Over 2,000 Syrians have fled across border

A Turkish official says more than 2,300 Syrians have fled across the border into Turkey in the last 24 hours.

Syrian troops earlier launched a fierce assault on a suburb of Damascus just days ahead of a deadline for a U.N.-brokered cease-fire.

Activists describe it as one of the most violent attacks around the capital since the uprising began - claiming that snipers on 20 buildings were firing at "anything that moved".