Rebels abandon Damascus strongholds

SYRIAN TROOPS supported by tanks yesterday continued their offensive in the eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, wresting control from rebels who abandoned their strongholds and melted into the population.

In the central province of Homs, saboteurs blew up a gas pipeline near the town of Tel Kalakh, a protest hub, cutting off the supply to the port city of Banias.

In Deraa province, six soldiers, including a colonel, were killed by “an armed terrorist group” while driving in the countryside, according to official news agency Sana. Activists said the deaths occurred during clashes between loyalist troops and the rebel Free Syrian Army. Opposition activists claimed the countrywide death toll was 34, with 22 in Homs, the current epicentre of the rebellion.

Blind preacher Ahmad al-Sayasneh, who stirred the revolt in Deraa, has been spirited across Syria’s southern border into Jordan, an opposition spokesman said.

More than 50 military funerals were said to have been held over the weekend, demonstrating that the insurgency is gaining momentum.

Opposition spokesmen said the Free Syrian Army had recruited 50,000 defectors, but this claim cannot be verified.

The regular Syrian army has some 140,000 officers and troops. The government also deploys an unknown number of militiamen, mainly from the minority heterodox Shia Alawite community, in a force known as the shabiha.

On the diplomatic front, Russia invited the Syrian government and the opposition for talks in Moscow. The authorities promptly agreed to send representatives, while the Syrian National Council, a coalition of opposition groups in exile, said it did not receive an invitation but would refuse to attend if invited.

The council rejects talks with the regime headed by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, while other opposition groups based abroad and in Syria have repeatedly called for talks. The Russian foreign ministry said talks must be held “as soon as possible” to bring an end to unrest that has killed at least 5,400 people since last March.

French foreign minister Alain Juppé and British foreign secretary William Hague are due to attend a UN Security Council meeting today to press members to adopt a resolution calling for implementation of the Arab League’s plan to end the unrest in Syria through regime change.

The plan calls for talks between government and opposition, formation of a unity cabinet, transfer of presidential powers to Dr Assad’s deputy, and parliamentary elections. Syria has rejected the plan as unacceptable interference in its internal affairs.

The security council has threatened to “adopt further measures” beyond the current sanctions if the regime does not implement the Arab League plan.

Following the suspension of their mission, Arab League monitors outside Damascus are set to move to the capital. Some will leave Syria while others will stay on without conducting missions.