A building in flames in Damascus.<br/> <br />Amateur video out of Syria which could not be independently verified by Reuters shows residents battling a fire after the building purportedly came under fire by government forces.<br/> <br />This comes a day after the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels killed 21 elite Republican guards in in ambush in a Damascus suburb.<br/> <br />In the northern Syrian city of Aleppo gunbattles rage.<br/> <br />Last week rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad announced a new offensive Syria's largest city.<br/> <br />But so far neither side appears to have made significant gains.<br/> <br />Activist say some 30,000 people have been killed across Syria since the uprising began last March in a conflict with growing sectarian overtones which threatens to draw in regional Sunni Muslim and Shi'ite powers.
