Syrian Government Attacks Rebels and Criticizes European Action Syrian warplanes bombed Damascus suburbs and rebel-held areas in the north on Wednesday as the government condemned the European Union for endorsing a newly formed opposition coalition. The raids struck several eastern suburbs of the capital and the city of Maaret al-Numan, a supply route linking Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo, in the north, activist groups said. The state-run news agency SANA said the army continued its pursuit of terrorists, as the government calls rebel fighters, in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, inflicting casualties. In a front-page editorial in the state-run newspaper Thawra, the government criticized the European Union for recognizing the new Syrian opposition coalition as a legitimate voice of the Syrian people. It described the coalition as a "deformed" newborn baby, adding that all possible "cosmetic surgery does not bode well for the evolution of this monster." Turkey asked NATO on Wednesday to deploy Patriot surface-to-air missiles along its border with Syria to bolster its defenses and prevent a spillover of the war, NATO officials said. NATO does not want to be drawn into the conflict, but said it would consider deploying missiles purely to protect Turkey, a member country.