Rebels bombard a presidential palace in Damascus, Aleppo airport shuts down

Syrian Revolution News Round- up / Day 657

The Ahrar al-Sham brigades of the Syrian Islamic Front said it has fired a barrage of Grad-type rockets on the presidential palace or what is known as the “People’s Palace” in Damascus. This kind of attack that occurred for the second time, triggered high security alert followed by intense presence of security forces in the nearby square of the “Unknown Soldier” in the neighborhood of Muhajrin. There have been no reports on the aftermath of the attack so far.

The rebels shot down four regime warplanes as they carried out aerial attack on opposition areas across the country. They shot down a MiG-type fighter jet in the Hama suburb of Madiq Fortress and another one in the Aleppo suburb of Manbij. They also shot down a Sukhoi-type fighter jet in the East Ghouta district of Damascus province in addition to a helicopter gunship in the Idlib suburb of Saraqib.The rebels also scored new advances nationwide as they stormed the 413th army bases as well as the Rankous groves in the Qalamon district near the Lebanese border. They also stormed a base of the army’s 14th regiment (oil depots) near the town of Naseriya in the Nabek district of Damascus province.

In Daraa, the rebels stormed the Reinforcement and Transportation Battalions in the Daraa suburb of Baser Harir after killing and detaining a number of army soldiers in addition to acquiring a big quantity of arms and heavy weaponry.

The regime ordered to shut down the Aleppo International Airport for 48 hours announcing its perimeter of 10km a “battle zone” in order to “wipe out” the rebels which stormed an air defense base in town of Tal Hasel, just 5-km away from the airport. Activists said that regime forces fired nine Iranian-made ground-ground missiles on Homs from its al-Naseriya base in the district of Qalamon of Damascus province. Activists also said that another Scud-type missile has landed in the Aleppo suburb of Marea. Regime forces shelled as many as 337 different locations across the country using all sort of heavy weaponry, including cluster, phosphorous, thermobaric and TNT bombs. Some 114 locations were shelled by mortar shells and 125 others were pounded by heavy artillery. More than 62 locations came under rocket shelling as fighter jets struck more than 26 others. These attacks caused extensive damage to residential buildings and left dozens of people dead and wounded and sent thousands fleeing their homes.