Syrian regime approaching collapse, NATO chief says
December 14, 2012 -- Updated 0154 GMT (0954 HKT)
Is Syria using Scud missiles?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Rights group urges rebels to abide by international accords amid report of "horrible abuses"
- Collapse of Syrian regime appears inevitable, NATO chief says
- Syria's apparent use of Scud missiles is "reckless," Anders Fogh Rasmussen says
- Opposition group calls for rebels to protect religious, cultural sites
"I think now it's only a
question of time," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in
Brussels, Belgium, where he and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
announced the deployment of two Patriot air-defense batteries to
Turkey's border with Syria.
The al-Assad government
is "approaching collapse," Rasmussen said. "I urge the regime to stop
violence, to realize what is the actual situation and initiate a process
that leads to the accommodation of the legitimate aspirations of the
Syrian people."
Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Mikhail Bogdanov offered a similar view from Moscow, noting
what he said were rebel reports that victory was imminent.
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"We need to look the
facts in the eye," the state-run RIA Novosti news service quoted
Bogdanov as saying. "Unfortunately, we can't exclude a victory by the
opposition."
His comments came as
opposition groups said they had seized a military base near Damascus and
amid calls by the Local Coordination Committees for rebels to push for
the fall of the capital.
"We all know that the
battle is not going to be easy and that the regime will defend its
existence by the most brutal means, as we have become accustomed to
seeing," the opposition group said. "We know that the regime will spare
no resources in destroying any hold it may have before its collapse, as
we have witnessed in all other Syrian cities."
Diplomatic efforts to
help end the 21-month conflict, which opposition activists say has
claimed more than 42,000 lives, have so far failed.
A rebel victory would
unleash a host of complications for the shattered country, including the
need to quickly assemble a functioning government; to provide
humanitarian assistance as winter approaches; and to address the status
of the chemical weapons currently held by regime forces.
The regime has shown no
signs of backing down. On Thursday, the LCC reported that 138 people had
been killed by government forces, including seven children and four
women. Sixty-nine of the deaths occurred in Damascus and its suburbs, it
said.
Syrian state TV, citing a
foreign ministry official, denied Thursday Western accusations that the
government has used Scud missiles against rebels inside the country, a
move analysts and world leaders have described as a dangerous escalation
in President Bashar al-Assad's campaign against the rebellion.
A U.S. official said
Syrian forces in Damascus loyal to al-Assad had fired at least four
short-range Scud missiles from the capital into northern Syria,
presumably at rebel groups.
Rasmussen said NATO also had detected launches this week.
"We can't confirm
details of the missiles, but some of the information indicates they were
Scud-type missiles," Rasmussen said. "The use of such indiscriminate
weapons shows utter disregard for the lives of the Syrian people. It is
reckless, and I strongly condemn it."
The predictions of defeat for al-Assad and his forces come amid rising international recognition of the Syrian opposition.
On Tuesday, President
Barack Obama extended U.S. recognition to the rebel coalition. The more
than 100 nations in the Friends of Syria group followed suit on
Wednesday and pledged at least $110 million in humanitarian aid.
Coalition Vice President
George Sabra said rebels were pleased with the gestures, but had hoped
the United States would go further by naming the group not just as a
legitimate representative of the Syrian people but as their sole
legitimate representative.
Syrian officials
belittled the declarations. Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi said the
recognition was comparable to Syria recognizing "Liverpool Football
Club as the sole representative of the British people while in fact it
represented very little," Britain's Independent newspaper said.
Also Thursday, Amnesty
International urged rebel leaders to free a Ukrainian journalist accused
of working with Syrian government officials and to respect
international accords on human rights.
"There are increasing
reports of opposition forces carrying out horrific abuses of captured
government soldiers, journalists and some other civilians," Amnesty said
Thursday. "The coalition must condemn these grave abuses in the
strongest possible terms and do its utmost to prevent them."
The LCC called on rebels
to deliver a knockout punch to the regime while protecting civilians,
religious sites and the nation's cultural heritage.
It also urged rebels to
preserve any documents found in offices of state security services
seized by rebels in preparation for possible war crimes trials.
"These documents contain
massive amounts of incriminating evidence against the regime and its
symbols and will be required to hold the regime accountable, compensate
victims and retain a historical record of decades of state behavior,"
the group said.
State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said U.S. government-trained medical workers
have reached an estimated 410,000 patients in Syria, performed 22,370
surgeries and had partnered with a group -- which she would not identify
for security reasons -- that has set up 20 field hospitals in the
country.
"I don't think any of us
has a crystal ball as to exactly how this is going to go, but we do
believe that the Assad regime's days are numbered," Nuland said. "The
opposition in recent days and weeks has made a number of significant
captures, in particular major military facility outside of Aleppo with
the last Sheik Suleiman base and other important military
installations."
She urged Russian officials to withdraw support for the al-Assad regime.
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