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EmailArmoured vehicles deployed near central Damascus: NGO
Troops deployed armoured vehicles near the heart of the Syrian capital for the first time on Monday since an anti-regime uprising broke out last year, activists said.
"This is the first time that armoured and military transport vehicles have been deployed in Al-Midan," Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, referring to the district near central Damascus.
"Before, the security forces were deployed to suppress protests. Now, we have armed troops engaged in combat," he told AFP.
His account was backed up by an activist in Damascus who told AFP: "This is the first time armoured vehicles equipped with heavy artillery are deployed in Al-Midan."
In other anti-regime districts where unprecedented battles broke out on Sunday, "raids grew more intense early on Monday afternoon," said the activist who identified himself as Abu Omar.
"There is no one on the streets except regime troops and Free Syrian Army rebels," he added.
by Ammar Karim © 2012 AFP
Source : AFP
