Fierce fighting near Damascus, at Turkish border; Russians evacuated DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Syrian warplanes and tanks targeted rebel strongholds around Damascus as the first batch of Russian nationals was evacuated from Syria, officials said. Fighter jets struck Douma, northeast of Damascus, and tanks shelled Darya and Moadamiyat al-Sham, southwest of the capital, as well as Yalda and Beit Sahem, south of Damascus, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday. Fighting continued in the predominantly Kurdish city of Ras al-Ein near the Turkish border, the human rights group said, noting so far some 56 people have been killed in six days of fighting in the border town. Some 178 people were reported killed across Syria Monday in fierce fighting that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since March 2011. Thirty people said to be loyal to President Bashar Assad were among those killed in a suicide car bombing near a carpet factory in eastern Hama, CNN said. In Beirut, the first batch of Russians who fled Syria prepared to board planes home. Irina Rossius of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said the country would send two planes to evacuate its nationals. Reports from Russia said some 50 people traveling in three buses, accompanied by Russian diplomats crossed the border into Lebanon. The move is the latest sign the Kremlin may be preparing for the collapse of the Assad government, the Los Angeles Times said. The newspaper said more than 100 evacuees, mainly women and children, are expected to board the planes. The newspaper said the number of people to be evacuated is just a fraction of the thousands of Russian nationals in Syria. It said one Russian observer said the arrival of the planes might be a precursor to a large-scale evacuation. Russia has already disclosed contingency plans for a massive naval evacuation of thousands of its nationals, the Times said. A report published by The Syrian Network for Human Rights accused Syrian government forces of abducting women whose relatives are anti-government activists or members of the Free Syrian Army. The group said it has documented the killing of 17 women of 6,405 who have been detained. The women are interred in concentration camps and some "disappear," the report said. Access to them is prevented and many are tortured, the report alleged.