47 Die in Hama Countryside 'Massacre' as Clashes Rock Damascus

Syrian rebels went on the offensive in and around Damascus on Wednesday, a watchdog said, as activists accused regime forces of committing a “massacre” in Hama’s countryside that left at least 47 people dead.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said regime forces killed at least 47 people in the town of Mazraat al-Qubair in Hama’s countryside.

"Violent clashes broke out in Harasta between regime troops and rebel forces," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier, referring to a northern suburb of Damascus.

Rebels also attacked checkpoints near Douma, Irbin and Zamalka, all in Damascus province.

A student was killed when regime forces pounded Hreitan in the northern province of Aleppo, the Britain-based watchdog said. Elsewhere in the province, two civilians were killed by gunfire near the village of Sheikh Issa.

And at Aleppo University, where massive protests broke out in May, fresh demonstrations were halted by security forces, who arrested a number of students.

In the southern province of Daraa, clashes between troops and armed rebel groups in the area of Lajat killed three soldiers and wounded eight others, while security forces launched raids and arrests in the village of Nafaa.

Three troops were killed, including a captain, in an explosion targeting their vehicle near Srakeb village, in the northwestern province of Idlib.

In the same region, four officers were injured in an attack by rebel fighters in the town of Maaret al-Numan.

Clashes in the village of Marayin in Latakia led to the death of two opposition fighters, the Observatory said, while other clashes in the region of Jabal Zaweya killed three rebels and two civilians.

In Latakia province, regime forces rained shells down on several villages and towns including Shirqaq, killing a family of three, and Al-Heffa, where three people died.

Elsewhere in Latakia five civilians were killed by regime troops, while six soldiers were killed and dozens injured in clashes with armed rebel groups, according to the watchdog.

Wednesday's shelling followed clashes and raids the previous day in Latakia, including in Al-Heffa, during which 33 people were killed, among them 22 troops, nine rebels and two civilians, the Observatory said.

It said the assault by regime forces on Al-Heffa, which has recently witnessed an escalation of anti-regime protests, continued into Wednesday, with tanks and helicopters joining the fray.

The opposition Syrian National Council called on "U.N. observers to go to the town of al-Heffa immediately, in order to prevent a new massacre."

The Observatory said anti-regime fighters seized two security headquarters in the town of Salma, in a region known as Kurdish Mountains, and reported an army defector was killed in the province.

In the central province of Hama, a civilian was shot dead while another died in a blast, it said.

On Tuesday, 55 people were killed in Syria, including 26 soldiers, 19 civilians and 10 rebels, according to the monitoring group.