Troops Clash with Rebels near Damascus Airport

Troops loyal to President Bashar Assad clashed with rebels near Damascus international airport on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog reported.

"Violent clashes have been taking place since this morning between regime troops and fighter brigades (of rebels) near the Damascus international airport and in nearby villages," the group said.

Since November 2012, there has been sporadic fighting in the vicinity of the airport, almost 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of the capital, occasionally interrupting air traffic.

A security source reported clashes with a small armed group on the highway leading to the airport early on Monday morning, which led to road's closure for about an hour.

Elsewhere, the rebel-held Yarmuk Palestinian camp in the capital came under fire, the Observatory said, while troops tried to dislodge rebels from strongholds around Damascus, including Moadimayat al-Sham, southwest of the city.

Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the Assad regime, led on Monday with news of the "battle of the airports of Aleppo," in reference to ongoing fighting for control of airfields in northern Syria.

"Armed men have mobilized thousands of fighters around the perimeters of various airports in Aleppo and Idlib, participating in the biggest military operation yet to try to take control of the Kwiyres, Minnigh and Abu Dhur airports," the daily reported.

"The relevant authorities succeeded in countering repeated attacks, helped by military aircraft which carried out raids that killed dozens of armed men," it added.

Rebel fighters have this year been trying to seize a string of northern airports, including Aleppo international airport, and the Jarrah, Kwiyres, Minnigh and Nayrab military fields.

They took Jarrah military airport on February 12.

Meanwhile, in the southern province of Daraa, 11 people including eight rebels were killed in an air raid on Jassem, the hometown of Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, who escaped an apparent assassination attempt in Damascus on Monday.

Six people, including one of Halqi's bodyguards, were killed when a car bomb exploded as his convoy passed through the Mazzeh neighborhood of the capital, the Observatory said.