Mortar shells wound 24 people near Syria’s Damascus

Twenty-four people, including women and children, have been wounded in mortar attacks carried out by foreign-backed militants in Syria.

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 has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. According to the United Nations, more than four million Syrians will be forced out of their homes in 2014 by the escalating conflict that has already displaced millions.