Rebels kill top military leader in Damascus Suburb

 Top Republican Guards General has been killed in Moadamiyet al-Sham, local activists said.

Brigadier Mazhar Ali Suleiman, Head the military campaign on the besieged Suburb was  a valuable target for Free Syrian Army fighters, activists said.

Pro-Assad social media mourned the "Patriotic' Leader, who was born in Tarous, Syrian Coast from an Alawite family.  

The U.N.’s  humanitarian chief called for a cessation of hostilities in a Damascus suburb besieged for months by the Syrian army, so that food and vital medical aid can be delivered, Agence France-Presse reported.

Some 3,000 people were evacuated from the area of Moadamiyet al-Sham last week, however, the U.N.’s Valerie Amos says that “the same number or more remain trapped.”

She noted that continued shelling and fighting hinder aid workers from reaching the suburb, southwest of the main city.

“I call on all parties to agree an immediate pause in hostilities in Moadamiyet to allow humanitarian agencies unhindered access to evacuate the remaining civilians and deliver life-saving treatment and supplies,” Amos said.

Moadamiyet al-Sham is largely controlled by rebels seeking the overthrow of the government, although pockets remain under the control of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, reported AFP.

The opposition accuses the army of creating a situation in which residents are starving to death due to the latter’s almost daily bombing and siege of the area.

The government accuses the opposition of holding residents of the district hostage.

At the end of August, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based NGO, reported two children aged three and seven had died from a disease related to malnutrition.