On Sunday, Syria’s official SANA news agency quoted a source at Damascus Police Command as saying the mortar shells have hit residential areas and a number of schools in several neighborhoods of Jaramana city which is located in Damascus suburbs.

The foreign-backed militants operating in Syria have been conducting mortar attacks with increasing frequency in recent weeks.

On January 1, seven mortar shells fired by the militants slammed into residential areas in the al-Qasa’a neighborhood of the capital, leaving two people dead.

On December 31, 2013, three people died and several others were injured in a similar assault carried out at the al-Mahatta neighborhood of Damascus.

The flashpoint city of Aleppo in northwestern Syria has also been hit by mortar attacks over the past weeks. The latest such assault was carried out by armed groups on December 26, when mortar shells landed in several residential areas of the city, killing at least five people.

Syria sank into war in March 2011 when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

SHI/SHI