Fighting near the airport, 20 km (12 miles) south-east of Damascus city centre, is part of a broader confrontation between the army and rebels who hold a near continuous arc of territory from the east to the south-west of Assad's power base. The growing military power of the rebels is matched by the increasing foreign support for Syria's political opposition coalition, which expects to win broad recognition at an international meeting in Morocco on Wednesday. The centre of Damascus, shielded for months from the violence which has killed 40,000 people since March 2011, echoed to the sound of shelling from Monday evening, residents said.
"There were very heavy clashes since yesterday in the town of Haran, on the eastern side of the airport, and there has been intermittent fighting in the Aqraba area by the airport," said rebel spokesman Mussab Abu Qitada. France, Britain, Turkey and the Gulf states have already granted the formal recognition. The European Union, in a meeting on Monday, moved a step closer towards recognition and the United States has suggested it could also endorse the coalition.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday United States intelligence agencies have detected no new moves by the Syrian government in recent days that would indicate it was preparing to use chemical weapons against rebel forces. "The intelligence has really kind of levelled off. We haven't seen anything new indicating any aggressive steps to move forward in that way," Panetta said.