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The '''Battle of Damascus''' started on 15 July 2012 during the ]. It is unclear who started it. Per some reports thousands of rebels attacked the capital from the surrounding countryside while per others the military learned of the large-scale rebel operation beforehand and made a preemptive strike. |
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The '''Battle of Damascus''' started on 15 July 2012 during the ]. It is unclear who started it. Per some reports thousands of rebels attacked the capital from the surrounding countryside while per others the military learned of the large-scale rebel operation beforehand and made a preemptive strike. |
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On 15 July, fierce fighting was reported in some quarters of central Damascus as the army moved in to dislodge rebels. The rebels fighting were the ones who were crushed in Douma and other suburbs and fled to Damascus itself. Fighting also closed the road leading from central Damascus to airport.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/15/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE8610SH20120715w</ref><ref></ref> |
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==Battle== |
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On 15 July, fierce fighting was reported in some quarters of central Damascus as the army moved in to dislodge rebels. The rebels fighting were the ones who were crushed in Douma and other suburbs and fled to Damascus itself. Fighting also closed the road leading from central Damascus to airport.<ref></ref> |
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On 16 July, for a second day, heavy clashes in the southern Midan and Tadhamon districts of Damascus raged<ref></ref> with the military managing to surround the rebel forces in the area and sending tanks and other armored vehicles into the neighborhoods. The rebels called the clashes a raid by them against the capital,<ref></ref> while the government called it a 48-hour military operation to clear the area of any opposition forces. There were also indications that the government knew about the planned rebel raid and acted on the information. According to state TV, the military killed over 80 rebel fighters during the fighting.<ref></ref> |
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On 16 July, for a second day, heavy clashes in the southern Midan and Tadhamon districts of Damascus raged<ref></ref> with the military managing to surround the rebel forces in the area and sending tanks and other armored vehicles into the neighborhoods. The rebels called the clashes a raid by them against the capital,<ref></ref> while the government called it a 48-hour military operation to clear the area of any opposition forces. There were also indications that the government knew about the planned rebel raid and acted on the information. According to state TV, the military killed over 80 rebel fighters during the fighting.<ref></ref> |
On 15 July, fierce fighting was reported in some quarters of central Damascus as the army moved in to dislodge rebels. The rebels fighting were the ones who were crushed in Douma and other suburbs and fled to Damascus itself. Fighting also closed the road leading from central Damascus to airport.
On 16 July, for a second day, heavy clashes in the southern Midan and Tadhamon districts of Damascus raged with the military managing to surround the rebel forces in the area and sending tanks and other armored vehicles into the neighborhoods. The rebels called the clashes a raid by them against the capital, while the government called it a 48-hour military operation to clear the area of any opposition forces. There were also indications that the government knew about the planned rebel raid and acted on the information. According to state TV, the military killed over 80 rebel fighters during the fighting.
On 17 July, shooting was reported in one of the main central streets and machine-gun fire was reported in nearby Sabaa Bahrat Square, site of the Central Bank of Syria, which was the scene of several major pro-government demonstrations. Fighting was ongoing in the southern Midan and Kfar Sousa districts and the northern Barzeh and Qabun districts. Artillery shelling was reported in all of them and specifically in Midan it was reported to be "hysterical", according to activists. At the same time, in Barzeh and Qabun, helicopter rocket strikes were reported. The rebels claimed to had killed 70 soldiers and pro-government militiamen in the previous two days of clashes, while the government reported 14 rebel vehicles were destroyed. The FSA stated they destroyed one armored vehicle and that, among the members of the Syrian military who were killed, were several rooftop snipers. There were contradictions among the rebels themselves on the nature of the conflict. One FSA commander claimed that the Battle for liberation of Damascus had begun, with another dubbing it Operation Damascus Volcano. But Tarek, the rebel spokesman in Damascus, stated the clashes were still only skirmishes. He also said the FSA didn't start the battle, which would be in line with earlier reports that the military made a preemptive strike on the opposition forces, after learning of their plan for the attack on the capital.
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Free Syrian Army
