Regime collapsing: defected PM

Syria's defected prime minister said on Tuesday that Bashar Assad's regime was near collapse and urged other political and military leaders to tip the scales and join the rebel side.

"The regime is on the verge of collapse morally and economically," Riad Hijab told a news conference in his first public comments since leaving his post and fleeing to Jordan with his family last week. Hijab is the highest-ranking political figure to defect from Assad's regime.

He said he felt "pain in his soul" over the regime's shelling and other attacks on rebel strongholds as the government stepped up its military offensive.

"I was powerless to stop the injustice," he said, speaking in front of the rebel flag.

He called on "honorable leaders" in Syria to defect.

"Syria is full of honorable officials and military leaders who are waiting for the chance to join the revolution," he said.

"I urge the army to follow the example of Egypt's and Tunisia's armies — take the side of people," he added.

Hijab said he was now backing the rebels, but gave no clue on his plans.

Rebels abduct Iran TV reporter

A Syria-based reporter for Iran's Arabic language television network Al Alam has been abducted by rebels in the central Syrian city of Homs, the channel said on its website on Tuesday.

The journalist, named as Ahmad Sattouf, was taken by "armed terrorist groups" as he returned to his home in Homs, Al Alam said, using the term the allied regimes in Iran and Syria use to designate Syria's rebels.

The channel did not say when exactly Sattouf was abducted, but said he had been missing for "several days."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights separately said that Sattouf, a Syrian, had been abducted overnight Saturday-Sunday.

Al-Alam said that "the rebels also attacked and ransacked" its office in Homs.

Several foreign and Syrian journalists have been targeted in the conflict in Syria.

A domestic news chief for Syria's state new agency Sana was said to have been murdered by rebels outside his home near the capital on Saturday, and an Al-Qaeda linked group has claimed responsibility for the murder early this month of a presenter on state television.

Three Syrian state TV journalists were also reportedly abducted by rebels on Friday as they accompanied government troops close to the capital, and last week a bomb attack on state television headquarters wounded several people.

Fresh fighting erupts in Aleppo

Fresh fighting erupted in Syria's second city of Aleppo Tuesday, monitors said, as a pro-government daily warned the capture of a key rebel district was just a "first step" in the retaking of all opposition areas.

Regime forces also shelled several suburbs of Damascus, while security forces carried out a second day of raids in the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Tuesday's violence has so far claimed the lives of 14 people, the Britain-based watchdog said, after a bloody day in which 160 people were killed nationwide.

In Aleppo, "fighting broke out between government forces and rebel fighters in the (southwestern) districts of Saif al-Dawla and Salaheddin," the Observatory said.

The army had advanced on Saif al-Dawla on Monday after last week retaking neighbouring Salaheddin, which still however has pockets of rebel fighters.

A civilian was reported killed and a journalist for state news agency SANA was wounded in Saif al-Dawla.

Government forces also pounded the rebel-held eastern districts of Sakhur, Hanano and Shaar, the Observatory said.

The pro-government Al-Watan said the army "has deployed but a fraction of its troops... to control Salaheddin, whose liberation is just one step towards the control of the rest of the areas under the influence of the insurgents".

"Army units continue to encircle the city and block the insurgents' supply lines," the paper said.

It suggested that the army would use "the tactic of nibbling away gradually, rather than confrontation, in order to avoid casualties among civilians, who have been used as human shields by the insurgents".

Control of the city is seen as pivotal to the outcome of the conflict.

In the capital Damascus, residents fled the Qaboon neighbourhood, fearing a major military onslaught, as security forces raided the districts of Midan in the south and Shaghur in the centre, the Observatory said.

According to an AFP journalist, security forces also swept the southeastern district of Tabbaleh, while the army set up checkpoints at the entrances to Midan and closed off streets to traffic.

Outside the city, government forces shelled the suburbs of Qudsaya and Daraya, while elsewhere in Damascus province, a civilian and defecting soldier were killed in Al-Tal town, the Observatory said.

The opposition Syrian National Council described Al-Tal as a "disaster area" after five days of shelling and urged "all able citizens" to provide aid, especially food and medical supplies.

In Muhasen in the eastern Deir Ezzor province -- where rebels claimed they downed a fighter jet Monday -- fierce clashes broke out, according to Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground.

Elsewhere in Deir Ezzor, six members of one family were killed in shelling, while four civilians were killed in northwest Idlib province and a woman was shot dead by a sniper in southern Daraa province, the Observatory said.

On Monday, 100 civilians, 19 rebels and 41 soldiers were killed across Syria, according to the Observatory, including 60 in Damascus province alone.

 

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