1 December 2012
Last updated at 15:34 GMT
Helicopters and MiG warplanes could be heard overhead, reportedly bombarding rebel-held areas
Internet services around Damascus have resumed after a two-day blackout, as violence intensifies.
While Syria's capital seemed to be back online, it was not clear how much internet access there was elsewhere.
Activists report continued bombardment of eastern suburbs of
the capital which have been the focus of a fierce government offensive
in recent days.
The government says the city's airport has reopened but there are still reports of fighting in the area.
Many flights in and out of Damascus were cancelled on
Thursday and Friday after heavy fighting on the main road to the
airport, which is the country's busiest.
The BBC's Lina Sinjab, who is in the capital, says helicopter
gunships and MiG warplanes can be heard overhead, reportedly bombarding
rebel-held areas.
Clouds of smoke
The communications black-out made it hard to establish what
was happening on the ground across the country, and even in other
neighbourhoods of Damascus.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
If you're visiting someone after
18:00, you stay with your host rather than venture back out - a sense of
caution is hanging over Damascus”
Lina Sinjab
BBC News, Damascus
The only information people had
been getting was the sight of clouds of smoke and the non-stop sound of
fighter jets, military helicopters and explosions, indicating how heavy
the fighting continues to be in the south-eastern area of the city
leading to the airport, our correspondent says.
The US State Department says the Syrian government cut communications in a sign of its desperation.
The UN Secretary General has decried the worsening
humanitarian situation in Syria, saying civilians were being massacred
almost daily across the country while wide-scale human-rights violations
were being committed by both sides.
Ban Ki-moon warned the UN General Assembly in New York that Syrian refugee numbers could swell to 700,000 by January.
He predicted that up to four million people would be in need
of assistance during the winter as a consequence of ever more brutal
violence.
His words were echoed by the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria,
Lakhdar Brahimi, who told the New York gathering that Syria would become
a failed state unless a negotiated political solution to the conflict
could be found.
Ban Ki-moon warned Syrian refugee numbers could swell to 700,000 by January
Only the UN Security Council could put together a viable peace plan, he emphasised.
Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign minister says the Syrian regime
has degenerated into an "armed militia" that resorts to brutality in its
desperate attempt to stay in power.
Ahmet Davutoglu was speaking on Saturday at an Istanbul
meeting of Arab foreign ministers who have expressed opposition to the
Syrian government.
Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
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