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ber of neighborhoods in and around the capital Damascus a day after a bomb killed three members of President Bashar Assad's inner circle.
• The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported shelling in number of areas Thursday. It says residents are fleeing parts of the Mezzeh neighborhood after troops surrounded it and clashed with local rebels.
• The group says rebels damaged one helicopter and disabled three military vehicles.
• Wednesday's bombing targeted a high-level crisis meeting, killing the defense minister, his deputy, who is Assad's brother-in-law, and a former defense minister. Other officials were wounded.
• The whereabouts of Assad, his wife and his three young children remain unknown.
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• UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council scheduled a vote Thursday on a new Syria resolution after a last-minute delay failed to get key Western nations and Russia to agree on measures to end the dramatically escalating violence -- but both sides remained deeply divided.
• Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said his country's Western-backed text would be put to a vote at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Thursday. It threatens non-military sanctions against President Bashar Assad's government if he doesn't withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas within 10 days and is tied to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which could eventually allow the use of force to end the conflict.
• Russia, which is a close Syrian ally, has said it will veto any Chapter 7 resolution.
• In Moscow on Wednesday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed to Wednesday's deadly bombing in the heart of Damascus that killed the defense minister and his deputy, Assad's powerful brother-in-law, and accused the West of inciting the Syrian opposition.
• Russia is vehemently opposed to sanctions and any mention of Chapter 7 and Lavrov argued that the British text amounted to support for the rebels and would lead to more bloodshed.
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