Violence draws ever closer to Syrian capital

Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus yesterday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital.

Even as the fighting raged in Douma, tens of thousands of backers of President Bashar Assad 16 kilometers away indowntown Damascus in a show of support for his embattled regime.

Similar pro-regime rallies were held in other cities yesterday, even as the bloodshed continued elsewhere — offering a sign of the deep divisions over the country’s deadly revolt.