SYRIA GEN. KILLED, MASS VOTE URGED

Damascus, May 18: Syrian authorities on Sunday announced the death in combat of a general near Damascus, while urging a mass turnout in the June 3 presidential election branded a “farce” by the Opposition.

General Hussein Isaac died of wounds suffered in fighting at Mleiha, a key battleground southeast of the capital, making him one of the few top- ranking officers whose deaths have been announced during Syria’s three- year war.

The air defence forces’ headquarters is located in Mleiha, a key flashpoint in fighting around the capital. The Air Force has also been deployed in the regime’s war against rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al- Assad, whose regime brands the uprising a foreign- backed “terrorist” plot. For more than a month, the Army backed by Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah has been battling to recapture Mleiha, a strategic rebel bastion under Army siege and almost constant bombardment.

While the Army is in firm control of Damascus, rebels hold a number of towns and villages on the outskirts, despite a suffocating blockade and frequent air strikes and shelling.

Syria’s war began in March 2011 with protests demanding political change, before morphing into a bloody insurgency after Mr Assad’s regime unleashed a massive crackdown. Despite the war, the regime is to stage a presidential election in June in the areas under its control.