Battle rages for dividing line separating regime, rebel neighborhoods

BARZEH BATTLE: The months-long fight for the embattled district of Barzeh in northeast Damascus continued on Sunday as the regime and rebels struggled to control the key neighborhood, which separates the regime-held capital and rebel-held districts in East Ghouta, the site of last month’s chemical-weapons attack.

Though abandoned months ago with burnt-out buildings remaining, “violent clashes continue in Barzeh,” the videographer says over the sound of gunfire. The clip was purportedly shot on Sunday following weeks of shelling on the district, which lies next to the regime-held national highway connecting Damascus and Homs. Neither the rebels nor the regime has been able to completely vanquish the contested area over the past year. On Monday, the Local Coordination Committees announced that FSA fighters had repelled another regime advance in the district.

The neighborhood is approximately eight kilometers directly below the regime’s chemical weapons production and storage facility in the mountains of Jamraya, the Center for Scientific Research, which Israel hit from the air on May 5^th. Video courtesy of SHAMSNN