BRUSSELS — A European Union staff member has been killed in a rocket attack near Damascus, the Syrian capital, the EU announced Wednesday. Ahmad Shihadeh, a policy officer with the EU delegation in Syria, was killed Tuesday in the Damascus suburb of Deraya, where he lived, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Wednesday. A spokesman for Ashton said Shihadeh was Syrian, 32 years old, and had worked for the EU for five years. It was the first death in the Syrian civil war of an EU employee. Shihadeh “died while providing humanitarian help to the community of Deraya,” Ashton said. “Ahmad was known for his courage and selflessness.” Both Ashton and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, extended condolences to Shihadeh's family and friends. The Commission is the EU's executive arm. Ashton took the occasion to call for an end to the conflict. “As we approach the second anniversary of the uprising in Syria, I call again on all sides to take urgent steps to end the violence, which has led to the deaths of some 100,000 innocent citizens and over one million refugees seeking shelter in neighboring countries,” she said. Meanwhile, Syrian government troops fought fierce battles with rebels for control of key neighborhoods in the north of Damascus, residents and activists said. Opposition fighters trying to topple Assad have been trying to take Damascus for weeks, battering regime checkpoints and military bases in the heavily fortified capital. They have also fired mortars into residential districts and into the capital's main football stadium, sowing fear among residents. Both sides see Damascus as the ultimate prize in the civil war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday's clashes were concentrated in the capital's neighborhoods of Jobar and Barzeh. A resident in the area said shelling overnight “shook apartments” and terrified the inhabitants. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was afraid for his safety. Clashes subsided by early Wednesday but sporadic gunfire could still be heard in the contested districts. A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Khan Sheih neighborhood, west of Damascus, the Observatory said. The Britain-based activist group also said fierce clashes broke out after the blast but had no immediate reports of casualties. Fighting also raged in other Syrian cities, including in Homs, where the regime pounded rebel positions with artillery and carried out several airstrikes on the Baba Amr district, a former rebel stronghold which the opposition has tried to recapture in the past days. — Agencies
