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Syrian Defectors Attack Military Sites, Opposition Groups Say

"Syrian activists say that army defectors have attacked an intelligence complex in the Damascus suburbs in what appears to be one of their boldest assaults so far against government security forces," al-Jazeera reports.

The BBC says "parts of the notorious Air Force Intelligence building in Harasta were reported to have been destroyed, but there were no reports of casualties. It would be the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) most high-profile attack since Syria's anti-government protests began."

According to The Guardian, witnesses have told Reuters and other news outlets that "members of the Free Syrian Army fired shoulder-mounted rockets and machine guns at the compound run by Air Force Intelligence." And, that "other attacks targeted military checkpoints in the suburbs of Douma, Qaboun and Arabeen and Saqba."

As always with events in Syria, where reporters are not allowed to move about freely, news outlets are relying on phone calls and emails from sources inside the country.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press writes that "foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League are expected to formalize their decision to suspend Syria for refusing to end its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters."

Monday, as this NPR staff and wires report said, "army defectors ambushed dozens of Syrian troops, and regime forces gunned down civilians during one of the bloodiest days of the country's 8-month-old uprising, which appeared Tuesday to be spiraling out of President Bashar Assad's control."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.