Despite truce, Assad planes bomb capital

Syrian warplanes bombed a building in a Damascus suburb on Saturday, killing at least eight people in the first airstrike since an internationally mediated cease-fire went into effect, activists said.

The attack came a day after car bombs and clashes left 151 dead, according to activist tallies, leaving the four-day truce that began Friday at the start of a major Muslim holiday in tatters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight people were killed and many others wounded in the airstrike in Arbeen, a suburb of the capital.

The Syrian air force also bombed rebel positions Saturday during a fierce battle for control over the main road linking Aleppo with the capital, activists said. Earlier this month, rebels seized Maaret al-Numan, a town along the highway and besieged a nearby military base, disrupting regime supplies to embattled Aleppo.

Meanwhile scattered heavy clashes and intense shelling were reported across Syria. By nightfall on Saturday, at least 49 people had been killed across Syria, including 16 Syrian soldiers, activists said.

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