The early morning explosions sparked a fire in the Syrian capital.
Twin blasts hit near the headquarters of the army general staff in the heart of Damascus early on Wednesday, state television said, without giving any immediate word on any casualties.
The early morning explosions sparked a fire in the Syrian capital s closely guarded Umayyad Square administrative district, the television said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the twin blasts struck just 15 minutes apart only a few hundred yards (metres) from the staff headquarters.
"Huge columns of smoke were seen billowing over the area and windows were shattered hundreds of metres (yards) away," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP, citing activists on the ground.
The Britain-based watchdog said automatic weapons fire was heard after the blasts as clashes erupted with security forces.
