Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — After nearly a year of quiet, Islamic rebel militias have renewed an offensive on Syria’s capital.

Opposition sources said at least two rebel militias were conducting daily mortar and rocket fire on the regime of President Bashar Assad. They said the attacks, which killed more than 20 people, were meant to stop a Syrian Army offensive south of Damascus.

“It is in response to regime air raids on rebel districts around Damascus,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On Aug. 9, Islamist rebels launched a major attack in an effort to capture Damascus International Airport. The rebels were said to have been repelled by the Syrian Army and militia allies.

The sources said the Army was renewing its drive to capture Eastern Ghouta, located on the southern outskirts of Damascus. The militias, identified as Army of Islam and Soldiers of Damascus, were said to have fired 120mm and 107mm rockets into Damascus neighborhoods. This marked the first rebel firing of the Katyusha rocket around Damascus.

The rebel offensive began on Aug. 2, days after the departure of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from Eastern Ghouta. ISIL’s departure, believed to have been coordinated with the regime, signaled Syrian Air Force strikes on rebel positions, including the towns of Duma, Kafar Batna and Mleiha in which nearly 100 people were killed.

“We said in a statement that civilians should leave,” Soldiers of Damascus said in a statement.

In Aleppo, the Syrian Army was reported to have launched an offensive in the countryside near the northern city. The Army is said to have reinforced its positions in the hills overlooking Aleppo and killed dozens of rebels.

  Army of Islam, Eastern Ghouta, ISIL, Katyusha rockets, renew attacks on Assad forces in Damascus, Soldiers of Damascus, Syrian rebels end hiatus