Report: Syrian army kills 175 rebels in ambush

Syrian army troops killed 175 rebel fighters in an ambush Wednesday south of Damascus, state media reported. The attack purportedly targeted Al-Qaeda-linked fighters as part of a government effort to secure the capital from rebel groups attempting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The dawn attack by Assad's forces in the opposition-held area of eastern Ghouta will likely push rebel groups further away from the capital. Damascus’ suburbs have been strongholds of the opposition since March 2011, when the revolt against Assad’s regime began.

If confirmed, the attack would be one of the deadliest known assaults by government forces against rebels in the area.

A field commander in Ghouta told Syrian state news agency SANA that most of the rebels killed in the assault were members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front rebel group. The report said several of those killed were foreign fighters who came to Syria from Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Qatar.

SANA said the army's operation dealt "a smashing blow to terrorists," a term Syrian state media uses for rebel fighters.

SANA posted several photographs on its website showing dozens of bodies of men lying in a dirt track of an open field, some wearing fatigues, but most wearing civilian clothes. Some appeared to have been carrying bags of clothes and bottles of water, which were scattered on the ground, suggesting they were moving locations when ambushed.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the killings, but said only 70 rebels had died during Wednesday’s assault.

The Observatory, which has documented Syria's nearly 3-year-old conflict by relying on activists' reports on the ground, says the number of those killed likely will rise because 89 rebels have been reported missing.

In a live broadcast from the area, Lebanon-based television station Al-Mayadeen also showed dozens of bodies scattered along an unpaved road.

An army colonel told Al-Mayadeen that his troops acted on intelligence and the rebels lost "more than 150 men" in the assault. Syrian army tanks and armored personnel carriers were seen in the broadcast as were soldiers patrolling on foot.

The conflict in Syria started as largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule in March 2011. It has since spiraled into a deadly civil war that has taken increasingly sectarian overtones, pitting mostly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's government, which is dominated by Alawites, a sect in Shia Islam.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press