Fighting rages around Damascus, regime regains rebel-held town

Syrian troops celebrate after a 16-day battle for control of Karnaz Pro-government troops overran a rebel-held town and were locked in a second day of fierce clashes around Damascus on Thursday, as Islamic states urged Syria's regime and its foes to hold "serious" talks to end the bloodshed.
After a 16-day onslaught, troops retook Karnaz on the strategic Damascus-Aleppo highway, said Rami Abdelrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"[Rebel] fighters withdrew from Karnaz [a town on the outskirts of Hama], which they seized in December last year, after heavy fighting and regular forces regained control," said Abdelrahman.
Clashes and heavy shelling rocked rebel strongholds around Damascus on the second day of an army offensive that the Observatory said had killed at least 64 people on Wednesday.
Mortar rounds killed six civilians in the north-eastern district of Qaboon, with at least 109 people being killed in nationwide violence on Thursday, according to a preliminary toll from the watchdog.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources for its information, also reported regime shelling and clashes along a southern highway of the capital.
On the outskirts of the city, the Observatory said troops pounded rebel positions across the east and in the south, and that clashes erupted to the north-east.
Rebel leaders said they were able to impose control on a main street in al-Yarmouk camp in the capital on Thursday, after fierce clashes with regime troops.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), at the end of a two-day summit in Cairo, called for "serious dialogue" between the Coalition and regime officials open to political change and without blood on their hands.
Such dialogue should "pave the way for a transition that will allow the Syrian people to achieve their aspirations for democratic change," read the final OIC statement.
"The Syrian government is primarily responsible for the violence," said the statement, which urged the UN Security Council to "assume its responsibilities to end the violence and bloodshed."
Iran had "reservations about a passage or two" in the statement on Syria, outgoing OIC chief Ekmeleddin ?hsano?lu revealed.
Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi said he discussed a "general framework" on ways to resolve the conflict with Turkey and Iran on the sidelines of the summit.
"The foreign ministers are working on transforming this general framework into principles and measures to be announced in the coming days within an Arab, Islamic and international framework," he said.
The summit was being held in the absence of Syria which the OIC suspended in August over the regime's bloody crackdown on protests.
Member of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Haytham al-Maleh criticised the OIC members for not inviting the opposition umbrella coalition to the summit as a representative of the nation, adding that the Muslim organisation should have suspended Iran's membership, "because it a partner of Assad in killing the Syrians."
In the same context, leader of the SNC, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib stepped up pressure on the Syrian regime to engage in talks by setting the regime a deadline of Sunday to free all women held in prisons.
The surprise gesture by al-Khatib, was welcomed by the United States and the Arab League, and was backed as well by some leaders who took part in the OIC meeting in Cairo.
But Damascus has so far ignored it and key opposing faction have flatly rejected the initiative as well.
The Syrian National Council, the main component of the SNC, has rejected the possibility of any talks, saying it is committed to "ousting Assad's regime and protecting the revolution."
However, deputy leader of the SNC, Riad Seif stressed in a statement issued Thursday that Khatib's initiative came in accordance with the opposition's approach, affirming that all SNC members are in agreement that "Khatib is not a person who would give up on the rights and interests of the Syrian people."