Sunni rebels, Shi'ite militia clash near Damascus shrine

AMMAN (Reuters) - Fighting flared on Thursday between Syrian Sunni rebels and foreign militias near a main Shi'ite shrine on the southern edge of Damascus, opposition activists said, in an increasingly internationalized conflict deepening Middle East sectarian faultlines.

Heavy clashes were reported as rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, attacked Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shi'ite militia based in the Saida Zainab suburb of Damascus with mortar bombs and automatic weapons, the sources said.