BEIRUT — Syrian government forces launched a counter-attack against rebels in Damascus on Tuesday, following a rebel suicide car bombing and another insurgent assault earlier in the day in the country’s capital, media reports said.

It was the second attempt by rebels in three days to penetrate Damascus’ defenses.

Rebels have been trying for years to break into the heart of Damascus, at times in conjunction with al-Qaida-linked militants. Al-Qaida-affiliated suicide bombers have been targeting government security installations since the early days of the conflict.

Early on Tuesday, Syrian rebels detonated a car bomb in an eastern neighborhood of Damascus and launched a renewed attack from the city’s opposition-held Jobar neighborhood, according to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. There were no immediate reports on casualty numbers in those attacks.