Syrian helicopter crashes under fire in Damascus

A Syrian military helicopter crashed in flames under rebel fire in Damascus on Monday, and a government warplane fired rockets at targets on the capital's outskirts for what rebels said was the first time. The focus of fighting appears to have returned to the outskirts of capital after weeks of battles centred on the northern city of Aleppo.
Opposition activists said at least 62 people had been killed in the assault on suburbs of Damascus on Monday, some summarily executed, a day after they accused Assad's troops and sectarian militia of massacring hundreds of people in the neighbouring town of Daraya.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Daraya killings as "an appalling and brutal crime" that should be independently investigated immediately.
State television confirmed a helicopter had crashed in Damascus but gave no details. Opposition activists said rebels had shot it down; opposition video footage showed a crippled aircraft burning up and crashing into a built-up area, sending up a pillar of oily black smoke.
The possible shooting down of the helicopter, the latest of several such successes claimed by lightly-armed rebel fighters, bolstered morale in their 17-month struggle battle to bring down Assad. However, even more intense army bombardments followed the helicopter crash, witnesses said.
"It was flying over the eastern part of the city and firing all morning," an activist calling himself Abu Bakr told Reuters from near where the helicopter came down in the eastern suburbs. "The rebels had been trying to hit it for about an hour," he said. "Finally they did." Video footage carried the sound of people celebrating the helicopter's dive with shouts of "Allahu akbar" (God is great).
Although rebel commanders have asked foreign governments for anti-aircraft missiles, Western nations are unwilling to supply such weapons for fear of them falling into hostile hands. There was no indication fighters in Damascus had used any missiles. Later footage showed a fighter jet swooping on a built-up area. An explosion is heard and a voice says: "It is firing rockets." Activists said it had struck targets on the eastern outskirts of the capital.