THERE has been no let up in violence in Syria with parts of the capital, Damascus, under fire for a second day, activists have said.“Mortar shelling resumed in the early morning,” the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a grassroots network of activists, said on Monday.The military offensive on Monday reportedly continued to batter several neighbourhoods in the capital, including Tadamon, Kfar Souseh, Nahr Aisha and Sidi Qadad.The LCC added that regime troops and rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army also clashed in the western Damascus district of Kfar Souseh.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “dawn battles on the road south of Kfar Souseh, between rebel fighters and soldiers who were in a convoy passing through the area”.“I did not sleep all night,” a resident of nearby Jaramana told AFP news agency. “It was a real war zone.”The town of Qatana, 20km away from the capital, was also shelled on Monday. Elsewhere, regime troops shelled the besieged Homs districts of Khaldiyeh, Jourat al-Shiah and Qarabees.To the north, regime forces raided the central city of Hama, scene of fierce clashes and a series of loud blasts, the Observatory said.The government remains defiant, insisting it is defending its people and sovereignty.The reports of violence came as UN envoy to Syria Kofi Annan arrived in Moscow to holf talks with Russian leaders.Ahead of his meeting with Annana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of using blackmail to secure a new UN Security Council resolution.He said the Western threats to discontinue the 300-strong UN unarmed observer mission to Syria if Russia does not agree to allow the West to use force in the country amounts to blackmail.
