhile, Nawaf Fares, who became the most prominent figure to abandon Assad when he defected as Syria's ambassador to Iraqi, warned the beleaguered president will use chemical weapons against opposition forces and may have already deployed them.
Fares insisted Assad's days were numbered but warned he would be prepared "to eradicate the entire Syrian people" to remain in power.
When asked by the BBC whether that would mean the use of chemical weapons, Fares said: "I am convinced that if Bashar al-Assad's regime is further cornered by the people, he
would use such weapons."
Fighting between Assad's forces and the Free Syrian Army has raged in Damascus since Sunday, and the FSA announced on Monday the launch of a full-scale offensive dubbed "the Damascus volcano and earthquakes of Syria."
Hours later, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime helicopters fired into Qaboon district of Damascus, while clashes broke out in Al-Midan and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighbourhoods.
An activist in the capital told AFP that FSA fighters had blocked an attempt by the army to storm Qaboon.
Backed by tanks and low-flying helicopter gunships, the army randomly pounded the neighbourhood with mortars and heavy machinegun fire, he said.
An activist who said he was in Al-Midan said via Skype that the army was shelling the neighbourhood "hysterically."
"The collapsing regime has gone mad," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Musab.
AFP could not independently verify the accounts.
Witnesses also reported heavy machinegun fire in Sabaa Bahrat Square in the heart of Damascus, as well as in Baghdad Street, a main
road nearby.
The regime vowed on Monday not to surrender the capital.
"You will never get Damascus," read the headline in Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the regime.
In that context, the Israeli army's intelligence chief said Assad has moved troops from the Golan Heights next to Israel toward Damascus and other internal conflict zones.
"Assad has removed many of his forces that were in the Golan Heights to the areas of (internal) conflict,” Major General Aviv Kochavi told MPs.