The Guardian reports: Insurgents in Syria have launched the most brazen attack yet on the seat of power in the capital Damascus, targeting the offices of the ruling Ba’ath party.

In an attack that tilted the country closer to all-out civil war, insurgents fired two rocket-propelled grenades at the building. The Free Syrian Army, a collection of defectors fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, claimed it had carried out the attack.

Although the grenades appeared to have done little damage, they were a symbolic blow against Assad’s embattled regime – and appeared to demonstrate a new tactical capacity on the part of anti-government forces. It was the second strike on a major target in a week. It followed a bloody Free Syrian Army assault three days ago on an air force intelligence complex in a Damascus suburb.