Syrian Pro-Government Television Station Attacked BEIRUT, Lebanon - A day after President Bashar al-Assad said Syria was living in a "state of war," rebels probing with increasing audacity around the capital Damascus were reported by the country's official media on Wednesday to have stormed into a pro-government television station, killed three employees and planted explosives that destroyed studios. The latest attack came within hours of a surprise assault by Syrian insurgents on a Republican Guard base in Damascus, just a few miles from the presidential palace, on Tuesday, eliciting a furious military response, with government forces shelling surrounding neighborhoods in an escalation that brought combat in the Syrian conflict close to the heart of the capital. Early on Wednesday, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported that attackers at the al-Ikhbaria satellite broadcaster "planted explosive devices in the headquarters of al-Ikhbaria following their ransacking and destroying of the satellite channel studios, including the newsroom studio which was entirely destroyed." The news agency referred to the assailants as terrorists - the usual official language to denote armed opponents Mr. Assad's government. The station, privately-owned but strongly supportive of the government, is in the town of Drousha, around 14 miles south of Damascus, Reuters said, quoting an unidentified employee at the station as broadly confirming the SANA account. The assault reflected the information war between Mr. Assad's government and its adversaries. SANA described the satellite channel as "an active Syrian media means" to combat what it called "a sinister campaign" by Arab and Western media to "spread false, virtual and biased news." Western reporters are not generally given free access to cover the Syrian conflict and the government's opponents have proven adept at offering their narrative of the 16-month uprising through video clips showing the fighting between government and opposition and its bloody aftermath. On its Web site, SANA showed photographs of what it said were wrecked studios at al-Ikhbaria and quoted Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi as saying the attackers perpetrated "the worst massacre against journalism and the freedom of media when they executed the Syria media figures in cold blood." In the earlier fighting on Tuesday, antigovernment activists estimated that at least 33 people were killed in the artillery barrages on the Damascus suburb of Qudssaya aimed at the Free Syrian Army insurgents, less than three miles northwest of President Assad's official residence, and on Barzeh in northern Damascus, about three miles northeast. Mr. Assad, in remarks to his cabinet reported by the official SANA news agency, did not explicitly acknowledge the proximity of the fighting, but said "we live in a state of war." As such, he said, "all our policies, directives and all sectors will be directed in order to gain victory in this war." Previously, he had characterized the 16-month-old uprising as a crime wave by foreign-backed terrorists. In an apparently unrelated development, a Syrian Air Force lieutenant general was kidnapped by armed men from his home in Damascus, according to Syrian State Television, who identified him as Lt. Gen. Farage Shihada al-Maqat. He was abducted in the Adawi neighborhood of Damascus, an exclusive area where dignitaries and Russian advisers live. If the report is true, General Maqat would be the highest-ranking officer to be kidnapped or killed since the uprising began. The developments came as the United Nations Security Council met in attempts to devise a new strategy on Syria, where diplomacy has repeatedly failed, and as Turkey, a supporter of the Free Syrian Army and other groups fighting to overthrow Mr. Assad, issued a new warning to Syria after the disputed downing of a Turkish warplane by Syria last Friday. Bolstered by unanimous support from Turkey's NATO allies, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Syrian forces should avoid their shared border. The assault in Damascus on the Republican Guard base began on Monday night and was intended as only a probing attack, according to a lieutenant of the Free Syrian Army whose unit carried it out and who was interviewed by Skype. Only 20 fighters with light weapons were involved, he said. Dalal Mawad contributed reporting from Beirut; an employee of The New York Times from Damascus, Syria; Alan Cowell from London; and Rick Gladstone from New York.