As explosions echo across the Damascus province in Syria, the death toll climbs with the billowing smoke.
New amateur video appears to show more destruction in the country's three-year-old conflict.
The fighting comes as the main opposition Syrian National Coalition reaches new heights on the diplomatic front with the U.S.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf:
(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN MARIE HARF SAYING:
"First, we are strengthening our ties with the Syrian opposition. We are happy to announce that the Coalition's representative offices in the United States are now foreign missions under the Foreign Missions Act. Second, we are working with the United States Congress to provide more than $27 million in new non-lethal assistance, bringing the total non-lethal support we have committed and are providing for the Syrian opposition to nearly $287 million. Third, we are stepping up deliveries of non-lethal assistance to commander