Heavy rebel shelling and government airstrikes kill at least 36 and injure dozens in a surge in violence in the Syrian capital

• Rebels began shelling upper class areas during this morning’s rush hour 
• Shelling killed five people and left up to 60 others with serious injuries
• Government forces responded with airstrikes on rebel-held areas, killing 31
• Surge in violence comes just hours before Iran’s Foreign Minister arrives

Heavy rebel shelling and government airstrikes in Syria‘s capital have killed at least 36 people and wounded scores more in a surge in violence just hours before the arrival of Iran’s Foreign Minister.

The rebel shelling began around morning rush hour in Damascus, with more than 50 missiles striking the capital – including a number of upper-class neighbourhoods.

The shelling killed five people and left up to 60 others with serious injuries, eyewitnesses said. 

Warplanes sent by the air force loyal to President Bashar al-Assad responded to the rebels’ shelling with strikes on rebel-held areas, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 120 others.

The surge in violence comes just hours before Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif is due to arrive in the Syrian capital.

He is expected to discuss a four-point peace plan proposal Iran wants to offer to the United Nations to end Syria’s grinding civil war. 

That plan reportedly includes a cease-fire and a ‘national unity government’ but likely won’t bring about a truce in a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel shelling killed five people and wounded at least 20 people.

Syrian state television also quoted the Interior Ministry as saying that the shelling killed five people and wounded 58.

It blamed ‘terrorists’ for the shelling, as state media regularly refers to those fighting against embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule.

‘We hid for two hours in the bathroom,’ said a resident from the well-to-do Qasaa neighbourhood, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

‘My children woke up terrified. Our windows were shattered and so was my car’s windshield.’

Shortly afterwards, government warplanes attacked several rebel-held suburbs of the capital. 

The Local Coordination Committees said the air raids on Hamouriyeh, Saqba, Kfar Batna, Douma and Arbeen killed 35 and wounded dozens. 

The Observatory said the airstrikes killed at least 31 people and wounded more than 120 people.

Differing casualty counts are common in the chaotic aftermath of attacks in Syria.

The attacks come amid new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. 

Iran is one of Assad’s strongest supporters and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to back government forces.

In Beirut, Hezbollah’s leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah met with Zarif to discuss regional crises, including Syria’s civil war.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station said Nasrallah and Zarif discussed attempts ‘to find solutions in more than one country.’

Meanwhile, Al-Manar and Syrian activists said a 48-hour cease-fire has started in a town near the Lebanese border and two Shiite villages in the north between Hezbollah fighters and rebels there. 

The ceasefire in Zabadani and the northern villages of Foua and Kfarya came into effect today.

Hezbollah and Syrian troops have been trying to fully capture the one-time rebel stronghold of Zabadani for more than a month.

A coalition of rebel groups retaliated by attacking Foua and Kfarya in Idlib province, which are home to mostly Shiite villagers. A large number of civilians are trapped there by the fighting.