Despite the apparent withdrawal of rebel fighters, government forces maintained a relentless artillery barrage on residential areas in what activists said was an attempt to break the spirit of Daraya town.
Rebel units were forced on to the defensive in Syria's two largest cities on Thursday as government troops widened a ferocious offensive in Damascus and recaptured three districts in central Aleppo.
For the second time in as many months, regime tank and infantry columns advanced into the town of Daraya on the outskirts of Damascus as President Bashar al-Assad launched a fresh attempt to subdue his capital's south-western fringes. Despite the apparent withdrawal of rebel fighters, government forces maintained a relentless artillery barrage on residential areas in what activists said was an attempt to break the spirit of the town.
"The situation in Daraya is tragic," said an activist identified as Abu Kinan. "They are shelling non-stop. Death is everywhere."
The assault was part of a renewed government offensive against a string of largely Sunni Arab districts in southern Damascus where support for the rebels is strong.
Scores of people have been killed in the past 48 hours, according to activists, many of them in attacks by helicopter gunships or from "executions" by government soldiers.
The Assad regime has managed to establish only a tenuous hold over south-western Damascus since recapturing the area last month, largely because the rebels have been able to exploit local sympathies to retain a foothold.
Suggesting that neither side is strong enough to hold territory in rival strongholds, rebel forces were driven out of three Christian districts in Aleppo. Residents in Jdeide and Telal, quarters in Aleppo's Old City, poured on to the streets in celebration after five days under rebel control.
Support for the regime in Aleppo is more widespread than in much of the country, but is far from universal and anger with Assad has grown because of the tactics his army has used in the city.
Amnesty International yesterday accused regime forces of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Aleppo. Most of those killed by regime artillery attacks and air strikes were non-combatants, many of them children, it said.
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