Syrian forces shell rebel held areas

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shelled rebel-held areas across Syria on Sunday as fierce clashes were reported in second city Aleppo where a fire tore through a medieval souk.The fighting in Aleppo city was accompanied by intense overnight shelling that continued into the morning, destroying houses and killing at least three people including two civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Aleppo, Syrias most populous city, has been the main battleground for the past two months of the countrys 18-month conflict, and has been gripped by fighting on an unprecedented scale in recent days.Much of the violence has centred in and around the Old City, and this is believed to have sparked the fire in the centuries-old souk marketplace which destroyed many shops, said an AFP correspondent and the Observatory.Clashes were reported elsewhere in the northern province of Aleppo, where rebel mortar fire damaged two helicopters at the Al-Nairab military airport, said the group which relies on a network of activists on the ground.The army also shelled several other districts of Aleppo and battled rebels in Aleppos northern district of Jandul, the Observatory said.There were many rebels and soldiers killed, but both sides are trying to conceal their casualties, the Observatorys Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.In Damascus province, rebels killed nine soldiers when they attacked a military checkpoint on the road linking the capital with Qatana to the southwest, the Britain-based group reported.That came after soldiers backed by aerial firepower stormed the rebel stronghold of Harasta as regime forces carried out arrest raids in the town of Zabadani, said the Observatory.Elsewhere, troops trying to dislodge rebels fired heavy artillery into areas of the southern province of Daraa, central region of Hama and Idlib in the countrys northwest, the watchdog said.In the northeastern province of Hasakeh, the army fired on houses, injuring several people, as security forces conducted arrest operations in the coastal city of Banias, it added.The rebel Free Syrian Army attacked a checkpoint in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, killing four soldiers, said the Observatory, whose latest toll for Sunday was 23 dead -- 13 troops, five civilians and five rebels.