DAMASCUS — Twin suicide bombers targeted a police station in the center of Damascus Tuesday, killing 14 people, as regime forces aggressively pressed ahead with an offensive on rebel strongholds elsewhere in the country.
The rush hour blasts, which caused extensive damage to cars and storefronts, demonstrated the ability of insurgents to strike deep in the heart of President Bashar Assad’s regime despite a series of recent setbacks on the battlefield.
The bombings, which occurred in central Marjeh Square near the Interior Ministry, were the first such attacks to target the capital since regime forces, backed by fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah group, chased rebels from the strategic town of Qusair nearly a week ago.
Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said the attacks were a result of ‘‘the bankruptcy of the terrorist groups and those behind them because of the exceptional victories of our heroic armed forces all over Syria.’’
Halqi said Qusair’s fall has rattled the enemies of Syria and pledged that the army would soon restore security and stability to the entire nation. The regime refers to the rebels as ‘‘terrorists.’’
Building on its victory in Qusair, the Syrian military has shifted its attention to try to clear rebel-held areas in the central Homs Province, a linchpin area linking Damascus with regime strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and the northern city of Aleppo.
On Tuesday, activists reported intensified clashes in Homs and its suburbs as the army closed in on besieged, rebel-held neighborhoods of the provincial capital.
The push by Assad’s forces has raised alarms in Washington and added a sense of urgency to calls for the international community to arm the rebels. US officials said President Obama and his senior national security staff plan to meet Wednesday to weigh options for providing assistance to the rebel fighters, and a decision could happen later this week.
Meanwhile, retribution against Hezbollah for helping the Syrian government fight rebels intensified Tuesday, as the US Treasury blacklisted four fund-raising operatives and warned of further steps to choke financing for the group.
The action against the operatives, who the Treasury Department said were based in West Africa, bans them from any dealings with Americans and freezes any assets they may have under US jurisdiction. While the financial impact on Hezbollah was unclear, the department said the move reflected “the alarming reach of Hezbollah activities and its determination to create a worldwide funding and recruitment network to support its violence and criminal enterprises around the world.”
There was no responsibility claim for Tuesday’s blasts, but past suicide attacks and strikes on security installations have been claimed by the Al Qaeda- linked Jabhat al-Nusra group. The style of attacks also is a tactic commonly used by Al Qaeda and other Sunni extremists.
The high-profile presence and growing role of the Nusra Front and other extremists and jihadi groups in Syria is one reason why the West is reluctant to provide the rebels in Syria with lethal weapons.
While nothing has been concretely decided, US officials said Obama is leaning closer toward signing off on sending weapons to vetted, moderate rebel units.
Syria’s precarious position in the heart of the Middle East makes the conflict that has already killed 80,000 people extremely unpredictable.
The fighting also has increasingly taken on sectarian undertones as Assad enjoys support from many in his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, while the rebels are mainly Sunnis.
Material from The New York Times was used in this report.