An armed group blasted Sunday a military overnight bus in a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus, leaving many killed and injured, the private Addounia TV reported.

The report said that the blast took place in the Damascus suburb of Saihnaya, but no official confirmation is immediately available on the exact number of casualties.

A day earlier, at least seven army personnel, including a lieutenant, were killed when an armed group showered their overnight bus with bullets on the road between the Adra and Douma suburbs of Damascus.

Some Syrian provinces, including Homs, Hama, Idlib, and the suburbs of Damascus, have witnessed severe clashes between government troops and militia groups, allegedly comprising of Syrian army defectors. The daily grind of violence has stocked fears that the country might be sliding towards a civil war.

The head of the so-called Syrian Free Army, a group of alleged defectors who were given refuge in Turkey, has recently pledged to carry out wide-scale attacks against army bases across Syria.

The Syrian forces have over the past days stepped up their crackdown on violence in restive areas in central Syria and the Damascus suburbs, showing that the government's patience is running thin and addressing an unambiguous message that it has decided to settle down the situation once and for all and end the spiraling violence it has blamed on armed groups, which attempt to mess with the country's security and stability.

The escalation of violence came after the recent Arab League ( AL)'s decision to turn to the UN Security Council to gain momentum for its new plan calling for the formation of a national unity government in Syria that combines Syrian opposition figures and providing that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down.

The plan was categorically rejected by Damascus, which said it is a flagrant interference in the country's internal affairs.

Moreover, on Saturday, the AL decided to suspend its observer mission in Syria due to the deteriorating situation on ground and the continuous use of violence. In a statement, the AL said that the Syrian government escalated the violence, which was in complete contradiction to the new Arab initiative and the observers' protocol.