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BEIRUT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Syrian armed forces killed dozens of "terrorists" on Wednesday near the Damascus suburb of Daraya, state media said, an area where activists have reported air strikes on rebels and two days of heavy fighting.
"Units of our noble armed forces killed dozens of terrorists ... in the orchards of eastern Daraya in rural Damascus and liberated dozens of citizens, most of them women and children who had been held by the terrorists as human shields," the official SANA news agency said.
Syrian state authorities refer to insurgents involved in a 20-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists".
Anti-Assad activists say rebels have been battling elite Republican Guard units around Daraya, a major opposition centre in the revolt, and that MiG fighter jets strafed the district on Wednesday.
(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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