Syrian rebels advance towards Aleppo

The rebels have also been trying to break the resistance of a pro-government Palestinian faction, which could drag the half a million Palestinian refugees in Syria into the civil war.

The new challenge from rebels in the capital comes as the US and Britain take steps to bolster the fragmented Syrian opposition. Prime Minister David Cameron said his government planned to change its policy and deal directly with opposition military leaders. Previously, Britain has had contacts only with exile groups and political opposition figures inside Syria.

He urged newly re-elected US President Barack Obama to join Britain in opening direct talks with rebel fighters, and said they must do more to end the civil war that has killed more than 36,000, according to activists’ tallies.

Rebels fired several mortar rounds at the Syrian president’s residence in the Muhajireen district of in central Damascus, but failed to hit their mark, said Bassam al-Dada, an adviser to the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Col Riad al-Assad.

“This was a very special operation that was planned for a while,” al-Dada said by telephone.

There are two presidential palaces in Damascus. One is located in Muhajireen district in the north-western part of Damascus, and is known as the Muhajireen Palace. The other residence is known as the People’s Palace and it is located on Mount Qasioun, overlooking the capital.

Before the uprising began last year, Assad was known to spend much of his time at the Muhajireen Palace, although he used the sprawling compound on Qasioun mountain to receive dignitaries.

Assad’s current whereabouts are unknown, and the rebels’ targeting of the palace was largely a symbolic strike on the Syrian leader’s power.

The latest fighting was heaviest in the suburbs of Damascus, including in Ghouta and Harasta to the east of the capital, activists said. The Syrian military has been shelling another suburb, Beit Saham, with tanks and mortars, killing at least 18 people in that district alone, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees.

Thaer al-Dimashqi, an activist based in a southern suburb of the capital, said the shelling of Beit Saham also wounded 30 people.

“The situation is catastrophic in the area,” al-Dimashqi said via Skype, adding that the rebels have launched a major attack on southern districts of the capital and anti-government gunmen have seized control of sections of them.

“The FSA controls large parts of Tadamon but the reaction by the regime has been brutal with intense shelling,” al-Dimashqi said.

Observatory chief Rami Abdul-Rahman confirmed the fighting in Tadamon, and said rebels have been lobbing mortar rounds into a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. The pro-regime faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command has been fighting back, Abdul-Rahman said.

When Syria’s unrest began last year, the Palestinians struggled to stay on the sidelines. But in recent months, many Palestinians started supporting the uprising although they insisted the opposition to the regime should be peaceful.

The PFLP-GC, led by Ahmed Jibril, has remained loyal to Assad.

In a statement, the Popular Committees that are led by the PFLP-GC in Yarmouk called on all Palestinian forces to close ranks in the face of the “terrorism that messes with the security of the Palestinian people and collides against the Palestinian cause”.

“Armed terrorist groups or the so-called Jabhat al-Nusra” are trying to infiltrate the camp, the statement also said, adding that two members of the committees were killed by mortars and one was wounded.

Jabhat al-Nusra is an al Qaida-inspired group that has been fighting alongside rebel units.