Reports of chemical weapons used on outskirts of Damascus

Activist sources claim Damascus residents inhaled toxic gases in Jobar Syrian activist sources have claimed the army has used chemical weapons in the Jobar neighbourhood of eastern Damascus, while 33 people have been killed in violent clashes across the war-torn country. According to the report, which has not yet been verified by any other source, a number of people inhaled toxic gases.
Local health officials have reported a high number of cases of suffocation with eyewitnesses claiming victims were suffering from injuries caused by an unknown but toxic gas.
Regime tanks have meanwhile bombed areas across the capital, including Qaboun and Tadamon.
A car bomb exploded  in Barzeh, while heavy fighting struck Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and warplanes bombed Maliha and Qaysa.
Some reports suggest Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces are using Western-imported weapons in their fight to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
Local Coordination Committees (LCCs) have reported rebels using surface-to-air Toshka missiles and AS-50 sniper rifles, made especially for British and US forces in 2007.
Activists have denied the reports.
State-owned news agency SANA has claimed the day marks one of the worst in Syria’s two-year conflict, following sustained clashes between rebel and government forces.
The report comes one day after 116 people were killed in Syria in the latest bout of violence storming the country.
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said it had brought down six Syrian military aircraft in various party of the country, as clashes continued at the heart of the capital Damascus and in neighbouring governorates.
The FSA said it had taken down six regime aircraft as part of its recent offensive. One aircraft was reportedly shot down in Hama, three in Idlib, another in Qamishli and one more in the Damascus countryside.
Witnesses reported violent clashes in Damascus on Saturday evening, as government forces carried out heavy mortar and tanks shelling by government forces. There were also reports of clashes in the Hall market, and the Yarmouk refugee camp.
Meanwhile, the FSA took control of several sites in the Sayeda Zeinab area of Damascus, and clashed with the Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigades and Hezbollah fighters.
On Saturday evening, LCCs claimed that 116 people had been killed in the fighting including ten women, and 13 children.
In a related development, a report by a British think tank said that 600 fighters from 14 different European countries had fought against the Syrian regime since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.
Meanwhile, Aaron Zelin, a researcher from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, estimated that between 2500 to 5000 foreign fighters have taken part in the Syrian conflict.
Algeria has meanwhile announced it “will not receive Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he requests asylum” in the country, according to a report by Shorouk newspaper.
The Algerian newspaper claimed Syrian officials had already attempted to establish behind-the-scenes contacts with the country’s government, but Algerian officials had rejected all requests.
Algerian sources claim the government supports a political, peaceful solution to the two-year crisis.
Elsewhere, Russians officials have accused the United Nations of buckling under pressure from some countries and adopting a non-constructive position on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
The country's foreign ministry said that the UN's approach had been similar to the course of investigation of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was intentionally based on the erroneous data and led to a well-known results.
The Syrian government and the armed opposition have accused each other of using chemical rocket fire against civilians in Aleppo, in an attack which killed 25 people and wounded dozens.
In a separate development, FSA has denied reports published in some Arabs newspapers that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is supplying them with weapons.
FSA spokesman Colonel Abdel-hamid Zakaria said: "We rely on three sources for weapons; the first is what we gain from the regime when we attack military units, and that around 95%, while the remaining 5% are those weapons that come from arms traffickers, and some officers of the regime who sell us weapons for money."
He claimed that there hadn't been a change in the quality of weapons being used by FSA to fight the regime, and the bigger concern was how to spare the people of Damascus the scourge of the decisive battle.
The military leader sent a message to the residents of the city, saying "Rest assured we will enter the city once we are fully prepared for the battle, to shorten its time."
Zakaria's words coincided with reports that more and more foreign fighters had begun joining the ranks of the regime forces in Damascus, with the Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigades, mostly from Iraq, Lebanon and Iran, saying they seek to protect Shiite holy sites in Syria, even though the opposition groups say they are fighting for the regime.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned against the fall of his regime, or the disintegration of his country, claiming that it will lead to a wave of instability in the Middle East for years to come.
In an interview with Turkish television channel al-Olossal, the Syrian leader also accused Turkey of interfering in his country's affairs. Commenting on the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's recent statement that he "would rather resign than shaking hands with Assad," the Syrian president said that he was not the focus of attention, adding that Davutoglu lacks class.
As the violence continues in Syria, British newspaper The Guardian has reported that Jordan is facing a spike in tensions with its warring neighbour, in light of indications that Jordan plays a more active role in supporting Syrian opposition fighters, who are seeking to overthrow Assad regime.
The newspaper said that Jordan has allowed the transfer of arms shipments to opponents of Assad, who have achieved some gains in the vicinity of Daraa, a Syrian city near the Jordanian border, adding that the visit of the US president to Jordan indicates that King Abdullah is under mounting pressure, to support attempts led by Gulf states to dislodge Assad from power."
News of Jordan's uneasiness at the Syrian situation comes after the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) confirmed that the head of interim government Ghassan Hitto had begun consultations on the composition of the government, and planned to present his cabinet to the coalition in the next few weeks.
On the field, the violence has shown no sign of dying down. Several Syrian provinces witnessed bloody clashes on Saturday, in the province of Damascus, the outskirts of the city of Yabrud were bombed with military aviation, and areas in the city of Almedmah were also bombarded by the regime's troops.
The towns of Ain Tarma and Kvrbtna also came under attack, followed by violent clashes, and the areas between the towns of Husseiniya and Alveabih were exposed to air strikes.
In Homs, there has been regular shelling on neighbourhoods of Khalidiya, Jouret Shiyah and old Homs, while villages surrounding the city of Qusair and Apple Village were exposed to military aviation bombardment.
In the province of Hama, explosions rocked Aleppo Road neighbourhood, followed by clashes between fighters from the Phalange and the regular forces in the province of Aleppo, and war planes carried out an air raid on the neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsood.
In the province of Daraa, regular troops raided the western side as clashes continued between fighters and the regular forces on the outskirts of Um Almiazn.
In the province of Idlib, towns of Alrcaya and Kvrsjna were bombarded by the regular troops. In the province of Deir al-Zour, the industry district had been bombarded by the Syrian army, and there was no information on casualties.