Syria crisis: fighting continues but no sign of Assad Members of the Free Syrian Army chant slogans against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Azzaz, Aleppo. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters Fighting continued in the heart of the Syrian capital for a fifth day on Tuesday, but the whereabouts of the country's president Bashar al-Assad remained unclear a day after a bomber struck at the heart of his regime. Government forces fired heavy machine guns and mortar shells in a number of areas in Damascus, according to opposition groups, while residents were reported to be fleeing the Mezzeh neighbourhood after it was surrounded by troops. Assad has made no public statements since the deaths of Assef Shawkat, the architect of the crackdown, defence minister Daoud Rajha and military committee member Hassan Turkmani. Officials in Damascus said Assad was hard at work in his office. Activists and residents said he was in the family palace in Latakia - the coastal city in the Alawite heartland that serves as a power base of his Alawite sect, not his regime. There have been no calls for calm from Assad, no messages of reassurance to a country that is entering the unknown and whose confidence in the state has clearly been shaken by Wednesday's events. The 46-year-old leader may be wanting to project an image of business as usual. Clashes continued across Syria as rebel reinforcements tried to consolidate the significant gains they have made since launching their offensive on Sunday night. The Syrian armed forces chief of staff, Fahad Jassim al-Freij, was named as the new defence minister on Wednesday. "This cowardly terrorist act will not deter our men in the armed forces from continuing their sacred mission of pursuing the remnants of these armed terrorist criminal gangs," Freij said on state television, in a bid to douse fears of a power vacuum. They will cut off every hand that tries to hurt the security of the nation or its citizens. Fighting flared briefly on Wednesday within sight of the presidential palace in Damascus. Elsewhere, rebel forces continued to hold ground near the city centre that they had seized. Activists and Free Syria Army commanders are continuing to report a sharp increase in defections in the wake of Wednesday's bombing, but there is nothing yet to indicate that the overall command structure of the Syrian military has been weakened. Rebel fighters have called their assault on the capital the liberation of Damascus and claim they are readying for a final push on regime power bases that earlier this week seemed impregnable. Residents reported shelling in some neighbourhoods on Wednesday night and said combat helicopters had hovered above until dawn. There were also widespread reports that Azzaz on the outskirts of Syria's second city, Aleppo, had fallen during a rebel assault, which lasted until Thursday. Footage posted on Youtube showed fighters of the Free Syrian Army posing alongside the wreckage of several tanks in Azzaz. Elsewhere, regime artillery units continued to pound areas of the third and fourth cities, Homs and Hama. The rebel assault had been timed to coincide with the lead up to Ramadan, which starts on Friday. The regime counter-offensive also appears to be intensifying ahead of the month-long fast, which is traditionally a time for piety and reflection - and potentially a lull in fighting. Jordan's King Abdullah, suggested this year may be different. "The realities on the ground may have overtaken us," he told CNN. Therefore I think the clock is ticking and we have ... reached the point where the political option is too late.