New Militia Battles Islamist Rebels near Damascus

Former rebel militiamen who have switched sides and joined Syria's regime forces are engaged in a fierce battle against Islamist insurgents near Damascus, sources said on Sunday.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, pro-regime Jaysh al-Wafaa launched its "fiercest battle yet" on Saturday night against Jaysh al-Islam fighters near the rebel bastion of Douma, east of the capital.

"The fighting is ongoing now," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

Jaysh al-Wafaa, whose name in Arabic roughly translates as "The Loyalists' Army", was formed some three months ago, more than a year into a suffocating regime siege of the Eastern Ghouta area, which includes Douma.

The militia's task is to confront Jaysh al-Islam, the best-armed opposition group in the Damascus area, according to the Observatory and activists in Douma.

President Bashar Assad's regime "is financing and arming Jaysh al-Wafaa," Abdel Rahman said.

"Among its ranks are armed men who, after more than a year under siege, handed themselves in to the regime," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"Because of the siege, some people prefer to evacuate their children and have a chance at survival, rather than stay put and die either from hunger or because of the bombings."

He said Jaysh al-Wafaa "provides a way for fighters to be free both from the regime siege, and from (Jaysh al-Islam chief) Zahran Alloush," who is notorious for his abuses.

Douma, which emerged early in Syria's conflict as an important anti-regime bastion, is now under Jaysh al-Islam's control.

Tens of thousands trapped in the siege suffer from food and medical shortages, as well as deadly regime bombardment.

A source close to Assad's regime and a Jaysh al-Islam spokesman both confirmed to AFP that a battle was taking place.

"Jaysh al-Wafaa was set up three months ago by people from Douma and former rebels," the pro-government source said.

"Yesterday (Saturday) they attacked Jaysh al-Islam and killed 12 of its fighters."

A spokesman for the Islamist group said rebels also killed an unknown number of the enemy.

The Observatory was not in a position to confirm tolls, but said loyalists were backed by Lebanese Hizbullah fighters on the ground, as well as by regime artillery.

Syria's war began in March 2011 as a peaceful movement demanding democratic change but later morphed into a brutal civil war, after Assad's regime unleashed a crackdown on dissent.