Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Capture Symbolic "Nuclear" Site

2319 GMT: More Fighting in Damascus. It's late, past 1 AM in in Syria, but there are still fresh reports of explosions and gunfire there tonight. This video was reportedly taken in Baramkeh, in west-central Damascus, not far from Tishreen and the heart of the Assad regime (map):

The explosions and gunshots being heard from Baramkeh in the heart of #Damascus tonight.youtube.com/watch?v=2xhqtE…

— NMSyria (@NMSyria) February 25, 2013

2303 GMT: Surface-to-Surface Missiles. Tonight there are reports that more "Scuds" have launched from the regime's 155th Brigade base in Quteifeh, northeast of Damascus (map). Last week, when there were similar reports, dozens died in Aleppo province when several missiles hit residential areas, crumbling buildings and trapping residents. Those rockets fell on areas just north of Aleppo's airport, an airport that was reportedly being overrun by rebels. Today the airport was once again under attack. No word yet what was targeted by these latest strikes, however.

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Syria Live Coverage: Civilian Deaths in Aleppo

The destruction in the Al-Bab section of Aleppo

See also Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Conflicting Claims Over Palestinian Who Died in Israeli Custody
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Boycotts International Talks Over Aleppo Deaths

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1816 GMT: Regime Strike. At the end of this clip, a direct hit on an insurgent truck with an anti-aircraft gun in Khan al-Asal in Aleppo Province:

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Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Boycotts International Talks Over Aleppo Deaths

See also Iran Analysis: A Revolutionary Guard Commander is Killed in Syria --- What It Means for Tehran and the Middle East
Syria 1st-Hand: Burning Army Boots to Stay Warm in Aleppo
Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 78 Killed in Fighting in North
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: At Least 53 Killed by Bombs in Damascus

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1820 GMT: Regime Attacks. Shelling in the Jobar section of Damascus:

1630 GMT: Casualties. The Local Coordination Committees report 95 people killed, including 32 children and eight women.

Of the deaths, 59 were in Aleppo Province and 17 in Damascus and its suburbs.

The relatively high number of children and women slain and the proportion in Aleppo Province probably reflect escalating regime rocket and missile attacks which have hit civilian housing.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Burning Army Boots to Stay Warm in Aleppo (Atassi)

Photo: Basma Atassi/Al Jazeera

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Abu Mohammad seemed to be excited by the fact that he is helping people stay warm, but when asked about the potentially harmful fumes from the burning of boots, he said: "Only God knows what chemicals come out of these boots. People have been using coal, wood, unrefined petrol and all kind of stuff to warm themselves. So this doesn't matter."

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Syria Live Coverage: At Least 53 Killed by Bombs in Damascus

See also Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Parliamentary Elections set for April-June
Thursday's Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus

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1815 GMT:Attacks in Aleppo. Activists now say that at least 12 people have been killed when three missiles or rockets hit house in eastern Aleppo.

1724 GMT:Attacks in Aleppo. Activists are reporting rockets have struck two eastern districts of Aleppo city on Friday, destroying dozens of houses.

One activist who visited the scene said a rocket fell in Ard al-Hamra neighborhood, causing widespread destruction. "There are families buried under the rubble. Nothing can describe it, it's a horrible sight."

Claims are also circulating that the attacks was by missiles --- possibly SCUDs --- rather than rockets.

The wounded after the attack:

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Syria 1st-Hand: A Month on the Front Line of "Bloody Stalemate" in Damascus (Tomasevic)

One of Goran Tomasevic's photos of the fighting at the Ain Tarma checkpoint, 30 January 2013

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Rebel fighters in Damascus are disciplined, skilled and brave.

In a month on the frontline, I saw them defend a swathe of suburbs in the Syrian capital, mount complex mass attacks, manage logistics, treat their wounded --- and die before my eyes.

But as constant, punishingly accurate, mortar, tank and sniper fire attested, President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers on the other side, often just a room or a grenade toss away, are also well-drilled, courageous --- and much better armed.

So while the troops were unable to dislodge brigades of the Free Syrian Army from devastated and depopulated neighborhoods just east of the city centre --- and indeed made little effort to do so --- there seems little immediate prospect of the rebels overrunning Assad's stronghold. The result is bloody stalemate.

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Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus

1930 GMT: Death Toll Nearing 200. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 189 people have been killed so far today:

96 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs most of them in the bombing that targeted Al-Hayat Bridge in the capital, 32 in Daraa, 32 in Aleppo, 11 in Homs, 9 in Idlib, 4 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, and 2 in Raqqa.

"Most of them" in Damascus does not mean all of them. So far the death toll would be a high average amount even if it were not from the car bombs, and the day is not over yet.

1621 GMT: Football Player Killed in Rebel Mortar Attack. Yesterday we reported that rebel mortar attacks hit several locations in the Tishreen district of Damascus, including one of the Presidential palaces. However, the Tishreen neighborhood also contains the most important stadium in Damascus, annd mortars also fell in a front of a hotel housing football players, killing one player, 19 year old Youssef Suleiman of the Homs-based al-Wathbah club, and wounding several others.

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EA Video Analysis: Syria --- How and Why the US is Arming the Insurgents

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A six-minute guide to how and why the US --- despite public denials --- are involved in the supply of weapons to the Syrian insurgents, and what it means for the future of the conflict:

Washington wants to provide the insurgents with enough weapons to put pressure on the Assad regime, possibly leading to a coup, but not enough to bring about a final bloody conflict and the decimation of Damascus.

Syria Live Coverage: Are Insurgents Inside Daraa City?

Aftermath of a car bomb in Damascus today

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The Live Coverage has been retitled, "Multiple Bombings in Damascus" and moved to the top of the homepage.

Syria Live Coverage: A "Humanitarian Tragedy"

2120 GMT: Jet Shot Down in Damascus? All day we've been tracking reports of a jet shot down in Damascus. The only problem is that it's unclear a jet ever crashed. However, a reader, Amir, finds this video. Much of it is a collection of videos from today that we have seen. The clip we had not seen is at about the 2:30 mark, when an explosion on the horizon, followed my a smoke cloud, reportedly shows the moment the jet crashed.

We're still not 100% sure what happened, though there are plenty of rumors that the pilot, a Russian, has been captured. We'd treat this as straight rumor until a video is released.

2105 GMT: Battle for Ashrafiyeh District of Aleppo. The rebels have set their sights on another district in norther-central in Aleppo, the Ashrafiyeh District. A microblogger finds several videos, including the one below which appear to show rebels firing mortars at Assad positions from the nearby railway (map):

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