Intense Clashes Strike Syrian Capital

Intense Clashes Strike Syrian Capital: BEIRUT — Syrian rebels fired at tanks in Damascus residential districts, armored vehicles blocked the main entrances to a neighborhood and protesters briefly barricaded a main highway into the city with bricks and burning tires, leaving hundreds of cars backed up in some of the worst clashes to hit the tightly controlled capital since the uprising began 16 months ago. The scenes from the second straight day of fierce clashes in Damascus, unfolding in amateur videos posted online, were the latest evidence that Syria's conflict is fast devolving into a civil war that is moving ever closer to the seat of President Bashar Assad's power.