Syria general killed, mass voter turnout urged

General Hussein Isaac died of wounds suffered in fighting at Mleiha, a key battleground southeast of the capital, making him one of the few top-ranking officers whose deaths have been announced during Syria's three-year war.

The air defence forces' headquarters is located in Mleiha, a key flashpoint in fighting around the capital.

The air force has also been deployed in the regime's war against rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime brands the uprising a foreign-backed "terrorist" plot.

For more than a month, the army backed by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah has been battling to recapture Mleiha, a strategic rebel bastion under army siege and almost constant bombardment.

While the army is in firm control of Damascus, rebels hold a number of towns and villages on the outskirts, despite a suffocating blockade and frequent air strikes and shelling.

Syria's war began in March 2011 with protests demanding political change, before morphing into a bloody insurgency after Assad's regime unleashed a massive crackdown.

Despite the war, the regime is to stage a presidential election next month in the areas under its control.

The exiled opposition has dismissed the election as a "farce", while the United States has branded it a "parody of democracy".

"Whoever abstains from exercising his constitutional duty would be turning his back on his national obligation at a time when his nation is calling on him," parliament speaker Mohammed al-Lahham said Sunday.

Assad, running for a third seven-year term against two virtual unknowns, is expected to stroll to victory in the poll.

Lahham called for unspecified measures "to guarantee a climate of security and peace" during the vote.

While the army and air force pound rebel areas on a daily basis, rebel attacks on government-held areas, especially in Damascus and Aleppo, northern Syria, have been on the rise .

On Friday and Saturday, 18 people were killed in mortar attacks on government-held areas in Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Sunday, a pro-regime newspaper said a court has brought some 30,000 lawsuits for acts related to "terrorism" over the past two years.

Among those accused are around 300 citizens of other Arab countries, said Al-Watan.

Rights groups say tens of thousands of people in Syria are being arbitrarily held in jails where torture and ill-treatment are systematic.

Among those charged with crimes of "terrorism" is journalist Mazen Darwish.

Among cases before the anti-terror court were murder, financing "terrorism" and charges of giving such attacks publicity.

Scores of media activists opposed to the Assad regime have been killed or jailed over the course of the Syrian conflict.