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DAMASCUS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army unleashed an offensive Wednesday against a main rebel bastion east of the capital Damascus, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen and sources said.
The Syrian army has started a wide-scale offensive in Damascus' eastern district of Jobar early Wednesday, and then expanded the operations into other rebel-held areas in the eastern countryside of Damascus, said the TV.
Most of the capital's residents were waken up by the rattling sound of heavy airstrikes that targeted Jobar, witnesses said.
Jobar, two km northeast of the walls of the old city of Damascus, has posed a threat to the government-controlled eastern districts of the capital throughout the country's long- running conflict as rebels positioned in the suburb have repeatedly attempted to breach the capital from Jobar.
Sources said Russian air force has not taken part in the airstrikes against Jobar.
The escalation in military offensive against rebels in eastern Damascus came at a time when Alaedin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, arrived in Damascus for talks with top officials over the recent developments in Syria.
