Warplanes Pound Rebels near Damascus, Insurgents Shell Idlib Army Base

Fighting raged on Thursday in flashpoints across Syria, among them Barzeh in northern Damascus, a watchdog said.

Southwest of Damascus, the regime's air force bombarded rebel positions located between rebel strongholds Daraya and Moadamiyet al-Sham, which the regime has been fighting to reclaim since last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In Damascus itself, a shell hit the Zablatani district in the heart of the city, while three others landed in the Qasaa area nearby, causing material damage, said the Observatory.

Meanwhile, in Idlib in northwest Syria, large swathes of which are rebel-held, insurgents used rockets to hit an ammunition stockpile in Qarmid army base, said the Observatory, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.

In January, the United Nations said at least 70,000 people had died so far in the conflict.