Fighting surges around Damascus

Syria’s civil war is closing in on president Bashar Assad’s seat of power in Damascus with clashes between government forces and rebels flaring around the city today, raising fears the capital will become the next major battlefield in the 20-month-old conflict.

Numerous reports emerged of at least a dozen people killed near the ancient city and elsewhere, and the regime said nine students and a teacher died from rebel mortar fire on a school. The state news agency originally said 30 people had been killed in the attack.