Syria: Major army offensive on airport road

30 Nov 2012, 6:20 am   -   Source: AAP
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The goal of the army is to take full control of the capital and a radius of eight kilometers around it, a Syrian security official told AFP. (File: AAP)

The goal of the army is to take full control of the capital and a radius of eight kilometers around it, a Syrian security official told AFP. (File: AAP)

Observers say Syrian troops have launched a major offensive in southeastern Damascus along the airport road as technology companies reported that Syria was effectively cut off from the Internet.

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Syrian troops have launched a major offensive in southeastern Damascus along the airport road, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says, after earlier reporting the route had been closed.

The army attacked rebel strongholds in a string of towns along the highway and near the airport, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by phone. State media also reported operations in the area.

The fighting, which came after internet links went down across most of Syria, caused EgyptAir and Emirates to announce the cancellation of flights to Damascus.

The heaviest clashes erupted between troops and rebels in the towns of Babila and Hujaira southeast of the capital and in Harran al-Awamid, just east of the airport, the Observatory said, adding that army reinforcements had been sent to the area.

Official media also reported operations in the province and said several members of an "armed terrorist group, Al-Nusra Front" had been killed in the town of Aqraba.

The army also went on the offensive across the eastern outer belt of the capital, notably in the towns of Harasta and Douma and in Eastern Ghuta, the Observatory said.

Technology companies which monitor web traffic reported Thursday that Syria was effectively cut off from the Internet.

Akamai, one of the firms which monitors global traffic, said traffic stopped from 1026 GMT (2126 AEDT) on Thursday, and that this supports the observation from another IT firm, Renesys, "that Syria is effectively off the internet".

According to activists, sudden communication cuts regularly occur before major military offensives.

An EgyptAir official in Cairo said the airline had cancelled its Friday flight to Damascus because of deteriorated security at the airport and a breakdown in communication with its office there.

In Dubai, Emirates said it suspended flights to Damascus after the airport road was blocked by the clashes.

"Emirates has suspended all flights to and from Damascus effective immediately and until further notice," a spokesperson for the company said.

Regime forces have regularly carried out air strikes on this area, in an attempt to dislodge rebels from their rear bases in the orchards on the outskirts of the capital.

The goal of the army is to take full control of the capital and a radius of eight kilometers around it, a Syrian security official told AFP.

The authorities in the morning closed the airport road, located 27 kilometres from the centre of Damascus, and which passes through the embattled Eastern Ghouta region.

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Your Comments

Who doesn't know anything?

Dave - from Melbourne, 6 months ago

C from Aus/Syr you are a joke. How on earth can 700,000 people be terrorists? Assad's despotic regime has created this. You don't know what you are talking about. You are so blinded by your bias and ignorance. Do you value human life???

Don't comment if you don't know anything

C - from Aus/Syr, 6 months ago

Dave, you don't know what you're talking about.. These rebels are in actual fact Terrorists! They torture, abuse and murder the civilians. The government is in the right. They need to do all they can to remove these foreign backed mercenaries from Syria.

Rebels?

Dave - from Melbourne , 6 months ago

Why does the media refer to the oppressed people in Syria as rebels? Does the media call the Palestinians rebels? Is there a difference? No there isn't and if you think there is then you are delusional. Syria has now created 700,000 refugees and murdered 70,000. This is a tragedy that the media should be screaming about. Stop calling them rebels. The Syrian regime is criminal, fascist, apartheid and more. But the media chooses to minimise this. Why? Your double standards are amazing. The tragedy is Syria makes the Israel / Palestine issue pale to utter insignificance.

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