Turk troops on border
Pressure mounts on Assad
REBEL forces attacked Syria’s main court in central Damascus, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.
A loud explosion echoed through the streets and a column of black smoke rose over Damascus, an Assad stronghold that until the last few days had seemed beyond the reach of rebels.
Dozens of wrecked and burning cars were strewn over a car park used by lawyers and judges. Media reports said three people had been wounded by a bomb hidden in one of the cars.
The fighting coincided with a Turkish military build-up on its border with Syria and a growing sense of urgency in Western and Arab-backed diplomatic efforts to promote the idea of a unity government to end 16 months of bloodshed.
But Assad himself dismissed the idea of any outside solution to Syria’s crisis.
“We will not accept any nonSyrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria’s problems as well as we do,” Assad said in an interview.
A first substantial convoy of about 30 Turkish military vehicles, including trucks loaded with anti-aircraft missile batteries dispatched from the coastal town of Iskenderun, headed towards the Syrian border 50km away.
A general in the rebel Free Syria Army said today that Syrian government forces had amassed about 170 tanks north of the city of Aleppo, near the Turkish border, but there was no independent confirmation of the report.
General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the Higher Military Council, an association of senior officers who defected from Assad’s forces, said the tanks had assembled at the Infantry School near the village of Musalmieh north-east of Aleppo, 30kms from the Turkish border.
“The tanks are now at the Infantry School. They’re either preparing to move to the border to counter the Turkish deployment or attack the rebellious (Syrian) towns and villages in and around the border zone north of Aleppo,” Sheikh said.
Last Friday Syria shot down a Turkish warplane. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan responded by ordering his troops to treat any Syrian military element approaching the border as a military target.
Syria said it had killed several “terrorists” infiltrating from Turkey.
David Hartwell, Middle East analyst at IHS Jane’s, called the Turkish action a pragmatic response to the downing of the Turkish aircraft, which Syria says was flying low and fast in Syrian airspace.
“Damascus has been warned once. I doubt there will be a second warning.”
Yesterday’s attack in Damascus comes after weeks of growing pressure from the rebels.
Rebels stormed a pro-Assad TV channel on Wednesday, and have also targeted police and security barracks.
Syria denies there has been a mass uprising against Assad and says that the rebels who have now taken over from months of unarmed anti-government protests are foreignbacked terrorists, including members of al-Qaeda.
Diplomats at the UN say international mediator Kofi Annan will seek backing from the permanent members of the UN Security Council and key Middle East players for a plan for a political transition in Syria. – Reuters