Video: Syria: Soldiers fire at rebels in Damascus after bombing Syrian state-run TV said the blast came during a meeting of Cabinet ministers and senior security officials in Damascus, where four straight days of clashes pitting government troops against rebels have sent tensions soaring. The state-run news agency Sana said soldiers were chasing rebels in the Midan neighbourhood, causing "great losses among them." Defence Minister Dawoud Rajha, 65, a former army general, was the most senior government official to be killed in the conflict in Syria as rebels battle to oust President Assad. General Assef Shawkat, the deputy defence minister and one of the most feared figures in Assad's inner circle, was also killed.