Deadly Air Raids as Fighting Rages in Syria Flashpoints

Fighting raged around the Syrian capital Damascus and in northern Syria, where at least five people died in an air strike near an olive press, a watchdog said.

Fighting has raged around Damascus since summer, when the army launched an intensive operation to drive rebels out of their strongholds near the capital, particularly in southern districts.

Insurgents have set up rear bases in areas of Damascus province where anti-regime sentiment runs high and where some of their best-organised and fiercest groups are located.

Battles also raged Tuesday in Moadamiyet al-Sham and nearby Daraya, where a massacre in August killed more than 500 people, according to the Observatory.

In Idlib province in northwestern Syria, an aerial bombardment near an olive press killed at least five people and wounded dozens, the Observatory said.

"We have been able to document the names of five people killed, and 30 injured, including some badly wounded," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse, adding that the air strike hit an area some two kilometers (one mile) west of the provincial capital.

In the same province, rebel-held Maaret al-Numan was also bombed from the air as clashes raged at the southern entrance of the town that is strategically located on the Damascus-Aleppo road.