Syrian rebels claim they killed 40 Hezbollah, Iranian fighters.

Syrian rebels claim they killed 40 Hezbollah, Iranian fighters.

Opposition says it detonated a car bomb next to a building packed with foreign pro-Assad forces; no official confirmation

Add capSyrian citizens gather near damaged cars that were
 burned after a car bomb exploded in the suburb of Jaramana,
Damascus, Syria, on Thursday, July 25, 2013
. (photo credit: AP Photo/SANA)tion

12 Aug 2013 :: Syrian rebels claim to have killed at least 40 Hezbollah militants and Iranian agents in Damascus over the weekend.

According to their reports, rebels belonging to the Free Syrian Army detonated a car packed with explosives next to a compound belonging to the government defense apparatus, where the pro-Assad fighters were gathered. Members of the Shabiha, the regime’s civilian-clad enforcement apparatus, were reportedly also at the compound when the blast occurred.

FSA reports indicate the incident took place in the al-Shaghour neighborhood within Damascus’ walled old city, which was once a heavily Jewish area. But according to Al Arabiya, state television broadcast images of the blast, claiming it was a roadside bombing that did not take place in the heart of the city.

There has been no independent verification of the claims.

The attack comes during another bloody weekend in Syria. Opposition activists said Saturday that government warplanes bombed a predominantly Sunni village in northwestern Syria, killing at least 20 people as government forces pushed to retake territory in the region along the Mediterranean coast.

The rebel capture last week of 11 villages in the regime stronghold of Latakia province along the coast was a symbolic blow to Assad, whose troops have otherwise been making gains in central Syria. Assad’s forces are trying to retake those villages, which are predominantly populated by members of Assad’s Alawite sect.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)