Syrian rebels shoot down army copter

A series of explosions rocked Douma, just northeast of Damascus, shortly before the rebels downed the helicopter, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. State television said the aircraft had crashed.The fighting raged as the Observatory, which relies on the accounts of activists on the ground, said the death toll in the 18-month uprising had surpassed 29,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians.Meanwhile, diplomats from more than 60 nations and the Arab League were meeting in The Hague to toughen and improve coordination of sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.We need vigorous implementation, Netherlands Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told the opening of the Friends of Syria working group.Sanctions will only have an impact if they are carried out effectively. That is how we can make a difference.Overnight, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned the Syrian government and rebels seemed intent on fighting to the bitter end, while saying the international body may offer a new strategy for peace.And in the latest violence, helicopter gunships pounded Al-Hajar Al-Aswad in Damascus, as the political opposition added new claims of devastation to the southern district and in adjacent neighbourhoods.Helicopter gunships are pounding civilian homes in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad in southern Damascus, said the Syrian National Council, the countrys main opposition bloc.Many people have been killed or injured, but the violence of the shelling is making it difficult for activists in the area to document all their names, it added.We call on the heroes of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army to intervene and to target the army of Assad and to open routes for the civilians to flee the catastrophic conditions they are living in.The SNC also renewed its call on the international community to intervene on behalf of the Syrian people, saying its response to what is happening in the worlds oldest capital city (Damascus) has been completely insufficient.