Syria: refugee camp attacked

(Vatican Radio) A Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus has been attacked, reportedly by war planes. The number of people killed or injured remains unclear, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least eight deaths. The al-Yarmouk camp houses Palestinians and also Syrians displaced by fighting. Opposition activists say those killed had been sheltering in a mosque as heavy fighting raged nearby. The observatory said the attack was the sixth on Sunday on districts of southern Damascus where rebels have been battling government forces. Violence has been increasing in and around the capital in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Alaeddin al-Sabbagh, former head of public relations in the Syrian intelligence, announced his defection while speaking on an Arabic news station. He said he had been in touch with rebels for some time and that they knew he was serving the revolution while he was in office. He called Assad's regime a "clinically dead" one. Listen to this report from regional correspondent Nathan Morley: