Attacks on the Syrian city of Damascus have been renewed as tanks and Syrian government forces have been battering the neighborhoods as rebels return to the city.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told reporters on Wednesday that at least 23 anti-government fighters were among the dozens killed today outside the city of Damascus.

The city of Moadamiyeh, on the outskirts of Damascus was overrun by Syrian forces. According to the Observatory, many of the dead in that city were taking part in a funeral procession. Others seemed to have been shot dead execution style after the forces took control of the city.

Fighting also broke outside the country of Syria. Skirmishes between Alawites and Sunnis in the northern region of Lebanon have begun to take place and there are reports of at least 100 wounded in those outbreaks between neighborhoods.

Syrian refugees continue to pour over the boarder into the neighboring countries of Lebanon and Turkey. Turkey reports as many as 2,500 have transited the border into their country in the last 24 hours.

President Obama warned Syrian on Monday that use of chemical weapons would represent a “red line” that would radically change the handling of the situation by the United States. Qadri Jamil, Deputy Prime Minister to Syrian President Assad dismissed the statement by Obama as election propaganda.

During his visit to Moscow, Jamil stated that the west is just looking for an excuse to intervene militarily in his country.