"Warplanes carried out four air strikes this morning (Monday) on the edges of the town of Mleha," near army positions the rebels captured at the weekend, the Britannia-based monitor said.
The rebels had pushed forward in the area after a jacket wallah from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front detonated an explosive-packed car at a checkpoint between Mleha and the neighbourhood of Jaramana on Saturday.
Opposition fighters went on to take the checkpoint the building of a pharmaceutical company used by government troops as a base.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the southeastern Jaramana suburb of Damascus is a key pro-regime area which would be exposed by any rebel advances in nearby towns and neighbourhoods.
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
regime troops pressed their onslaught on the besieged town of Moadamiyet al-Sham southwest of the capital, with fierce festivities between government and rebel troops on the outskirts of the town, the Observatory said.
Thirty-one months into Syria's conflict, the army is pushing hard to secure the capital by trying to crush rebel-held pockets on the outskirts of Damascus.
Activists in opposition-controlled areas say the tight sieges imposed by the
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's forces have caused severe food shortages and acute malnutrition, especially among children.