Hussein Malla / AP

Free Syrian Army fighters from the Al-Faruk brigade rest Saturday at the Syrian crossing border point of Tal Abyad, a Turkish-Syrian border crossing captured by the rebels earlier in the week, in eastern Syria.

The leaders of the rebel Free Syrian Army said Saturday they moved their command center from Turkey to Syria with the aim of uniting rebels and speeding up the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The FSA has been based in Turkey for more than a year as fighters have struggled to battle forces loyal to Assad. Although rebels now control large swathes of Syria, they face air and artillery attack from Assad's forces.

"The leadership of the FSA has entered the liberated areas (of Syria) after the success of the plan that the FSA has worked on with other battalions and units in order to safeguard the free areas," Colonel Riad al-Asaad said in a video statement.

Brig. Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, who heads the FSA's military council, told The Associated Press that the group made the move last week. He would not say where the new headquarters is located or give other details.

A rebel source told Reuters that Asaad, the colonel, arrived in Syria two days ago. "The plan is that all the leadership of the FSA will be based in Syria soon, either in Idlib province or Aleppo province," the source told Reuters, adding that the move would be completed within two weeks.

The rebels made their announcement on the eve of a conference of several government-sanctioned Syrian opposition groups in the capital Damascus aiming to provide a political solution to the civil war -- a meeting that the FSA dismissed as a ploy by Assad to fool the international community.

Syria activist: Hundreds feared dead in airstrikes

Slideshow: Syria uprising

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A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

Launch slideshow

The FSA is the most prominent of several armed groups fighting to overthrow Assad. In the video, posted on the Web, the rebel colonel said his men would "fight side-by-side" with all groups and "start the plan to liberate Damascus soon, God willing." 

Despite calling for Assad to step down, the West is wary of arming disparate rebel groups. Western diplomats say they are looking for signs that the rebels have a clear chain of command within Syria.

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Turkey, which is housing more than 80,000 refugees from Syria, is facing internal pressure to distance itself from the conflict, and rebels are not always welcomed by residents.

Jet downed
Rebels shot down a fighter jet as it flew over the northern Syrian town of Atarib in Idlib province on Saturday, a witness said. 

The witness, an independent journalist who asked to remain anonymous, said rebel fighters were attacking a military base near the town when the jet flew over and rebels shot it down with anti-aircraft guns.

Rebels have previously brought down several government planes using outdated anti-aircraft machine guns welded to pickup trucks.
Activists say more than 27,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the 18-month-old revolt in Syria.

In Damascus, the army has been conducting raids of southern suburbs over the past few days after driving out most rebel fighters. Black smoke rose from the suburb of Hajar al-Aswad on Saturday and residents said their houses had been set ablaze by security forces.

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The opposition conference in Damascus on Sunday is organized by the internal opposition's main umbrella group, the National Coordination Body.

Last July, a similar conference was cancelled after the owner of the venue was threatened by Assad's forces who fired on a pro-democracy protest outside, killing 14.

Opposition groups say Russia and China, which have blocked Western attempts to secure U.N. sanctions against Assad, have promised to exert influence to protect Sunday's meeting.

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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Between August 1 and August 17 Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic documented some of the fiercest fighting of Syria's 17-month uprising as rebels and government forces battled for control of the northern city of Aleppo. 

His images were published all over the world, featuring extensively on NBCNews.com's PhotoBlog and in The Week in Pictures. Here he gives a behind-the-scenes account of the circumstances behind some of his most striking photographs. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover during clashes with the Syrian army in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 7, 2012. Photographer Goran Tomasevic says: "This rebel had been firing at the Syrian army when he came under attack from sniper fire, he was pulling back into a secure position when the picture was taken. I was next to him, on the ground, and shooting with a 20mm lens. The yellow dot on his head is a reflection from the camera lens."

Goran Tomasevic, Reuters — Of course I wanted to go to Syria. When a big story like this breaks, I believe my job is to go there and produce pictures. I gave up going to cover the Olympics. It was two days before my trip to London and I changed my ticket and went to Syria instead. 

Pictures must show the reality of the war and that's why I wanted to be as close as I could to the fighters on the very front line, to show exactly what they are doing, their emotions, how they run and fire weapons and also how they react to incoming shells. There is a certain amount of risk and you need to take all necessary precautions, but if you want to tell the true story, you have to be there. 

Report: More foreign fighters join rebels in Syria as regional crisis deepens

Displaced Syrians struggle to find safe shelter

The Free Syrian Army [the rebel group that Tomasevic traveled with] is organized and appeared to know what it was doing. Some members are former Syrian soldiers who defected, but most are young civilians — some 16 or 17 years old.  They are fighting the Syrian Army with small arms and RPGs and with few supplies, but somehow they set up a supply line to get fuel for their vehicles. They are also media friendly. At first they noticed my presence and were a little bit suspicious but after a while they began saying "Goran, come here," though they didn't really speak English. They would tell me what missions they were conducting or show me some positions and ask if I wanted to join them. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter gestures as others carry a fighter shot by Syrian Army soldiers during clashes in the Salaheddine neighborhood of Aleppo on August 4, 2012.

We ended up in the Salaheddine neighborhood of Aleppo, which was definitely the front line, just a few streets away from the government position. On August 4, I witnessed a rebel's death from a very accurate Syrian army sniper who found a hole in between sandbags and fired. The sniper shot him in the chest. I think the bullet went through his heart, killing him instantly. I could see the exit hole on the left side of his shirt. I just ran (fast) across the street and took the pictures in really bad light — strong highlights and dark shadows. This rebel [below] was definitely someone who was close to the fighter who'd been shot. He was in bad shape and crying, so I couldn't really ask him any questions. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter reacts after his friend was shot by Syrian Army soldiers in the Salaheddine neighborhood of Aleppo on August 4, 2012.

A few days later we were just talking on the street when we heard shooting and started running into a building. We heard a large explosion and that is when the rebel [below] was hit by shrapnel. He and others entered the room and I was in a little bit of shock and took some out-of-focus pictures. It was such a small room with not much light that I had to push the camera up to 3000 ISO. I couldn't see much because there was a lot of smoke. It was really difficult technically to take these pictures. Beside the rebel there is a knife on the floor as people had just been eating lunch in the room.   

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter screams in pain after he was injured in his leg by shrapnel from a shell fired from a Syrian Army tank in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 7, 2012.

Local rebel commanders told us that if they approached the front line there would be heavy tank fire, machine gun fire, mortar shells and sniper fire, so they didn't want to come close to the Syrian army. They started to make holes in the buildings, inside the walls, inside the gates and the fighters would sneak into the houses. They made holes in the buildings to avoid the streets and to be able to go from one house to another to another. Sometimes, I saw some families coming back to take some goods from their homes but most of the time the houses were empty, abandoned as the families sought refuge elsewhere.  

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter enters a room through a hole in a wall in Aleppo on August 12, 2012.

I like this picture [below] of fighters who took up positions in a family living room. One rebel sat on the chair eating a chocolate bar as the commander looked out the window to scout the area next to another firing from the window. They told me it was a former Syrian army position and they had killed three soldiers in the house (I could see tracks of blood in the corridor) and taken over their position. There was no one else in the house, except the rebels. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his sniper rifle from a house in Aleppo on August 14, 2012.

One woman came back with her husband to take goods from her house. Some of the Free Syrian Army fighters told her that she shouldn't go but she ran across the street to her house alone. She started to cry and wanted to come back so one of the fighters ran back across the street with her. She was crying as she ran across the street that was under open fire. This is one of the many Aleppo streets that you cannot stand on because someone may shoot you.    

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter helps a woman to run across a street during clashes in Aleppo on August 12, 2012.

In this picture [below], you can see the tree being hit with the shrapnel. It was a very dramatic situation with the smoke from the tank shells filling the street behind the fighters. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an RPG after a Syrian Army tank shell hit a building across a street during heavy fighting in Salaheddine on August 11, 2012.

A lot of bodies were lying in the streets. When some of the rebels took over a government position, a few of their fighters were killed by government forces. Five rebels decided to go on a rescue mission to recover the bodies of their comrades. I went with them. We were literally crawling for 150 meters. They used a long stick, on which they attached a hook to drag the bodies a few meters off the street and into very narrow alleyways and then carried the bodies through the streets, passing them to one another through the holes in the buildings. The whole process took about 4-5 hours; it was a really long day. The bodies will be sent back to the families. One of the bodies was of the brother of one of the fighters. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter carries the body of a fellow fighter during clashes in Aleppo on August 16, 2012.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter carries the body of a fellow fighter during clashes in Aleppo on August 16, 2012.

I can't describe the situations of war. On my last day in Aleppo one of the fighters was walking around and looking into the buildings and he found this bird in its cage. He took it out of the apartment. The bird didn't have any water so they put some in his cage. The rebels did some crazy things, like putting this mannequin [below] in the line of sniper fire on the street and then burning some tires where the government forces were firing tank shells. It was kind of surreal and scary at the same time. Because I don't speak Arabic, I didn't understand exactly what they were doing. They would be laughing but then you would see the incoming fire and about 60-70 meters away you'd see a tank shell explode into a building. 

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters take a break from fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 17, 2012.

When I'm covering conflict situations, I try to follow the ground and find cover for myself. I pray a lot so that keeps me safe. I can't give any other advice. Things are changing with the situation in Syria all the time. Full story on Reuters website.

More images from Goran Tomasevic:

• Slideshow: The Syrian Uprising
• Lighter moment for Syrian rebels during break in fighting in Aleppo
• Syria air strike hits Aleppo hospital
• Eerie stillness in Aleppo as Syrian rebels pull back
• Syrian fighter jet strafes farming village
• Bodies recovered from destroyed home near Aleppo
• Syrian Air force air strike in Azaz kills 30
• Violence intensifying in Syria: the battle continues in Aleppo

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• Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

EPA

Refugees fleeing the violence in Syria gather at an emergency camp for Syrians in Zaatari village, east of Mafraq Governorate, Jordan, on July 31, 2012.

News analysis

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Earlier this year, a young Syrian man who along with his family found refuge in the safety of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, described his conflict-torn home country as being like a "stopper on a drain."

The stopper, he told me, had been removed and now the region was slowly being sucked down the drain.

His words may have been prescient. As the conflict in Syria drags on, the war is affecting neighboring countries and shaping politics in a way that threatens the stability of the region.

Opposition troops, led by the Free Syrian Army, have been battling President Bashar Assad’s forces for more than a year in an attempt to topple the regime.

Activists say that around 20,000 people have been killed since the start of the uprising -- that has since evolved into a full-fledged civil war -- in March last year.

Three fronts
The external impact of Syria’s internal fighting on neighboring countries can be summed up on three fronts: refugees and resources, sectarian tensions, and regional geopolitics.

The United Nations estimates that close to 200,000 refugees have escaped Syria into neighboring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

Turkish officials say they have registered close to 65,000 refugees in their camps. Hundreds of Syrians there are being treated outside the official health care system in makeshift care centers in private buildings.

Recently, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned that the international community needs to do more to help countries cope with the refugees.

Jordan, directly south of Syria, is a country familiar with absorbing refugees. It currently shares borders with Israel, the West Bank, Iraq and Syria, among others, and over the decades has wrestled with how to handle refugee crises involving Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis and Syrians.

30 dead in Syrian air strike; strife spills into Lebanon

Jordan already has a struggling economy, and its infrastructure has been further strained by refugees in need of medical care, education and basic services.

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A Syrian refugee complains Thursday over the management of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan during a visit by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Lebanon has been slow to acknowledge a Syrian refugee problem in its territory. Because Syrians can move freely across the border, many of those escaping the fighting are staying with friends and relatives and not actually registering as refugees within the country. In turn, this also adds stress on local resources for a country with its own domestic economic woes.

Sectarian strains
Beyond the refugee and humanitarian crisis triggered by the Syrian conflict on neighboring countries, increased sectarian tensions in some of these countries are rapidly reflecting the divide within Syria itself.

UN investigators: War crimes perpetrated in Syria

On more than one occasion, deadly clashes have erupted inside Lebanon between supporters of Assad’s regime and the opposition trying to topple it. This fighting has mirrored the sectarian fault lines of Syria.

Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

NBC News

People resisting the army of President Bashar Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

Launch slideshow

The regime and its supporters are mainly drawn from Syria’s Alawite community, which is an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam. The rebel forces and the opposition are largely driven by Sunnis Muslims.

In recent days, Syrian rebels have seized dozens of men they claimed where Iranian and Lebanese Shiites sent to help the Assad regime.

In response, the relatives of the Lebanese men kidnapped in Syria carried out their own wave of kidnappings by taking as many as 23 Syrians who were inside Lebanon.

Syria diversion: Passengers asked for fuel money

The reprisal abductions suggest that the conflict is becoming a regional, rather than a purely Syrian, one.

As the fighting continues, more deadly clashes, kidnappings and the exchange of bitter accusations among the external proxy supporters and opponents inside Lebanon appear likely.

Collision course
The Syrian conflict has turned into a quagmire that goes beyond its borders, locking countries into a collision course over their stances on the Syrian divide.

Wealthy Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are behind the Syrian opposition. So, too, is Turkey, which shelters the Free Syrian Army.

Syrian regime near collapse, ex-PM says

But the internationalization of Syria’s conflict has spread far beyond the immediate region.

The United States has announced its plan to equip the rebels with communications equipment and other valuable intelligence.

Washington has accused Iran of providing material and financial support to the embattled regime.

Russia has provided the Syrian regime with arms and military hardware since the conflict began. Moscow, which has had a de facto alliance with Syria for decades, has also blocked several U.N. Security Council efforts to sanction the Assad regime.

Libyan fighters join Syrian revolt, Irish-born militant says

With action stymied in the Security Council, action against Assad shifted to the General Assembly, where members voted earlier this month on an Arab-backed resolution harshly condemning Syrian regime. The vote -- 133-12 in favor of the resolution, with 33 countries abstaining -- underscored the relative isolation of the Assad regime.

Central piece?
Depending on whom you ask -- supporters or opponents of the Assad regime -- Syria can be seen as a central piece to a larger conflict in the Middle East.

Dislodging Assad’s regime would mean a significant blow to the regional alliance between Syria, Iran and the Hezbollah Shiite militia group, which constitutes a powerful anti-U.S., anti-Israel power bloc.

Others argue that removing Assad would be one more victory for budding democracies in the wake of the Arab revolutions across the region.

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In addition, the Syrian military has shot down a Turkish fighter jet, shelled the Lebanese border and has had almost daily running gunfights with the Jordanian army. Its border with Iraq was shut down, and crossing terminals with Turkey have fallen into the hands of the rebels.

Some have warned that as the conflict in Syria drags on, its problems will spill over into neighboring countries and the region. But when one takes a step back and looks at the big picture, it is easy to see why young Syrians and many others say it has already done so.

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AMMAN, Jordan -- President Bashar Assad controls less than a third of Syria and his power is crumbling, his former prime minister said Tuesday, in his first public appearance since he defected to the opposition this month.

"The regime is collapsing, spiritually and financially, as it escalates militarily," Riad Hijab told a news conference in Jordan. Hijab, the highest-ranking political figure to defect from Assad's regime, also said that the government controls only 30 percent of the country.

He also told a news conference in Jordan that the government's spirits were low after struggling for 17 months to crush the revolt against Assad's rule.

Hijab, a Sunni Muslim, was not in Assad's inner circle. But his flight after two months on the job looked embarrassing for the president.

Hijab did not explain his estimate of the territory still controlled by Assad, whose military outnumbers and outguns the rebels fighting to overthrow him. The army is battling to regain control of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, after retaking parts of Damascus that were seized by insurgents last month.

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Former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, who defected from the government of President Bashar Assad last week, holds a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman on Tuesday.

Curbs on media access make it difficult to know how much of Syria is in rebel hands, but most towns and cities along the country's backbone, a highway running from Aleppo in the north to Daraa in the south, have been swept up in the violence. Assad has also lost swathes of land on Syria's northern and eastern border.

Struggle to retain power
Assad is struggling to keep power, relying on military and security forces led by members of his minority Alawite sect, an esoteric offshoot of Shiite Islam. They are combating a deadly insurgency that emerged after a crackdown on peaceful anti-Assad protesters mostly from Syria's 70 percent Sunni majority.

Libyan fighters join Syrian revolt, Irish-born militant says

While the military focuses on Damascus and the business hub of Aleppo, rebels have slowly made gains in Syria's tribal heartland to the east, where a ferocious fight is under way for Deir al-Zor, capital of the country's main oil-producing region.

Army gunners shell Deir al-Zor, an impoverished Sunni city near the Iraqi border, from fortified outposts in the desert.

Jubilant rebels said they had shot down a Syrian fighter jet southeast of Deir al-Zor and captured its pilot on Monday. The government blamed the crash on technical problems.

Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

NBC News

People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

Launch slideshow

Assad also faced deeper diplomatic isolation over his violent crackdown on opposition with the planned suspension of Syria from the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a step opposed by his Shiite ally Iran.

He will likely view the decision, to be adopted at a summit of the 57-member body in Mecca, as the work of supporters of the Syrian opposition such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

Will world inaction help al-Qaida gain foothold in Syria?

Splits among big powers and regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia have stymied diplomatic efforts to halt the bloodshed in Syria, where opposition sources tell Reuters that 18,000 people have been killed. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 45 died Tuesday and 180 the day before.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is likely to take up the cudgels on Assad's behalf at the two-day Mecca summit that may highlight the rift between the Shiite Islamic Republic and Sunni-ruled nations that want the Syrian leader to step down.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are believed to be paying for arms that reach Syrian rebels via Turkey to try to counter the superior firepower of Assad's mostly Russian-armed military.

Russia and China, which have blocked any U.N. Security Council action on Syria, firmly oppose any outside intervention in Syria, but Beijing is trying to show a "balanced" approach by developing contacts with the opposition as well as Damascus.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, arrived in Beijing but did not speak to reporters. She will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, the foreign ministry said.

Violence intensifying in Syria: the battle continues in Aleppo

"China is also considering inviting Syrian opposition groups in the near term to China," ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

The violence, now focused on the city of Aleppo but flaring in many other areas, has displaced 1.5 million people inside Syria and forced many to flee abroad, with 150,000 registered refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, U.N. figures show.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

Syrians run for cover as a helicopter hovers over the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday.

Syria sent thousands of troops surging toward Aleppo in the early hours of Wednesday, where its forces have been pounding rebel fighters from the air, engulfing the country's largest city in total warfare to put down a revolt. 

"[President Bashar] Assad is fighting hard here because he has already lost control of nearly all the towns around Aleppo," NBC News' chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel said from the city's outskirts on Tuesday.

Recent days have seen Syria's 16-month-old uprising transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the slightly smaller capital, Damascus, where fighting exploded last week. 

President Bashar Assad's forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. They appear to have beaten rebels back from neighborhoods in the capital and are turning toward Aleppo, a commercial hub in the north. 

Syrian forces fired artillery and rocket barrages early on Wednesday at the northern Damascus suburb of al-Tel in an attempt to seize the town from rebels, causing mass panic and forcing hundreds of families to flee the area, residents and opposition activists said. 

The 216th mechanized battalion headquartered near Tel started bombarding the town of about 100,000 people at 3:15 a.m. (8:15 p.m. ET Tuesday) and initial reports indicated residential apartment blocks were being hit, they said. 

Photos: Syrian forces launch air attacks in Aleppo

"Military helicopters are flying now over the town. People were awakened by the sound of explosions and are running away," Rafe Alam, one of the activists, said by phone from a hill overlooking Tel. "Electricity and telephones have been cut off." 

Slideshow: Syria uprising

After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Jets firing?
Some residents said they believed the planes had dropped bombs, but others said booming sounds could have been caused by supersonic jets breaking the sound barrier. A correspondent for Britain's BBC television also said the jets had fired on parts of the city. 

Syrian forces launch air attacks on largest city

Assad's forces have occasionally launched airstrikes from fixed-wing jets on other cities during the uprising, but tend to rely on helicopters for airstrikes in urban areas. 

Opposition activists said thousands of troops had withdrawn with their tanks and armored vehicles from the strategic Jabal al-Zawiya highlands in Idlib province near the Turkish border and were headed toward Aleppo. 

Rebels attacked the rear of the troops withdrawing from the region at the villages of Orom al-Joz and Rami near the main Aleppo-Latakia road and at the village of al-Bara west of the Aleppo-Damascus highway, activist Abdelrahman Bakran said from the area. 

A first? Helicopter gunships bombard Syrian capital

"I heard at least 20 rockets fired, I think from helicopters, and also a lot of machine-gun fire," a resident near one of the areas being shelled, who asked to be identified only by his first name Omar, said by telephone. 

"Almost everyone has fled in panic, even my family. I have stayed to try to stop the looters; we hear they often come after an area is shelled." 

General speaks
Meanwhile, a Syrian former Brigadier-General spoke for the first time since defecting earlier in July.

In a statement broadcast Arabic news channel Al Arabiya, Manaf Tlas called on Syrians to unite.

AFP - Getty Images, file

An undated photo shows Manaf Tlass smoking a cigar in an undisclosed location.

"I speak to you as a defected member of the Syrian army, who refuses criminal violence … I speak to you as one of the sons of Syria," Tlas said.  He was believed to be speaking from Paris where he has family.

"Honorable Syrian army officers do not accept the criminal acts in Syria … Allow me to serve Syria after [President Bashar] al-Assad's era." he said. 

Tlas' defection was a significant blow to Assad and his government. While Tlas is from Syria's majority Sunni community -- Assad and much of his inner circle are Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- he was reportedly part of the president's inner circle for many years. 

"We must all unite to serve Syria and promote stability in the country, rebuilding a free and democratic Syria," Al Arabiya quoted Tlas as saying. 

"Allow me to call on a united Syria," he added.

Tlas also said he did not blame those troops who have not defected, adding that "whatever mistakes made by some members of the Syrian Arab Army ... those honorable troops who have not partaken in the killing ... are the extension of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army."

Chemical weapons safe?
Also on Wednesday, Moscow said it had received "firm assurances" from Damascus that its Syrian chemical arsenal is "fully safeguarded," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the state-owned Itar-Tass news agency. 

"We have received firm assurances from Damascus that the security of this arsenal is fully safeguarded," Gatilov told the agency in an interview. 

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi acknowledged on Monday that the country had chemical weapons, and Western countries and Israel have expressed fears chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as Assad's authority erodes. 

Israel, which has publicly discussed military action to keep Syrian chemical arms or missiles out the hands of Assad's Lebanese militant allies Hezbollah, said there was no sign any such diversion had occurred. 

"At the moment, the entire non-conventional weapons system is under the full control of the regime," a senior Israeli defense official, Amos Gilad, told Israel Radio. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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AFP - Getty Images

A photo by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network on Wednesday shows Syrian rebels a day earlier allegedly taking over an outpost belonging to government forces.

Syrian government forces are killing demonstrators at the rate of 50 to as many as a 150 a day, but Syrian opposition leaders in exile and in Syria still cannot unite around the common goal of how to topple a brutal dictator.

At this week's meeting of Syrian opposition leaders in Cairo, Egypt, the groups meant to come to an agreement on how to achieve a political transition to a government without President Bashar al-Assad at the helm. Instead they came to blows after heated arguments turned into scuffles in the five-star suburban hotel where they convened.

They disagreed on almost everything, such as how to get rid of Assad.

Khalaf Dahowd, president of the National Coordination Body's Congress in Exile, said he is against violence.  He said he believes in peaceful protest and political and diplomatic pressure: "Arms have to stop, the voice of political solution will rise up. The voice of the guns will be stopped."

Syria pummels rebels; bodies of Turkish airmen found

Dahowd opposed an armed revolt and international military intervention.

"If any military attack happens, it will destroy the social contract and the state, not the regime,” he said.  “It will destroy the social infrastructure and peace within society."

He argued that militarizing the revolution has given Assad "an excuse to enforce real power with atrocities."

"The regime can succeed in the field of war. It knows how to use force. We say that in politics, they will lose," he contended.

Dahowd was not alone.

"(Special UN Envoy) Kofi Annan's six-point plan and Geneva transition plan must be supported internationally by the United Nations Security Council to stop the killing,” said Sinam Mohamed, female president of the People's Council for Kurds in West Kurdistan. “If we support the revolution with weapons, it will lead to civil war between the Alawis and Sunnis.  It is already starting in and around Homs."

Mohamed also called for equal rights for Kurds who are not recognized as a separate ethnic group with a distinct language.

"If we support weapons, we will have a war; Syria as a country will be finished,” she said. “We don’t want to have what happened in Libya. War always ends in dialogue."

Why not have dialogue now, Mohamed contended.

Rights group: Syria's 20 ways to torture prove its crimes against humanity

Others held just as fervently to armed rebellion.

Joanna de Boer / NBC News

George Sabra, Syrian National Council spokesman, attends a Syrian opposition meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss political transition in Syria.

"I am sure Al Assad will leave by demonstrations in the streets and the Free Syrian Army (FSA)," said George Sabra, spokesman for the most widely recognized opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC). The FSA is made of defected Syrian soldiers and civilians who are fighting the regime with arms captured from raids and attacks or supplied from other countries in the region.  He said he is optimistic about the FSA's progress and claims they now control 60 percent of the country.

"They are making battle in the capital. It is a war between the Free Syrian Army and the government," Sabra said.

 "The difference between the SNC and other opposition groups is that we strongly support the FSA and are looking to supply them with weapons and other kinds of support.  It’s a real war," said Sabra, who spent eight years in prison and was tortured along with his son.

Mustafa Zakwan, director of the "I Love My Country Group," said force is the only option:

"The issue facing the opposition is clear. Syrian support is fragmented. Each region has a different opinion of how to move forward. This meeting is a useless waste of time. How do they expect that they could possibly come up with a solution in two hours when everyone disagrees. The only thing that anyone can agree on is opposition to Kofi Annan's entirely ineffective plan.  Assad will not work with Annan, it is totally unrealistic. There cannot be a solution that comes from the outside.  It must come from Syria, from our country. Syrians have to rely on force. It is the only way. The international community is afraid of Syrian rebels but they do not respect them. They are not engaged with them the way they need to be, with the real people on the ground."

Activist Bashar Kattab has lived outside of Syria for the past 20 years and supported removing Assad by force.

"Hope for a peaceful solution is lost,” Kattab said. “As long as Al Assad doesn’t believe in peace, neither can the protesters."

Opposition groups are vehemently at odds about whether they should unite at all.  Many find it undemocratic that one voice would represent so many diverse interest groups.  The Syrian National Congress purports to represent the opposition and is largely regarded as such by the international community and the media despite objections by other activists.

"The SNC … wants to dominate power,” Dahowd said. “They are not democratic. We can't go forward with that policy. The SNC is based on the Libyan model. It won't apply to Syria because there are 26 different groups in Syria."

Reporter behind the lines in Syria sees no end to war

Dahowd and many others said the SNC is dominated by fundamentalist Sunni ideology and will seek to impose its will on other social groups. Syria, with its large Shiite, Kurdish and Christian minorities, is a much more complex society than mainly Sunni Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. They were able to unite across the fault lines of religion, ideology, tribe, party and gender to unseat their respective dictators. It was only afterward, on the long and messy path to democracy, that discord emerged between factions seeking their own interests rather than the greater national good.

In Syria, the fault lines continue to impede a solution that can be embraced by all parties. After two days of rancorous talks, the final statement reflected a fractured opposition; it simply called for a halt to violence, the fall of Assad’s regime, support of the Free Syrian Army and the protection of civilians.

Participants disagreed about who would represent the opposition and the need for foreign military intervention.

The most powerful opposition group, the Free Syrian Army, boycotted the meeting altogether, saying in a statement "We refuse all kinds of dialogue and negotiations with the killer gangs…," essentially undermining the meaning of any consensus.

Charlene Gubash is NBC News' producer in Cairo. NBC News' Joanna de Boer also contributed to this article.

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A journalist for Britain's Channel 4 News said Friday he was set up by Syrian rebels to come under fire from government forces as violence continues unabated in the country.

The report comes on the heels of two massacres of civilians in the last two weeks, which have added urgency to talks between foreign powers. A U.N.-backed ceasefire, supposed to have taken effect on April 12, has failed to stop the bloodshed.

Anchor and chief correspondent for Channel 4 News Alex Thomson wrote on Friday that he traveled earlier in the week to the western town of al Qusayr with U.N. officers, who were meeting with civilian and military leaders there. When their meeting dragged on and his reporting deadline approached, Thomson and his team broke off to return to Homs, aware of the risk they ran without a U.N. escort.

Read the full Channel 4 News story: Set up to be shot in Syria's no man's land?

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Channel 4's Alex Thomson.

"Suddenly four men in a black car beckon us to follow," Thomson wrote. "We are led another route. Led in fact, straight into a free-fire zone. Told by the Free Syrian Army to follow a road that was blocked off in the middle of no-man's land."

At that point they came under fire, he said.

Smell of death at the scene of massacre in Syrian village, UN monitors say

Although Thomson told msnbc.com that he could only speculate what the Free Syrian Army's reasons were for leading him into an ambush, he said that he could "see perfectly clear reasons for getting me killed," echoing what he wrote in his report.

"I'm quite clear the rebels deliberately set us up to be shot by the Syrian Army. Dead journos are bad for Damascus," he wrote.

Thomson and his team were able to escape unharmed.

"Eventually we got out ... and on the right route, back to Damascus," he wrote.

According to Thomson's account, the incident does not appear to be isolated. He received a message on Twitter on Saturday from Nawaf al Thani, an Arab League observer and human rights lawyer, who wrote: 

"@alextomo I read your piece "set up to be shot in no mans land", I can relate as I had that same experience in Al Zabadani during our tour."

Shelling in cradle of uprising
Meanwhile, 17 people, including 10 women, were killed overnight by shelling in the Syrian town of Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar Assad erupted 15 months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. 

Fighting was also reported in Homs and Damascus, killing a total of 44 civilians and 25 on Friday, the group said, showing neither side was respecting the ceasefire, the failure of which has left outside powers divided.

Syrian troops shell rebel city as full-scale assault feared, activists say

"We didn't sleep all night, the situation is a mess, all kinds of explosions and heavy weapons," a Daraa resident who called himself Adnan said via Skype.

"We could hear the blast from the rockets hitting in the neighborhood nearby. If we were afraid, you can imagine how afraid our children are." 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to hold a news conference later on Saturday to talk about his proposal to a hold a meeting of nations and groups with influence on Assad's government and its opponents as a way to pressure both sides.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad on Wednesday said a referendum on a new constitution would be held in just 11 days' time, as his regime's forces moved on cities and towns across the country, including in capital Damascus.

Assad's government has ordered the vote for Feb. 26, state television reported. Amendments to the constitution were a key demand by opposition groups at the beginning of the 11-month uprising against Assad in March last year, but the groups now say they will accept nothing less than Assad's departure.

Meanwhile, the bombing of Homs, an anti-regime holdout, continued for the 11th day, while activists reported violence in the northwest of the country, The Guardian reported.

Rebels clashed with government forces in Altarib, near Aleppo, after reportedly blocking the road between Syria and Turkey with burning tires on Tuesday, the newspaper said.

Arab nations get ready to arm Syria rebels

Syrian soldiers backed by armored personnel carriers also stormed part of Damascus, firing machine guns in the air, in the closest deployment of troops to the center of the capital in an 11-month uprising, residents and activists said, according to Reuters.

Troops from the Fourth Armored Division and Republican Guards searched houses, made arrests and erected roadblocks in the Barzeh neighborhood, a residential area north of the city center.

Residents said the troops were looking for opposition activists and members of the rebel Free Syrian Army, which has been providing security for protests against Assad in the district.

Blog: Syrians flee as tanks storm city

"They have destroyed the facades of shops and turned back students heading to school. The raids are concentrating on Dahar al-Mustaha and Haret al-Bustan," Mazen, a university student, said by phone from Barzeh.

He said at least 1,000 soldiers had deployed in the district after the roads were sealed off, along with armored personnel carriers, armored jeeps and pickup trucks with heavy machine guns mounted on them.

The largely Sunni Muslim district has been among the most active in the capital in the protest movement against the 42- year rule of Asssad and his father, the late President Hafez Assad.

UN rights chief: Syria crimes against humanity must not go unpunished

Pro-Assad militiamen from an Alawite suburb in mountains overlooking Barzeh had managed to suppress the demonstrations for months until the Free Syrian Army began protecting them in the last few weeks, residents said.

A firefight erupted last week in Qaboun neighborhood, which is adjacent to Barzeh, between loyalist forces and Free Syrian Army fighters, indicating the emergence of armed opposition to Assad in the capital.

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Msnbc.com, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.