BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and their allies clashed with rebels near Damascus on Friday, and used helicopter gunships in raids in the area in the latest violence to disrupt a nationwide ceasefire that otherwise appeared to hold, monitors said.

The clashes took place in a rebel-held valley northwest of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A rebel official also reported clashes in the area, where the Syrian army began an offensive last week to recapture the area which provides most of Damascus’s water supplies.