Battles continue in Syria as gov't slams Britain, France's calls for arming rebels

DAMASCUS (Xinhua) - Violent clashes and blasts continued Saturday between the Syrian troops and armed rebels in several hotspots nationwide, as Syria complained about France and Britain's calls to lift an arms embargo on opposition fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several mortar shells landed Saturday in the town of Jisreen outside Damascus, stopping short of assessing damages or a death toll.

It said the government troops also bombarded the rebellious suburbs of Zamalka, Zabadani, Deir al-Asafir and Shabaa, and that intense clashes took place Saturday morning near the 39th Brigade in the Damascus' suburbs of Adra.

Also in Damascus, the Observatory reported fighting at the southwestern suburb of Tadamoun and the adjacent al-Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, the state-run TV said "terrorists" on Saturday bombed out a car rigged with more than two tons of explosives near the Insurance Building in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and later tried to break into the building.

The TV said that the guards killed and wounded tens of the attackers, denying media reports that terrorist had fully seized the building.

In the Damascus' suburb of Jobar, the state media said that the army killed dozens of "terrorists" and restored security to the surroundings of Dawar al-Barlaman, the Cultural Center, the municipality building and the police station in the area.

Near the Syrian borders with Lebanon, the government forces have reinforced posts on the border, eyewitnesses in the Lebanese northern area of Wadi Khaled said Saturday.

Damascus announced Thursday that its forces would fire into Lebanon if "terrorist gangs" continued to infiltrate Syria.

"These past 36 hours, armed terrorist gangs have infiltrated the Syrian territory in large numbers from Lebanon," said a letter sent by Syria to the Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry.

It added that "Syrian forces are showing restraint by not striking these gangs inside Lebanese territory to prevent them crossing into Syria, but this will not go on indefinitely."

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said Saturday that Lebanon's stability depends "on all of us ... not sending militants to Syria and not receiving them," adding that "we must commit ourselves to neutrality."

Suleiman said he had tasked Lebanon's army with "the arrest of any militants intending to fight in Syria, whether for the opposition or not."

Meanwhile, Syria's state media slammed the recent calls by Britain and France to lift an arms embargo on rebels fighters, saying the move is an attempt to run away from the "repercussions of their failure in solving the economic challenges they face" in their own countries.

In a front-page editorial, al-Thawra newspaper said Saturday that the step reflects the two countries' "foolish" policies and their attempt to "export their crises" and renew their greed in the region.

It warned that the decision would "open the door wide before new fronts of conflict between the two banks of the Mediterranean," raising speculations that this step would have not been announced without a prior coordination with the United States.

While Britain's David Cameron and France's Francois Hollande have failed to convince other leader of the European Union to reverse a ban on arming the rebels in Syria, Cameron hinted he and Hollande might be prepared to go it alone.

The British prime minister said a military solution might lead to a political one, while Hollande said that he had received guarantees from the Syrian rebels that any future arms provision would not end up in the wrong hands.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian parliament sent three identical messages to the chairman of the European Parliament, the chairman of the National French Society, and the head of the British Common Council, protesting against the French and the British governments' attempts to legitimize the arming of opposition groups.

The parliament called for "not allowing some European governments to stir up the crisis in Syria and inflict more harm and damage to humanity," warning such harms will also affect European citizens.

It called for forming a delegation from the European parliament to visit Syria and review the real conditions on ground.