Jobar under fire on heels of Mleiha win

BIG BANG: The smoke emanating from the Damascus suburb of Jobar is the result of the most intense bombing campaign the regime has waged on the largely pro-opposition town since rebels led by Jaysh al-Islam took over the area a year ago. 

“Assad’s warplanes continue to hover in the sky over Jobar since the early morning,” reported the pro-opposition Media Office for Jobar Neighborhood on Thursday, “launching a large number of air raids on different parts of the neighborhood.”

The regime began escalating its attacks against Jobar last week, fixing its attention on the neighborhood after Syrian forces wrested Mleiha, the southeast gateway in and out of Damascus, in mid-August.

Pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan said on Wednesday that “the Syrian army continues its operation against Jobar…using artillery and warplanes in the attack.”

The regime has tried to storm Jobar, which is adjacent to Damascus’s Old City, from the ground. The Syrian army’s attack is reportedly being bolstered by Hezbollah forces, according to the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.

Both Jobar and Mleiha are considered gateways into rebel-held East Ghouta – a Damascus suburb east of the city which serves as the seat of opposition power in the area.

Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian National Coalition called upon the international community Thursday to “take urgent action to rescue civilians under the fiercest onslaught by regime forces.”

-September 4, 2014

– Photo courtesy of @lensdimashqi.

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