Militant mortar shells kill 4 people in Damascus

According to local sources, mortar shells fired by the militants hit an area near Arnous Square in central Damascus, claiming the lives of the Syrians, including two children, and injuring eight others, the official SANA news agency reported on Sunday.

On April 15, two Syrian civilians, one of them a woman, were killed after four mortar shells fired by militants landed near the schools of al-Ghassaniyeh and al-Rabei'eh al-Shamiyeh in al-Dekhaniyeh neighborhood in the countryside of Damascus.

On the same day, mortar shells also targeted an elementary school in Bab Touma neighborhood in Damascus, killing a child and injuring sixty others.

On April 13, one mortar shell landed on a bus in Damascus, killing a girl. Also in the day, a woman and a child were killed in another mortar attack on the al-Na’ourah neighborhood in the city of Idlib.

The surge in attacks on residential areas comes after militants' repeated losses in the strategic al-Qalamoun region, near the Lebanese border.

Also on April 15, Syrian troops drove out militants from the towns of Assal al-Ward, Housh Arab and Jab'adin, one day after government forces retook full control of the towns of Ma’loula and al-Sarkha.

Syria has been experiencing unrelenting militancy since March 2011. The Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- are said to be supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

Reports say that more than 150,000 people have so far been killed and millions of others displaced because of the ongoing violence.

HK