Two deadly car bombs and sporadic fighting marred a shaky holiday truce today in Syria, although thousands of protesters used the brief respite in the civil war to pour into the streets and demand president Bashar Assad’s removal.

Fighting raged near a military base in Syria’s north as a ceasefire in the bloody civil war was set begin on Friday at dawn, activists said, illustrating the difficulty of enforcing even a limited truce coinciding with a Muslim holiday.

Evidence mounted of a new massacre in Syria’s deepening civil war, with activists reporting a killing spree by government forces after they seized the suburb of Daraya from rebel control three days ago.

Syrian government troops have recovered full control of a rebellious area of the capital Damascus, state-run TV said today.