Syria?s Assad claims edge in conflict as his forces leaflet Damascus with warnings

BEIRUT ? A car bomb exploded during a funeral in southeast Damascus on Tuesday, injuring several people, Syrian state media reported.

The reports blamed terrorists for the attack and noted that the funeral, in the predominantly Christian area of Jaramana, was being held for two people who had died in previous explosions.

An opposition activist who said he watched regime forces swarm the scene 10 minutes after the blast said the attack could have been carried out by government security forces to discredit the opposition.

?I don?t think the opposition would attack Christians,? said Michael, an activist who lives a short distance from the blast site. ?They are trying to win them over. I blame the Shabiha and the regime forces for this explosion. It is planned by them.?

The Syrian military offensive in Damascus and the areas encircling the capital has ramped up significantly in the past week, killing hundreds of civilians, opposition groups claim. On Saturday, at least 320 people were killed in the southwest suburb of Darayya, opposition groups said, describing it as a mass killing that left bodies strewn across streets and clustered in homes.

The deadly offensive does not appear to be easing up. Government helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets over Damascus and its suburbs Tuesday, warning rebel fighters to lay down arms or face ?inevitable death,? the Associated Press reported.

As the violence in Damascus has escalated, the fighting in Aleppo, Syria?s largest city and its commercial hub, appears to have hit a stalemate as government forces have not been able to overrun some key neighborhoods where rebels are hunkered down.

Still, the Syrian military kept up its offensive in other parts of the country. A series of airstrikes in the western city of Kafr Nabel on Tuesday left at least 23 dead, according to the Local Coordination Committees.

Video that appeared to be taken shortly after the attack shows several cars on fire in the middle of rubble-strewn streets as groups of men carry wounded people covered in blood from the scene.

Ahmed Ramdan contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=da57ed440f7d7f4e8a5619806558eb31

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