Bombs planted by opposition forces have exploded at a school building occupied by security forces and pro-government militias in Damascus, in yet another strike near the center of President Bashar al-Assad's power.

The school's director told state television that seven people were wounded in Tuesday's attack in a southeastern district of the Syrian capital.

"At exactly 9:35am, seven improvised devices were set off in two explosions to target a school used for weekly planning meetings between shabbiha militia and security officers," said Abu Moaz, a leader of Ansar al-Islam, one of the opposition groups.

Residents and activists said smoke could be seen rising from the site and that ambulances were rushing to the scene.

They suspected the attack had targeted high-ranking military officers.

A similar assassination attempt in July killed Assad's defense minister and brother-in-law.

While the 18-month conflict continued in Damascus, it also spilled over the border into Israeli territory for the first time.

Israel's military said Syrian forces fired mortar shells at villages suspected to be occupied by opposition forces but accidentally hit Israeli-held land in the disputed Golan Heights, causing no injuries or damage.

A spokesman said the Israeli military filed a complaint with UN forces responsible for monitoring the border area and that "fire from Syria leaking into Israel will not be accepted".

A source in the area told the Reuters news agency that the orchard where the shells fell belonged to an Israeli agricultural community which lies close to Syrian villages where fighting has flared between Syrian opposition forces and forces loyal to Assad.

The incidents came as the UN convened for its annual General Assembly in New York City, where Lakhdar Brahimi, the new UN-Arab League envoy, briefed the Security Council and reportedly told representatives that Assad was "not serious about making reforms".

Growing food crisis

As the weather in Syria grows colder, food will become scarcer and proper shelter more important for Syria's millions of internally displaced people.

Envoys said Brahimi told the Security Council that the country faces a growing food crisis.

He also told the 15-nation Security Council that the Syrian government estimates there are 5,000 foreign fighters in the country and is increasingly portraying the conflict as a "foreign conspiracy," delegates at the closed meeting said.

According to a diplomat in the room, Brahimi gave a very downbeat assessment of the situation, saying that the situation has gone from bad to worse.

It is the first time Brahimi has briefed the Security Council since he took the job a month ago.

He told the council that the torture of detainees has become "routine" and that people were now afraid to go to hospitals which were in the hands of government forces.

PHOTO CAPTION

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows Syrian firefighters extinguishing a fire in a damaged school after a bomb attack in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012.

Aljazeera