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Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 2:19 p.m. ET: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will join British and French foreign ministers at the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to push an Arab-backed condemnation of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
"The status quo is unsustainable," Clinton said in a statement. "The longer the Assad regime continues its attacks on the Syrian people and stands in the way of a peaceful transition, the greater the concern that instability will escalate and spill over throughout the region."
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Qatar's prime minister are due to plead with the 15-nation Security Council to back the league's plan for Assad to transfer powers to his deputy to prepare for free elections.
Assad's regime is intensifying an assault against army defectors and protesters. The U.N. has said more than 5,400 people have been killed in violence since March. At least 190 additional people were killed in the past five days.
Updated at 7:40 a.m. ET: Street battles raged at the gates of the Syrian capital on Monday as President Bashar Assad's troops sought to consolidate their grip on suburbs that rebel fighters had taken only a few miles from the center of government power. Syrian forces also heavily shelled the restive city of Homs.
Russia, a U.N. Security Council member and one of Syria's few allies, said President Bashar Assad's government agreed to talks in Moscow to end the Syrian crisis, but a major opposition body rejected any dialogue with him, demanding he step down.
The new fighting and Russian diplomacy came as the Arab League and France prepared to lobby the Security Council to act on a peace plan that would remove Assad from power, in a bid to staunch the flow of blood from Syria's attempt to crush a popular uprising and armed insurgency against Assad.
Activists and residents said Syrian troops now had control of Hamouriyeh, one of several districts where they have used armored vehicles and artillery to beat back rebels who came as close as 5 miles to Damascus.
An activist said the Free Syrian Army - a force of military defectors with links to Syria's divided political opposition - mounted scattered attacks on government troops who advanced through the district of Saqba, held by rebels just days ago.
"Street fighting has been raging since dawn," he said, adding tanks were moving through a central avenue of the neighborhood. "The sound of gunfire is everywhere."
Updated at 4:58 a.m. ET:Troops seized eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels late on Sunday, opposition activists said, after two days of fighting only a few miles from President Bashar Assad's center of power.
"The Free Syrian Army has made a tactical withdrawal," an activist named Kamal told Reuters by phone from the eastern al-Ghouta area on the edge of the capital. "Regime forces have re-occupied the suburbs and started making house-to-house arrests."
A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army of defectors fighting Assad's forces appeared to confirm that account.
"Tanks have gone in but they do not know where the Free Syrian Army is. We are still operating close to Damascus," said Maher al-Naimi, who spoke to Reuters from Turkey.
Meanwhile, Syria's state news agency reported Monday that a "terrorist" group had blown up a gas pipeline.
The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.
Checkpoints
In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.
Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.
Activists said earlier on Sunday soldiers had moved into the suburbs at dawn, along with at least 50 tanks and other armored vehicles. At least 19 civilians and rebel fighters were killed in that initial attack, they said.
NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin visits Zabadani, Syria, a once beautiful snowcapped resort town that has been deeply scarred by the recent military crackdown and speaks with members of the anti-regime Free Syria Army.
Fighters had taken over districts less than five miles from the heart of the city. The areas have seen repeated protests against Assad's rule and crackdowns by troops during the uprising.
"It's urban war. There are bodies in the street," said an activist speaking from the suburb of Kfar Batna.
Residents of central Damascus reported seeing soldiers and police deployed around main squares.
The escalating bloodshed prompted the Arab League to suspend the work of its monitors on Saturday. Arab foreign ministers, who have urged Assad to step down and make way for a government of national unity, will discuss the crisis on February 5.
Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby left for New York where he will brief representatives of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to seek support for the Arab peace plan.
He will be joined by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads the League's committee charged with overseeing Syria.
The Syrian government says the country is being attacked by extremists but some civilians say the only armed gangs in the city are the security forces. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Elaraby said he hoped to overcome resistance from Beijing and Moscow over endorsing the Arab proposals.
A Syrian government official said the Arab League decision to suspend monitoring would "put pressure on (Security Council) deliberations with the aim of calling for foreign intervention and encouraging armed groups to increase violence".
Assad blames the violence on foreign-backed militants.
The uprising against Assad, which began with largely peaceful demonstrations, has grown increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors have taken up arms.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 41 civilian deaths across Syria on Sunday, including 14 in Homs province and 12 in the city of Hama. Thirty-one soldiers and members of the security forces were also killed, most in two attacks by deserters in the northern province of Idlib, it said.
State news agency SANA reported the military funerals of 28 soldiers and police on Saturday and another 23 on Sunday.
After mass demonstrations against his rule erupted last spring, Assad launched a military crackdown. Growing numbers of army deserters and gunmen have joined the protesters in a country of 23 million people regarded as a pivotal state at the heart of the Middle East.
"The current battles taking place in and around Damascus may not yet lead to the unraveling of the regime, but the illusion of normalcy that the Assads have sought hard to maintain in the capital since the beginning of the revolution has surely unraveled," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a U.S.-based Syrian dissident.
"Once illusions unravel, reality soon follows," he wrote in his blog Sunday.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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URBAN WAR ? I thought they were gonna say - DETROIT or New Orleans , or Saint Louis or Kasas City, Houston, or LA , Miami where theres a lotta shootings taken place nightly anymore , ohh well,,,
For now.
The butcher of Homs better keep his knife very, very sharp. It's the only way he can stay in power.
Jet, what decade are you from?
its Sad, when a Civil War, is the only thing; that Will Change Things..POWER TO THE PEOPLE !!!!..ASSAD, ROT IN HELL !!!....
if they need intervention they should ask an Arab country for help because a need on their end does not constitute an obligation on our end.
You're living in a fantasy world if you think Syrian citizens all over the country are clamoring for American warplanes to come bomb their cities.
I don't, they want American military police muscle on the ground. Highly trained, equipped, far superior to Assad's troops, with a taste for Freedom. Then after Assad is dead they'd want us gone like mercenaries. If we stayed to insure a democratic behavior they'd start hating us just like Iraqis and Afghanis do because they want their democratic "style" and they don't want us to watch. Who thinks about bombing?
lol, when you shoot at authorities to protest, getting return fire is a given. I am pretty sure if 1 of those occupy protestors shoots at a police officer when they raid their camps, they are bound to get a tough response. So please, stop twisting the story MSNBC
Raiding the Occupy camps and the US response to them resisting is another problem. The death toll is 6000 in Syria though. They have earned the right to defend themselves.
It wont get any better.
The peoples blood has stained this government thoroughly;it has no credibility....and no place to run, except to the Russian Embassy...and maybe the Chinese...
This has now become a "true" "Peoples War"...the kind the Communists of the past had wished for so strongly but were unsuccessful in kindling.
From now on, few in the Assad government/military will ever be sure that they are not being shadowed by a potential assassin or by a spy.
That's how the "cookie crumbles" in Life....
Get out while you can............
We haven't seen the beginning of this, yet.
What? You mean we have not seen the end of this yet...
someoneelse , surely your joking ! at making a statement like that !!!
If something is occurring at present, by definition the beginning has already happened... so yeah... we have seen the beginning... not sure if you were just trying to be dramatic or something, but that just didn't make sense.
Let us mind our business.
Let them (Syrian Assad's forces and rebels) do their business of killings!
More the merrier!
I think the same thing would happen in any country where the protesters and military deserters take up arms to protest against the gov,including this one.You do not shoot at the police and military and not expect to have return fire..Hell,if someone shoots at me I'm going to return fire.
To be fair, the movement started out entirely peaceful and remained non-violent for a long time, despite the police and military coming down on protesters with lethal force and even artillery.
Syria has been in a slow spiral to civil war for months. Horrific casualties and human rights abuses aside, it's really quite fascinating... but I digress. When the army killed enough protesters, they reached a line where they were either going to give up and surrender, or fight back. Sure enough, an insurgency emerged and continues growing.
It's just like you said, really: "if someone shoots at me I'm going to return fire."
We don't know the end game of any of this, but we do know that one of the primary players is Iran. And until Iran as it exists is removed, this problem will not be solved.
I just laugh at the whole 'let's set up a meeting' approach, while people are being shot dead in the streets. It seems that America doesn't have the monopoly on morons and cowardly politicians.
Those of you on this vine who say "...what you expect for shooting at the police/ troops..." should really get your chronology in order. It was Syrian police/ troops that fired at PEACEFULL protesters starting 10 month ago. That is how long this being going on. For most of that time protesters did not shoot back and over 3000 of them were murdered. Now they have had enough and are starting to protect themselves. What would you have them do when they are facing the AKs, tanks, and BMPs of the dictator?
The Occupy Wall Street group is behind it all.
Look guys, the whole Middle East is like one big tribal Hoedown. This faction, that faction. Let them alone in my opinion, if we try to much to settle anything for them, we will be blamed and they will still hate us. As for Assad, remember what it says in the Bible about reaping what you sow, well he aint gonna like his crops come harvest time. Just go ask good old boy Saddam!
Arab League to suspend the work of its monitors on Saturday
THAT WAS ALOT OF NOTHING
looks as if the arab league is as usefull as the UN
real good to put people into harms way for nothing
like anyone couldnt tell the syrian army is corrupt like its leader
the league just trying to make themselves look better and then run away
just like the UN
nothing better than burning money and risking lives for recognition
because it did nothing else!!!
for them i give the sponge bob jellyfish call
"looser, looser"
stand on your feet or dont even try
what a waste of effort
Send in the Drones! After Assad loses his tanks, the Syrian people will take it from there.
When your life is no better than your death, it's moot if you live. These protesters have had enough, if they are going to get killed for protesting, they might as well fight. This started out as a peaceful protest, it was met with gun fire. So now, like the previous post, Assad will reap what he has sown. What I don't understand is why don't they leave, remember Gaddafi, beaten to death and shot. Assad better take his many, many millions and split while he can, or he may find himself in some sandy hole with his throat slit!!
Assad is a tyrant and he deserves a tyrant's death.
Ever notice how every time something bad happens in a Middle Eastern country (or Venezuela) they immediately blame "foreign conspirators"? Putting aside Iran, in which that's actually quite likely, don't they think that line's being overused? You can only cry wolf so many times before people stop reaching for their pitchforks...
When will surrounding Arab states, Europe, and the U.S., wise up and care enough to start supplying weapons, ammo, intelligence, supplies, and full support to the SRA and civilian patriots?!?!?!?!
For why? We helped the Egyptians, they thank us by trying to take our citizens prisoner. We helped in Kosovo, got thanked by Bin Laden in NY, we helped in Libya, you have Islamic Brotherhood setting up another religious dictatorship. The only reason these uprisings are happening is the muslim poo-bas want a free hand to kill everyone who doesn't follow their particular perversion. Best thing we can do is SELL (not give) guns and ammo - no anti-aircraft, no tank killers - these will be turned against us. But low tech weapons, go for it, kill yourselves. But there is not going to be freedom or democracy out of any of this, just changing one dictator for another.
Why should America get involved with more Muslims? Let them fight it out and live with the results. Our Treasury isn't a charity.
The American Revolution was in trouble before France intervened. The Libyan revolution was in reverse until NATO intervened. Democracy was in trouble until we got involved, unwillingly, in WWII. Sometimes intervention, getting involved, has a good (from our perspective) outcome, then but hindsight is 20/20. The trick is knowing ahead of time whether to get in the game, or remain on the sidelines.
We here in America should stay as far away from this quasi civil war as possible. Let Europe and Russia bear the expense. We will spend billions driving him out, only to be told we are the devil and they must now kill us in the name of the prophet and allah. AMERICA MIND OUR OWN BUSINESS!!!!!!
You're correct to a point, Allen. In the American Revolution and WW2, the principle players were civilized for their times. Libya was/is not. The 'trick' of knowing ahead of time whether to get involved is not much of a trick now at all. I had high hopes for Egypt, but I must concede I was wrong. Judging by what has happened so far in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Rule of thumb now should be, if it's a predominately Muslim country, stay out of it entirely and just let them kill each other, because they are so primitive, no matter whoever wins, it will be a lost cause.
Republicans would bomb them and their kids
Obama is doing a great job of that in Pakistan that's why we got thrown out stop throwing rocks from your broken glass house. In war innocent people die it is unfortunate but a reality. I don't blame Obama nor Bush, their job is to protect the citizens that voted for them. You and other cowardly liberals talk a big game until you get in power and find out the truths of life then you too will be bombing and destroying the enemies of this country. Obama called Bush a criminal but when he had to put on the big boy pants he did the same things as Bush. So grow up and see the world as it is and stop sticking your head in your nether orifice.
OH really
Syria is destined to a bloody deadly civil war that will rage until one-side has annihilated the other. It all depends on who can access the most weapons and supplies. Russia wants the Assad regime to remain in power for whatever reason so they'll keep shipped boatloads of arms to his minority Army. Meanwhile the Arab League may just get weary of this slaughter of mostly unarmed civilians and begin arming them. The Saudi government could stop this tomorrow if they rolled in to Damascus with their mechanized troops supported by their air force.
The problem with arming them is they have no real desire for peace in that region. Those same weapons when finished throwing assad out will be turned on us and the saudis and the it will be our turn. Just stay out of it is the best solution.
What we are witnessing in Syria is the War on Al Qaeda. The Government regime which opposed Emperor Bush and allowed insurgents to move into Iraq as well as supporting the Palestinian Exterminationists are now fighting against those who they had as bedfellows. Looks like keeping your enemies close is an outdated concept.
The death of this regime came when Obama ignored these people and simple targeted the Al Qaeda death squads that were created by CIA in the first place. As you would expect Russia backs the Syrians making them look bad.
I truly feel sorry for you. Go get your meds so you can come back to reality.
Your just feeling a little sad that your good friend Osama is dead. For years Americans have been arming these terrorists in order to overthrow the Libyan and Syrian regimes. I don't know why you guys are so surprised.
No I am happy he is finally dead. I see that you don't understand the game of diplomacy. Yes in your small small way of thinking they are victims of the big bad US. But that is further from the truth. The behind the scenes game that is play by the US, Russia, China, Europe and Saudi Arabia to keep the region as stable as is possible. Unfortunately everyone has their own idea of what constitutes stability. Unfortunately the artificial boundaries drawn by The United kingdom, England if you don't know, put together people into countries who have never been part of anything and are mortal enemies. In Iraq you have over 4 groups of people who have only been brought together by sheer force and then fall apart AGAIN through the centuries. The best thing America and the other nations could do is step back let them fight it out and form their OWN boundary lines for their OWN countries and then we do business with them on fair terms. But we close our borders and force them to sort it out not run here and turn our countries into the cesspool their countries are. They feel they know better then great let them at it.
kulan2
Where is your proof? Why would the US support a terrorist group we are currently fighting in Afghanistan?
Send over five B2 bombers and carpet bomb Assad's compounds and that will be the end of it.
WE need to stop playing around with these terrorist dictators.
How about we just sit back in our recliners, watch the game on TV and munch on some really greasy popcorn.
I'll cheer for the Syrian rebels; I heard they had the hottest cheerleaders, but it's hard to tell what with the burkas and veils. Of course, it's all pretty boring until the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, usually.
In the meantime, let's remember that we're not in this game, we're spectators, nor are we the referees and we are, most specifically, not the coaches.
If any outsiders care to intervene, let it be some of the ME nations proving that they have the mindset and the cojones to stand up and demand humane treatment of their citizens and the right of the people to choose the form of governance they would prefer for themselves and all their brethren countries.
I don't hold much hope; think I'll change channels.
The super bowls this weekend not the syrian bowl!