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Subscribe to RSSFighting continued for a fifth day near key government installations, indicating that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's control is faltering. As the opposition advances, Russia and China still refuse to support a resolution calling for tougher sanctions. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Updated at 2:00 p.m. ET: As more Syrian rebels flooded into the country's capital, President Bashar Assad had reportedly left Damascus and was directing the response to the assassination of three top lieutenants on Thursday.
A day after a bombing killed his brother-in-law and two other key military figures, Assad was in the coastal city of Latakia, opposition sources and a Western diplomat told Reuters.
"Our information is that he is at his palace in Latakia and that he may have been there for days," said a senior opposition figure, who declined to be named, according to Reuters.
Latakia province is home to several towns inhabited by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect.
NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports on the escalating crisis in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is reportedly planning his response to Wednesday's bombing, which struck the heart of his regime.
On Thursday evening, Syrian television showed Assad swearing in Brig. Gen. Fahed Jassim el Friej as defense minister, the president's first public appearance since the stunning bomb attack on a crisis meeting of defense and security chiefs.
U.S. State Department officials said Thursday afterthey were not sure
A diplomat, who is following events in Syria, told Reuters: "Everyone is looking now at how well Assad can maintain the command structure. The killings yesterday were a huge blow, but not fatal."
NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin answers your questions about Syria
Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News
Ali Bakran is a commander of a Free Syrian Army brigade that operates out Jabal al-Zawiya.
Meanwhile, rebel fighters streamed into Damascus convinced that they could take over the capital and isolate the government.
"Taking Damascus will be a morale blow to Assad's regime," Ali Bakran, a commander of a Free Syrian Army brigade that operates out Jabal al-Zawiya, told NBC News.
Rebels from his region has sent about 1,000 fighters to Damascus over the last two days, he said.
Bakran said that once the rebels had taken control of the capital, they planned seize state radio and television stations -- a huge symbolic and tactical victory for anti-Assad forces.
PhotoBlog: Who are the Syrian rebels?
"Once we take over the TV and radio stations, the army will collapse," Bakran said.
'We will not stop'
And after Damascus, the rebels planned to march to Latakia, where Assad was reportedly staying, to "finish the job," Bakran added.
"We will continue our work, we will not stop, not after all this blood has been shed, not after all those innocents' deaths," he told NBC News.
Syrian rebels have kept up pressure following Wednesday's assassinations in Damascus, fighting loyalist troops within sight of the presidential palace and near government headquarters, residents said.
Residents said there was no let-up in the heaviest fighting -- now in its fifth day -- to hit the Syrian capital in a 16-month revolt against Assad, whose family has dominated the pivotal Arab country for 42 years.
The battles encroached within sight of the presidential palace, near the security headquarters where Wednesday's emergency meeting was held, with videos showing clouds of smoke rising over the skyline.
The defense minister, his deputy and a vice president were all killed in the blast but it is unclear if Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was nearby. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
The U.N. Security Council put off a scheduled vote on a Syria resolution until Thursday and President Barack Obama telephoned President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Assad's main ally, to try to persuade Moscow to drop support for him.
Nevertheless, Russia and China vetoed the resolution threatening sanctions against Syria.
The bombing that killed Assad's brother-in-law, defense minister and a top general triggered fierce army retaliation with artillery unleashed on rebels massed in several districts and armed mostly with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
A video from overnight in Damascus' neighborhood of Sayed Zainab shows a makeshift clinic in a house, with blankets and medical supplies strewn all over the floor and a man shouting directions on a megaphone as men carry in mutilated bodies on sheets.
Some of the bodies were blackened, perhaps from a blast or a fire. Others were blown apart apparently by high explosive.
Residents in the Midan and Kafr Souseh districts reported constant blasts and heavy gunfire as helicopter gunships buzzed overhead.
"The shelling did not stop all night. Shelling could be heard in all the city. It was loud. There were also sounds of clashes. Not many people are venturing out. I can't even find a taxi, so I'm waiting for somebody to pick us up," a resident in Damascus told Reuters, speaking by telephone.
PhotoBlog: Behind Syrian rebel lines
"Everyone in the neighborhood is arming themselves. Some with machineguns, some with shotguns. Some even just with knives. And whoever doesn't have anything just tries to stay awake and stay alert as much as they can," said another resident, speaking by phone from the Midan area.
For a third straight day, Syrian military fought rebels in the capital where activists say government tanks are fighting back. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
"I can't even tell you what is going on outside because I've shuttered the windows and locked the doors. I just hear every now and then the gunfire, it's like it's in the room."
Many Damascenes were reported fleeing pockets of fighting.
"We've had a lot of people come in from last evening, from other neighborhoods like refugees, and people gather around them to hear what they've seen. My neighbor tries to see if they have relatives here or see if there is someone that can host them for a while," said a woman contacted by telephone.
Checkpoints around Midan and the ancient walled Old City of Damascus had been removed, residents said. It was unclear if security forces had changed tactics to stop rebels targeting soldiers, or if it was a temporary move in the heat of battle.
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Russia and China should send in peace keepers I am sure that the UN would allow them to quell the Situation. I am also sure that Bashar Assad would agree to this. China and Russia are equal partners in this world and should have the chance to bring the Situation under control. Iran also could broker the situation with all three they should be able to save many lives.
Violence most always accompanies the end of dictatorships. All Assad, had to do, was engage in a truly democratic push for free elections. Yes, he would have lost anyway, but he would have looked like a true statesman with vision and he would have been able to leave with his wealth and his reputation. Now all he has left is to live the rest of his life in Russia, or end up like Ghadafi, neither of which is a terribly pleasant prospect....
I must admit, never thought that Russia and China, would make this big a mistake. Something isn't adding up...
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton clearly understand the confusion and complexity of the post-civil war Syria and want to focus on supporting the formation of some unity of government, to include the Alawites who are related to Assad. We have an administration that can keep its cool dealing with foreign events as well as with half a nation of armchair critics who would shoot first and then figure out what went wrong later.
USA politicians are so bought and paid for they dont even speak up against Russia and China, their anmimalistic backing of the syrian govt.,.
What happened to the morally upright USA that would not let slaughter go on by dictators? The only people our govt gets tough with is our own citizens as they are brutalized by police daily across the nation. We no longer stand up against dictators, or dare mention "buy american" because those dictators shovel money in various ways to our politicians and also have the news media looking like deer in headlights. They dont even demand out politicians answer questions most important to americans, instead they throw softball questions to them , always with one eye on their own carreers. It is sickening and I cannot believe americans are letting it happen. We will stick out heads in the sand when it comes to politics here until the Chineese have their own office in the White House.
Even in a dictatorship, if the people will it so, the dictatorship will fall. Some Americans should take this as a learning moment.
Cant wait to see where all this is going , a free democratic middle east ? which it must not be now by all the bloodshed right ? (and what country is next on the list ?)
The rebels that run Assad out will turn on each other in a power struggle and the bloodshed will escalate. Then they will blame the USA for supporting Israel..
Same song second verse...
Russia and China are mortal enemies. They'll work together only as long as both benefit from it. If the Middle East goes up for Grabs and the Western World walks away. Russia and China will go head to head to control it. Leading to a War that will make all of the other Wars in modern history pale in comparison.
Syria, Egypt, Libya... I can't say I will miss the outgoing regimes, but I don't know that new faces will be any better. Afghani rebels once seemed like a better alternative to the Soviet backed government there, and that didn't work out too well. History repeats itself, etc.
as each of these countries falls we move closer to a world war. It will be the Muslim world against the infidels. we will use nuclear weapons because we must have some control over the region's resources and we can't defeat tens of millions of people in a conventional war. one more step towards anarchy or world domination(not by our weak "principaled asses") or total annihalation.