Explosions in Damascus

An office belonging to Syria's ruling Baath party was attacked by at least two rocket-propelled grenades in the Syrian capital on Sunday, witnesses reported.

According to a key Syrian opposition group, The Local Coordination Committees activist network, several explosions were heard in the district of Mazraa in central Damascus. There was no immediate confirmation of the report, which would mark the first significant attack on a government building in relatively quiet Syrian capital.

"The attack was just before dawn and the building was mostly empty. It seems to have been intended as a message to the regime," a witness told Reuters. Other anonymous witnesses told the Associated Press the buildings appeared intact Sunday morning.

The Syrian Free Army, a group of army defectors based in Turkey, reportedly took responsibility for the attack, but their claim is yet to be corroborated. If confirmed, it would be the first insurgent attack reported inside the capital since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began eight months ago.

The government denied reports of the attack and showed footage of the building on state television, saying the images were live. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, in a lengthy television address, described reports of the attack as "absolutely baseless." He also criticized the Arab League, which recently suspended Syria due to the unrest, for its demands to allow observers into the country.

The foreign minister said the observers' mission included "impossible conditions" and gave the observers so much authority that it would violate Syrian sovereignty - though he denied that the government wanted to limit their movement.

Regime defiant

Just hours earlier, a deadline for the Syrian regime to end its crackdown against pro-democracy protesters elapsed with no sign of violence abating. The Arab League threatened sanctions against Syria unless it complied with a peace plan involving a military pullout from restive areas.

But in an interview published in The Sunday Times newspaper, Assad remained defiant. The president told the London-based paper he was ready to fight and die for Syria should foreign forces intervene.

"The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue," he said. "I assure you that Syria will not bow down and that it will continue to resist the pressure being imposed on it.

"Military intervention will destabilize the region as a whole, and all countries will be affected," he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed 14 people were killed by government forces on Saturday. Dozens of others reportedly died in clashes on Friday. The UN estimates that more than 3,500 people have been killed since protests began in mid-March.

Author: Mark Hallam, Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Editor: Martin Kuebler