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Seven soldiers, including a colonel, were killed on Monday as an armed group ambushed a military bus in Daraa province in southern Syria, the private Sham FM reported. The attack came after at least six army men were killed on Sunday in an ambush in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, and another seven were killed on Saturday when anarmed group showered their bus with bullets in the countryside of Damascus. Syria is witnessing a wide-scale military operation against armed men allegedly comprised of army defectors. The head of the so-called Syrian Free Army, a group of alleged defectors who were given refuge in Turkey, has recently pledged to step up attacks against army bases across Syria. Damascus said some 2,000 army and security personnel have been killed since the country's unrest began in March. Meanwhile, Syria's al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday that the Syrian army was launching a "surgery operation" in Damascus' suburbs as rumors that Damascus was about to fall in the hands of the so-called Syrian Free army were sweeping TV channels. Some Arab TV channels said on Sunday that the Syrian Free Army was 8 km from the capital Damascus and battles were raging at the Damascus International Airport, while some reports claimed that gunfire was heard all over Damascus. Al-Watan said the rumors were nourished due to the government's silence over the Syrian army's movements "in order to preserve the safety and security of the armed forces that are precisely fighting a battle in Damascus' surroundings to cleanse it from armed groups that have been heavily deployed in villages and towns". | 
