Syrian troops takes control of two suburbs from rebels

Syrian army troops and Shi’ite militia fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad captured two southern suburbs of Damascus on Friday, killing at least 70 people, opposition activists said.

The fighters, including some from the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah and Iraqi Shi’ites backed by Syrian army tanks, searched al-Thiabiya and Husseiniya, a Palestinian refugee camp, for pockets of resistance after overrunning them, the sources said.

The capture of the two districts, located between the two main highways leading to Jordan, strengthens Assad’s hold on major supply lines and puts pressure on rebel brigades under siege for months in areas adjacent to the centre of Damascus.

Buoyed by opposition divisions and the receding prospect of U.S. military strikes, Assad has tried to tighten his grip on areas in the country’s centre and along the coast and the north-south highways, as well as the capital and its environs – a major area of operations for his foreign Shi’ite allies.