Fierce Clashes in Southern Damascus

Fierce clashes raged on Thursday between soldiers and rebel fighters on the southern outskirts of the Syrian capital as army tanks pounded the area, a monitoring group said.

"Fierce battles pitted troops against rebels on the road linking Damascus to Daraa, in the Qadam district and in Daraya," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers.

The army sent new reinforcements to Daraya, a key rebel stronghold.

Troops pounded Assali, also in southern Damascus, while clashes raged in the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk and in Tadamun district, said the Observatory.

Elsewhere, the army fired missiles on the rebel-held district of Khaldiyeh in Homs, more than six months into a suffocating siege of insurgent districts in the central city, it said.

Thursday's violence came a day after more than 100 people were killed in violence across Syria, according to the Observatory. The United Nations says a total of more than 60,000 people have died in the country's 22-month conflict.