Agence France Presse reported Thursday that Syrian government warplanes attacked a town southeast of the capital in its attempt to recapture the strategic rebel-held area.
AFP's sources reported that 23 raids have been conducted on the town of Mleiha, and that at least nine surface-to-surface missiles were launched from the government's ground forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Hezbollah soldiers from Lebanon supported the regime offensive against the rebels as well as the Al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front.
Damascus has been trying to reclaim Mleiha since late spring this year, due to its strategic location near a road that links to the rebel stronghold region of Eastern Ghouta.
The rebel-held neighborhood of Al Hajar Al Aswad in southern part of the capital also reported Thursday that water supplies have been cut off for almost two weeks by the regime.
"People are suffering from inflammations and digestive system diseases because they are drinking dirty water from wells," activist Rami Al Sayed told AFP. "Some 20,000 people live here, mostly women and children. The regime wants to pressure civilians [by cutting of the water supply] into forcing rebels to sign a truce with the army."
Rights group, including the UN, have accused both the regime and the rebels of using "illegal siege tacts" as a "weapon of war," according to the AFP report.
A car bomb was also reported in Homs Thursday leaving three dead and nine wounded, according to another AFP report.
Syrian state television reported the attack, saying that the Alawite neighborhood of Akrameh was targeted. The Observatory also reported the attack, but were unable to confirm the number of fatalities or who was responsible for the blast.
Thursday's attack represents the second of its kind within the past week.
Homs, one of the rebels' strongholds since the beginning of the conflict, fell to regime control just over a month ago.
