The sound of machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades echoed throughout Damascus Tuesday, as rebels carried out at least 10 hit-and-run attacks on army checkpoints in the Syrian capital, activists reported.
One blast targeted a key crossing in the Roukin al-Eddine neighbourhood, wounding at least three government soldiers, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, dpa reported.
"We are now focusing our attacks inside the strongholds of the tyrant regime inside Damascus," Abu Abdo, a member of the hardline group al-Nusra Front, which is fighting alongside the opposition Free Syrian Army, told dpa.
The state-run news agency SANA also reported heavy clashes between rebels and troops near Damascus airport, without giving further details.
US-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that evidence showed government airstrikes using cluster bombs killed at least 11 children near the capital on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the newly formed opposition coalition named human rights activist Walid Safur, 62, as its "ambassador" in London, said a statement on its Facebook page.
The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces earlier appointed Mounzir Makhous, an academic, as its envoy to France.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos is due to arrive in Beirut later Tuesday to assess the situation of Syrian refugees, the UN said in a statement.