Syrian warplanes conduct 20 strikes on rebels east of Damascus

The Syrian warplanes on Monday carried out 20 strikes against the rebels in the eastern countryside of the capital Damascus, amid escalating violence in that part of the capital, a monitor group said.

The clashes flared Monday morning between the Syrian troops backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah against rebels entrenched in Damascus' eastern district of Jobar, a main hotbed in the violence threatening the capital.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said surface-to-surface missiles were believed to have also been fired by the government troops on that restive neighborhood in the Eastern Ghouta countryside.

The rebels in Jobar also fired many mortar shells that slammed into several residential districts inside Damascus, leaving unknown losses.

Meanwhile, Syrian journalist, Thaer al-Ajlani, was killed Monday by one of the mortar shells that slammed the frontline near Jobar. Al-Ajlani is known of being a "war reporter" who accompanied the Syrian army on field missions and reported for several Syrian local TVs and radios.

Other media reports suggested that the Syrian army took a preemptive strike against the rebels in Jobar, a place that has witnessed several intensive battles between both warring sides.

The Syrian army has yet to recapture that district due to the heavy fortification of the rebels inside and the wide network of underground tunnels dug in that place.