THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The Assad regime claimed to have retaken control of Damascus on Sunday night after its most elite fighting force ruthlessly overwhelmed rebel strongholds in the city's Sunni suburbs.
Backed by heavy artillery and helicopter gunships, the 4th Armoured Division, commanded by President Bashar al-Assad's feared younger brother Maher, swept through three rebel-held districts and laid siege to a fourth.
It was confirmed by the Israeli military last night that Mr Assad remains in the capital, following rumours in the aftermath of last week's attacks that he had fled for the coastal city of Latakia.
Sunday's counter-offensive effectively ended rebel hopes of capturing the Syrian capital and bringing a swift end to an uprising that has ground on for 16 months, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated yesterday has now killed over 19,000 people.
For more than a week, the rebel Free Syrian Army, the FSA, had fought a tenacious campaign to "liberate" Damascus, launching the wave of daring assaults at the heart of Mr Assad's most-heavily fortified citadel.
Hopes that a quick victory was in their reach were boosted by the most audacious strike of all – a bomb that struck a meeting of the regime's 14-man national security council, killing four of the president's chief lieutenants, including his powerful brother-in-law. » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent and Ruth Sherlock in Beirut | Sunday, July 22, 2012
