Attack on Syrian school kills 29 students BEIRUT, December 4 - A mortar struck a school in the Damascus suburbs on Tuesday, killing 29 students and a teacher, according to state media, as the civil war closed in on President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power. The state-run news agency Sana blamed the attack on terrorists, the term the regime uses for rebels who are fighting to topple the government. There were no immediate details on the ages of the students or their identities. The bloodshed comes as Syrian forces fired artillery at rebel targets in and around the capital, and the international community grew alarmed about the regime's chemical weapons stocks. Syrian rebels have made gains in recent weeks, overrunning military bases and bringing the fight to Damascus. Since Thursday, the capital has seen some of the heaviest fighting since July, with scores of people killed, forcing international flights to turn back and prompting the UN to withdraw most of its international staff. US intelligence has detected signs the regime has been moving chemical weapons components in recent days, according to officials. The activities involved movement within the sites rather than the transfer of components in or out of various sites, two of the US officials said, but this type of activity had not been detected before and was worth further scrutiny. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general, warned on Tuesday that "if anybody uses chemical weapons, I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community." His comments echoed a warning on Monday from Barack Obama, US president, that there would be consequences if Mr Assad made the "tragic mistake" of deploying chemical weapons. The UK-based opposition activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday's clashes between rebels and troops loyal to Mr Assad were taking place in the Beit Saham, Akraba and Yalda suburbs of Damascus, as well as near the international airport. The capital's suburbs, opposition strongholds since the uprising began in March 2011, have been the scene of heavy fighting following the start of an army offensive last week to regain lost territory around the capital. Government forces have repelled major rebel advances on the capital, though their hold may be slipping. A government shell attack on the Aleppo neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr killed 12 men, the observatory said. Amateur videos posted online showed dismembered bodies lying on the pavement in front of destroyed shops as people struggled to lift the wounded into vans and pick-up trucks. Nearby, dozens of men stood in what the unnamed cameraman said was a bread line. "We still see people standing in a long line despite a massacre to get bread," the cameraman says. The observatory also reported 13 dead in a separate attack in Aleppo's Halak neighbourhood and at least 17 unidentified bodies in the Damascus suburb of Thiyabiyeh. In an online video showing the dead lined up on a floor, many of their heads bloody, an off-camera voice says they were shot after being detained at government checkpoints. The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other reports on the incidents.