Combat rages in capital as regime air strikes continues

Syrian aircraft attacked towns in the country's north and east and killed at least five people in a strike on an olive oil press as fighting raged in the capital Damascus yesterday, opposition activists said.
Rebels battled government forces in the Damascus suburb of Kfar Souseh, on the edge of the centre of the capital housing the government of President Bashar al-Assad, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group.
There was also combat in the Baba Amr district of Homs city, an area that was overrun by government troops in February, said the Observatory, as well as fighting in Aleppo, Deir al-Zor, Deraa, Idlib province and Hama province.
A government jet fired barrel bombs -- cylinders packed with explosives and petrol -- at the Abu Hilal olive oil press, 2 km west of Idlib city, activist Tareq Abdelhaq said.
At least five people were killed and five wounded in the attack, the Observatory said. Abdelhaq said at least 20 were killed and 50 wounded.
The victims were civilians, according to activists, who acknowledged rebel fighters were in the area.
An estimated 40,000 people have been killed in Syria since March last year when protests inspired by the Arab Spring broke out against Assad, whose family has ruled autocratically for four decades.