Syrian jets bomb rebels near capital

BEIRUT -- Syrian warplanes bombed rebel areas near Damascus yesterday as President Bashar Assad's troops battled opposition fighters for control of the road linking the capital to the country's largest airport.

Assad's forces are trying to drive out rebels who have established enclaves in the suburbs. While the government has lost control of large swaths of territory in the country's north and east, including parts of the northern city of Aleppo, the capital remains tightly secured.

Conditions in the city have worsened however, with prices for basic goods rising and fuel in short supply. U.S. officials said they believe Assad's sister and mother have left the country, suggesting that hardship has reached even the leadership's families.

As the fighting continued, France's foreign minister suggested that Assad's fall was not imminent, a stark admission by a country that has been one of the most ardent supporters of the Syrian rebels.

Speaking in Paris, Laurent Fabius told reporters: "The solution that we hoped for -- that is to say, Bashar's fall, the rise of the opposition to power -- there are no recent signs that are as positive as that."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported bomb attacks and clashes in a number of Damascus suburbs, saying 13 were killed. The group, which relies on a network of contacts inside Syria, said fighter jets bombed the southwestern suburbs of Daraya and Moadamiyeh.

-- AP