LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The tanks were deployed at the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk. The nearby districts of Tadamun and Assali were also assailed, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Yarmouk and Tadamun were the scenes of battles between the army and rebels this week.

Ferocious battles and army shelling in and around Damascus have killed at least 41 people, chiefly civilians, as warplanes launch more air raids on a town on the Turkish border.

"Several army units are fighting with armed terrorist groups near the Othman mosque in the [Damascus] neighborhood of Tadamun," Syrian state television reported.

In the town of Ain al-Fijeh, west of the capital, a car bomb exploded, "injuring a number of people and causing widespread material damage," state media reported.

Fighting in the Eastern Ghuta area, east of Damascus, cost the lives of at least 10 soldiers and a rebel.

The deadly government forces also advanced in tanks to shell several towns east of the capital, including Harasta, Zabadani and Irbin, killing at least seven civilians including an unknown number of women and children.

The army also shelled rebel positions in the southern province of Deraa, in the central province of Homs, in Idlib in the northwest and in the northern city of Aleppo.

The group also reported fresh air raids on Ras al-Ain, in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, and said 1,000 government troops had been sent to the town.

With the increased fighting come waves of displaced civilians seeking safety. Air strikes have sent refugees pouring into Turkey, adding to the 9,000 refugees who fled late last week when rebels overran the town.

The latest refugee movements into Turkey have been some of the largest since the conflict began.

At least 63 people were killed Tuesday across Syria. There were a reported 29 civilians, 11 soldiers and 23 rebels killed in clashes.

Among those killed was Abdel Razzaq al-Yusef, a transport official assassinated by unidentified armed men in the northwestern province of Idlib, said the Observatory.

The watchdog has given an overall death toll of more than 37,000 since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011.

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