Syria Live: A Car Bomb in Damascus

State TV footage of the aftermath of Monday's car bomb in central Damascus

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Monday's Syria Live: The Back-and-Forth Battle in Aleppo

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1616 GMT: Massacre in Homs. In the last week of March we posted evidence of a massacre in Abil, outside of Homs (map). Between 13 and 18 burnt bodies were found in the town, and eyewitnesses said that "shabiha," pro-regime militia, were the culprits.

In the last few days, Abil is under regime attack, and the rebels have been trying to defend it. Here is an activist report posted yesterday:

Abil is a small village located in the southern countryside of Homs. It is strategically important as it is close to the Homs - Damascus highway that links the two provinces together. This village is also a frontline area in the southern countryside of Homs

The fighting continues between FSA and the Assad regime army on the border of Abil as the Assad army try hard to enter the village through reinforcements positioned at surrounding checkpoints .

The regime army is trying to break into Abil from four sides by using T72 Tanks and BMP's under the cover and protection of heavy artillery and warplane firing. The regime is killing everybody in this village by violent shelling from both land and air. The warplanes lead several air raids on the small village daily.

The same activist now reports that there have been at least 10 casualties inside the town, the result of shelling and bombing:

10 martyrs in #Abil alone until now, as a result of hysterical bombardment that is targeting the village with all kinds of weapons!#Homs RIP

— samer (@samersniper) April 9, 2013

A video reportedly showing smoke rising above the town:

As a source suggests, this is a huge amount of death and destruction for such a small town. Also, these reports are specifically saying that the town itself is being targeted, not the rebel fighters outside the town who are engaged in combat. We'll continue to watch Abil intently, but this has certainly happened before. When the regime cannot win militarily, it has often resorted to killing nearby civilians in the hope that the rebels will leave or the residents will turn against them. We don't know enough, yet, to say with 100% certainty that this is what's happening here, but as we said, it's happened many times, in many other locations.

1558 GMT: Rebels Attack Highway in Western Damascus. Multiple sources are now reporting that the Syrian rebels have launched attacks against several regime and "shabiha" positions on the Daraa highway, somewhere between Darayya and Sbeneh, in this general area (map). The Local Coordination Committee in Darayya has posted this video which they say shows an area near the airforce intelligence headquarters on fire after regime airstrikes in response:

1528 GMT: Summary of Latest from Damascus. While yesterday's news was consumed by the car bombing in central Damascus, pro-government sources was spreading truly ridiculous stories about how the government captured both large parts of Darayya and large parts of Eastern Ghouta. The reality, however, is that the regime made few, if any, gains in either location. It is true, however, that the government is stepping up attacks on both fronts, and intense artillery, rocket, and airstrikes have targeted the front lines and the civilian-populated areas just behind them.

An activist group out of Lebanon has a summary of yesterdays reports from various opposition groups:

Today, there is once again heavy fighting in the east of Damascus. The regime appears to be concentrating their attack on two main areas - the first, near the Tameco Pharmaceutical factory (map), is close to Kafer Batna and Saqba, and appears to the the regime's attempt to get tanks behind the rebel front lines. The second front, near Otaybah (map), is about 20 kilometers to the east. This appears to be an attempt by the regime to divert rebel forces away from the Damascus International Airport to the southwest and the city of Adra to the north. However, so far rebel forces have been able to bottleneck the regime in both locations. Both the Tameco and Otaybah battlefields are now covered in the remains of destroyed tanks and BMP vehicles. This is not to say that the regime's efforts may not eventually work and crack the rebel lines, but if the regime losses continue at this rate the plan may well backfire.

A video claiming to show rebels destroying a BMP outside Otaybah today:

Otaybah, you may remember, was the site of a claimed chemical weapons attack several weeks ago. The CFDPC, a coalition of activists who report on Syria, share a summary that matches several reports from Otaybah today. According to them, the regime has now withdrawn from the area, but yet another chemical weapons attack has taken place:

Assad's forces suddenly withdrew last night from their locations around the Otaiba town, so FSA leadership suspected the situation and gave order to all their fighters there to wear gas masks as a safety precaution. At 4 AM Assad's forces targeted the town with 3 rockets of chemical gas, which led to the death of a group of animals.

We have yet to confirm the use of chemical weapons in Otaybah. The Syrian regime never recognized the claims from Otaybah, and now that the Syrian regime has blocked access for the United Nations, we may never know what happened.

Read our assessment of the claimed chemicals weapons attacks in March.

In Darayya to the west of the city, the regime's latest efforts have met little success. The regime has been unable to crack rebel defenses there fore more than 5 months, but is once again pumping large amounts of tanks and troops into the key suburb. If it works, it will be a major victory for the regime, but so far this new offensive has not been much more successful than the last offensive, and Darayya is becoming a graveyard to Assad's armored vehicles.

Assad has re-positioned forces this week to make Darayya and East Ghouta a priority. That move may lead him weaker west of Darayya and in Daraa province, but it may pay off if he's able to push back the rebels and regain more territory around the capital. So far, however, that hasn't happened, and his new maneuvers may make him weaker in the long run.

For the time being, however, the rebels are bogged down in these areas. They've been defending Otaybah for weeks, and Darayya for months. As long as they are on the defense, their advances elsewhere will be slowed. With the bombs falling, not only on the front lines but on civilian areas nearby, the humanitarian toll will only grow worse.

James Miller takes over today's live coverage. Thanks to Scott Lucas for getting us started today.

1305 GMT: Meeting the Opposition in London. Ghassan Hitto, the Syrian National Coalition's Prime Minister-designate for insurgent-held areas, is in London today to speak at the Royal Institute for International Affairs.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, flying out of Israel, has confirmed to journalists that he is going to Britain to meet Hitto.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said Hitto and other opposition leaders will meet ministers of the "Group of 8" countries --- France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, the US, and Russia --- tomorrow.

1126 GMT: Chemical Weapons. The Assad regime appears to be increasingly concerned about direct foreign intervention in the uprising, following a report by State news agency SANA about chemical weapons.

SANA criticized calls by the United Nations to conduct investigations in Syria, saying that they "affirmed that Syria couldn't accept such 'manoeuvres' by the UN, taking into consideration the real negative role which it played in Iraq that paved the way for the US invasion".

"A source" from the Foreign Ministry criticised UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for "yield[ing] to the pressures practiced by countries known for their support to the Syrian bloodshed in order to divert the consultations in this regard from their real context".

The accusation follows calls by both the regime and opposition to investigate allegations of a chemical weapons attack on Aleppo's al-Asal village, killing at least 26 people, late last month.

The opposition requested an enquiry into another alleged attack near Damascus.

1119 GMT: Hezbollah. Two Hezbollah members fighting alongside regime forces in the Qusayr area, near the border with Lebanon, were killed on Monday, Al Arabiya claims from "a source close to" the Lebanese group.

1112 GMT: Iraq and Iran. Iraqi authorities forced a Syria-bound Iranian plane to land on Monday so it could be searched for weapons bound for Syrian regime fighters, but they found only humanitarian aid and medical supplies, officials said.

The inspection came 10 days after Iraqi officials, pressed during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry, said they would conduct more searches of aircraft and road vehicles bound for Syria.

0522 GMT: Alawites. A study for the German foundation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, profiles the complexity of the Alawite community --- in a report from Homs Province:

Alawites are often portrayed as a monolithic religious community which has unconditionally and unwaveringly supported the Syrian regime through the crisis which has shaken the country since March 2011. However, very little attention has been paid to the community’s diversity and to reasons for its support of the regime that might extend beyond the simplistic equation: "The ruling family is Alawite, and therefore Syria’s Alawites support the regime."

While emphasizing the Alawite community’s diversity in the context of the current situation, this research analyzes the fears for survival and the socio-economic conditions which underpin the current expressions of Alawite solidarity with the regime.

0450 GMT: Casualties. The Local Coordination Committees claim that 79 people were killed on Monday, including 34 in Damascus and its suburbs.

The Violations Documentation Center reports 55,873 people killed since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 121 on Monday. Of the dead, 44,500 are civilians, a rise of 81 from yesterday.

0330 GMT: Damascus Bomb. At 19 people were killed and 53 wounded were wounded in Monday's car bomb in central Damascus, according to Syrian State TV.

The explosion occurred near the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, with the Syrian Central Bank, a mosque, and a school nearby.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

After the bombing, security forces and insurgents exchanged gunfire.