• Thousands flee Syria in massive exodus

    Syrian rebels claim to have seized a key crossing point on the Syria-Turkey border, which could create an access point for weapons and fighters to enter the country and an exit point for refugees. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Cairo.

    By NBC News wire services

    Updated at 5:37 p.m. ET — Thousands of Syrians fled their country on Friday in one of the biggest refugee exoduses of the 20-month civil war after rebels seized a border town, and the United Nations warned that millions more still in Syria will need help as winter sets in.


    In Qatar, the main opposition group outside Syria elected a new leader. However, it will start talks on Saturday with other factions, including representatives of rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's forces, on forming a wider body that hopes to gain international recognition as a government-in-waiting.

    The U.N. said 11,000 refugees had fled in 24 hours, mostly to Turkey. The influx caused alarm in Ankara, which is worried about its ability to cope with such large numbers and has pushed hard, so far without success, for a buffer zone to be set up inside Syria where refugees could be housed.

    Rebels overran the frontier town of Ras al-Ain late on Thursday, continuing a drive that has already seen them push Assad's troops from much of the north and seize several crossing points, a rebel commander and opposition sources said.

    "The crossing is important because it opens another line to Turkey, where we can send the wounded and get supplies," said Khaled al-Walid, a commander in the Raqqa rebel division.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that compiles opposition activist reports, said at least 20 members of the Syrian security forces were killed when rebel fighters attacked a security headquarters in Ras al-Ain.

    Thousands of residents poured out of the Arab and Kurd town, in the northeastern oil-producing province of Hasaka, 375 miles from Damascus.

    Syria's opposition SNC elects new head
    The Syrian National Council, the main opposition body outside the country, elected veteran activist George Sabra as its new head in Doha on Friday.

    Thousands have fled violence in Syria in the last 24 hours, with many Syrian refugees now sheltering in Turkish camps. In his latest interview, Syrian President Assad says his army is trying to avoid civilian deaths. NBC's John Ray reports.

    Sabra, a Christian, takes over a body that is under heavy criticism from international allies for being ineffective in the fight against Assad and for being plagued by personal disputes.

    Sabra appealed for arms to fight Assad's forces. "We need only one thing to support our right to survive and to protect ourselves: we need weapons, we need weapons," he told reporters.

    Qatar, the United States and other powers are pressing the fractious Syrian opposition groups to come together and the SNC has agreed to open unity talks, although it fears its influence will be diluted in any new body.

    Western countries and Syria's neighbors fear that hardline Islamist groups close to al-Qaida are growing in influence among rebels on the ground in Syria.

    An outline agreement could see the SNC and other opposition figures agree on a 60-member political assembly, mirroring the Transitional National Council in Libya, which united opposition to Moammar Gadhafi last year and took power when he fell.

    Refugee exodus
    In Geneva, a senior U.N. official highlighted the plight of Syrians still in the country. An estimated four million people would need humanitarian aid by early next year when the country is in the grip of winter, up from 2.5 million now, said John Ging, director of operations at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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    "Every day our humanitarian colleagues on the ground are engaging with people who are ever more desperate, ever more fearful for their lives and for the lives of their families because of this conflict," Ging told a news conference. "Since this crisis has begun we have not been able to keep pace with the increasing need."

    The latest flight of refugees raised the total recorded by the U.N. to over 408,000 in Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and North Africa.

    At least 38,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad erupted nearly 20 months ago, according to Observatory data.

    The Turkish state-run Anatolian news agency reported Friday that 26 Syrian military officers had also arrived in Turkey with their families overnight, in the biggest mass desertion of senior soldiers from Assad's forces in months.

    Efforts to end the bloodshed have been dogged by regional and international rifts, as well as by divisions between civilian and armed opposition factions inside and outside Syria.

    Analysis: US loses patience with Syria opposition group

    'Sole legitimate representative'
    A source inside Doha meetings that lasted into the early hours of Friday morning told Reuters that members of the Syrian National Council (SNC), a group made up mainly of exiled politicians, had shifted views and were coming to accept the need to form a wider body.

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    Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.

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    "We will not leave today without an agreement," the source told Reuters. "The body will be the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Once they get international recognition, there will be a fund for military support."

    Damascus bomb kills at least 15, groups say

    The SNC, which has previously been the main opposition group on the international stage, may have about one-third of the seats in the new body, but would otherwise lose much of its influence.

    Foreign countries that oppose Assad are determined to push Syrian opposition figures to cooperate, which means bridging gaps between exiles and those working in Syria, and between liberals and increasingly powerful Islamist militants.

    The West and its regional allies worry that if Assad were to fall before the opposition unites behind a credible body capable of leading the country, increasingly powerful Islamist militia would quickly take over Syria.

    Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

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

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    New pressure after Obama’s re-election
    Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for overhauling the opposition amid eroding faith in the SNC, saying there needed to be representation of those "on the frontlines and dying." British Prime Minister David Cameron also signaled international pressure to unite the opposition.

    UK PM: Safe exit for Syria's Assad 'could be arranged'

    Pressure on the opposition to unite increased further this week after the re-election of President Barack Obama, which removed uncertainty about the U.S. position.

    A diplomat familiar with the talks said that throughout the week the SNC had shifted towards taking international pressure more seriously, especially after Obama's victory.

    Analysis: Election over, Obama inbox overflows with world crises

    "The Americans felt a swagger after the results of the election and Obama's win. No one can dismiss them anymore, because they are staying," he told Reuters, adding that a State Department official sat in on Thursday meetings.

    "But reaching a real deal over the initiative will also depend on who joins this assembly from the SNC, which will have no real influence after that," the diplomat said.

    In an interview with a Russian television channel, Syrian President Bashir Assad vowed to live and die in Syria, even as a 19-month old uprising against him rages. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    The SNC is due Friday to complete elections to its executive council and choose a new leader, before continuing talks with Seif, representatives of rebel groups and other political factions on forming the new assembly.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    Assad told Russia Today television on Thursday he would "live and die in Syria," comments that echoed the words of other Arab leaders before they lost power in 2011.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Analysis: US loses patience with Syria opposition group

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    By Paul Nassar, NBC News

    News analysis

    BEIRUT -- The Obama administration’s suggestion this week that it was prepared to sideline the opposition-in-exile Syrian National Council and attempt to handpick more representative leaders at a crucial meeting next week came after months of frustration over the group's dysfunction and ineffectiveness.

    Made up of Syrian intellectuals and political exiles, the Istanbul-based SNC has barely been able to coordinate the simplest of tasks, let alone run the opposition against a well-entrenched regime such as Bashar Assad’s.

    It has clearly exhausted the patience of the United States.

    On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration was suggesting names and organizations that should feature prominently in any new rebel leadership that is to emerge from a four-day conference starting Sunday in Doha, the capital of Qatar.


    "This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but who, in many instances, have not been inside Syria for 20, 30, 40 years," Clinton said during a visit to Croatia.

    "There has to be a representation of those who are in the front lines fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom," she said.

    Anti-regime activists say at least 36,000 people have been killed since the struggle to oust Assad began 19 months ago.

    U.S. officials have watched with concern the SNC’s inability to rally around a common cause.

    Syrian opposition wary of US push to coalesce leadership

    The members appear incapable of electing a leader that the whole council could agree on. More often than not, they opt for bland technocrats to fill the void.

    Lacking a strong leader, the SNC has been ineffectual at inspiring the opposition.

    A leaderless revolution
    Most importantly, the members of the council have no relevance to the people who are fighting and dying on the Syrian battlefields.

    Some of the rebel fighters are former Syrian Army conscripts who defected to the rebels rather than be forced to kill their own. But most are novices to combat.

    Former farmers or businessmen, many of these rebels have only the most rudimentary training and are poorly equipped. When asked questions about the SNC, their responses tend to be lukewarm, at best.

    These are not rebels caught in the zeal of fighting behind a charismatic leader.

    As fighting rages in Syria with heavy air raids, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S.  would push for a major revamp in Syria's opposition leadership. NBC's Keith Miller reports.

    Instead, their unity stems from a hatred of the regime in Damascus -- but little else. The SNC enjoys little influence among them.

    There is no genuine leader to rally around. This is a leaderless revolution.

    Faiz Amru, a Syrian army general who defected earlier this year, told The Associated Press that any transitional government or body created abroad cannot possibly represent those dying in Syria.

    "Everyone is trying to push their own agendas," he said by phone from the Turkish-Syrian border. "The big powers have hijacked the Syrian revolution."

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    The West fears that an opposition leadership vacuum would allow the anti-Assad rebellion to tilt toward Islamic radicalism, rather than toward the inclusive, secular and democratic values the SNC claims to uphold.

    Anybody traveling through rebel-held areas in northern Syria can easily spot the foreign fighters, driving around under the Islamist black flag.

    These men are not Syrian. Some are Libyans, others Chechen. They are all radical in their religious and political beliefs.

    So it is unsurprising that the United States has decided to seek an amicable divorce from the SNC. The events of the past year have proved just how fickle a partner they were.

    Lessons from Iraq war
    The United States also may be applying lessons learned from the Iraq War.

    The Bush administration was burned when it put its weight behind Iraqi exiles, such as Ahmed Chalabi, who had little relevance in the eyes of the local population.

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

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    So far, nothing suggests that Syria will be any different.

    Attempts have been made in the past to rectify the disunity and make the SNC more relevant.

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    But when members of the opposition met in Cairo last June, the results were nothing short of catastrophic. Screaming matches ensued. Nothing of value was decided.

    It would have been comic, had the reality in Syria itself not been so tragic.

    Slideshow: Behind Syrian rebel lines

    Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.

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    US: 'We're not giving them a list’
    The State Department has spent the past few months determining which members are worth backing in Doha, but insists it would not issue dictates.

    "We're not giving them a list," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. "Ultimately it's up to the Syrians themselves to make those choices. This is in no way telling them what to do."

    Syria warplanes pound rebel strongholds

    Muhydin Lazikani, a London-based writer and SNC member, told the AP that Clinton had no right to criticize the SNC at a time when the Obama administration has no clear path for Syria.

    "All they try to do is blame the SNC," said Lazikani.

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    Mohammad Sarmini, a Turkey-based SNC spokesman, told the AP that the United States, through this new push, is "trying to make up for its shortcomings and impotence to stop the killings and massacres in Syria."

    The Obama administration has said it is not providing arms to internal opponents of Assad and is limiting its aid to non-lethal humanitarian assistance.

    Progress or paralysis?
    Western officials hope that the meetings in Doha, held over five days, would be everything that the Cairo ones were not.

    Participants and observers hope the gathering will prove effective in choosing a unified council that is made up of all of Syria’s ethnic and religious groups.

    It remains to be seen whether the opposition is able to elect a representative who can serve as the face of the rebellion against the Assad regime. The SNC will be allocated seats on the new council, although they are expected to remain in the minority.

    But if the Doha meetings fail, the only certainty will be that Syria’s nightmarish civil war will drag on and the tragic events played out every day throughout the country will continue unabated.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Syrian groups come to blows while seeking peace

    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.

    By NBC's Charlene Gubash

    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.

    From the front line in what looks ever more like a fight for Syria's capital Damascus, members of the Free Syrian Army appear to be closing in on President Assad's stronghold, at a terrible cost to both sides. NBC's Bill Neely reports.

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  • Guns silent in Syria, but truce terms not fully met says Annan

    The first day of the United Nations brokered ceasefire in Syria has held. There was no bombardment by Syrian forces.  However, U.N. envoy Kofi Annan says by failing to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons, Syria has not fully complied with the peace plan. ITV's Neil Connery has been monitoring the ceasefire from neighboring Beirut.

    By Reuters

    Updated 1:40 p.m. ET: Syria has not fully complied with the terms of a peace plan, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council on Thursday as a fragile cease-fire appeared to be holding.

    Annan urged the 15-nation body to demand the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from towns, according to an official who was present.

    Aside from a shooting at a checkpoint in Hama, Syrian troops held their fire in the hours after a U.N.-backed cease-fire took effect at dawn on Thursday, casting a silence over rebellious towns they had bombarded heavily in recent days.

    Annan told council members that Syria's fragile truce needs support and called for the swift deployment of a first wave of unarmed observers to monitor implementation of his six-point peace plan, to be followed by a second wave of observers later, diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

    A UN-brokered truce is keeping the guns silent in Syria - so far. ITN's Paul Davis reports.

    The former U.N. secretary-general said earlier in a statement that "Syria is experiencing a rare moment of calm on the ground," adding that it "must be sustained."

    "The Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, will be asking the Security Council for approval of the deployment of a U.N. Observer Mission as soon as possible," Annan said in a statement.

    "This will allow us to move quickly to launch a serious political dialogue that will address the concerns and aspirations of the Syrian people," he said.

    Annan has called for 200 to 250 unarmed U.N.-mandated observers to monitor the ceasefire. The Security Council is due to meet later on Thursday to discuss a draft resolution to approve the monitoring mission.

    "We hope that even tomorrow we might adopt a Security Council resolution on the deployment of that advance group of monitors," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

    "The full-fledged mission will take some time to deploy ... If we are able to put 20 or 30 monitors (there) early next week, very good. If we are able to put more in the next few days that's even better," he said.

    Annan's six-point plan calls for a cease-fire by Syrian armed forces and rebels and dialogue between the government and opposition aimed at a "political transition" for the country.

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  • Rebels plead for weapons to make their vision of post-Assad Syria happen

    International pressure is mounting on Syrian leader Bashar Assad, as diplomats from about 80 nations gather in Tunisia to discuss the crisis. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    The main opposition Syrian National Council outlined on Friday its vision for a post-Assad Syria, and appealed for the weapons required to make that happen.

    The SNC announced it was proposing an interim presidential council of national leaders and a truth and reconciliation committee at a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group of 70 Western and Arab nations in Tunisia Friday.

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said ahead of the meeting that rebel fighters would become “increasingly capable,” saying they will “from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves as well as begin offensive measures."

    And, in her opening remarks to the conference, Clinton said the regime of President Bashar Assad had "ignored every warning, squandered every opportunity and broken every agreement."

    The Friends of Syria group is demanding an immediate cease-fire so humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syrians who have suffered under a yearlong assault, especially those in the city of Homs, which has been under bombardment for three weeks.

    "If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-saving aid to reach civilians, it will have ever-more blood on its hands," Clinton said, noting the same was true of nations like Russia and China, which are supporting Assad.

    Clinton: Syria rebels will get arms 'somehow'

    According to a copy of his speech to the meeting, SNC leader Burhan Ghalioun called for the continuation of the uprising until Assad was ousted or handed over power as per an Arab League plan.

    BBC News reported that the SNC said countries should be allowed to supply arms to aid rebel fighters if President Bashar Assad’s government refuses to stop attacking civilians and accept the terms of an Arab League peace deal.

    Red Cross tries to help injured reporters in Homs, Syria

    However a Syrian opposition source told Reuters on Friday that Western and other countries were already turning a blind eye to weapons purchases by Syrian exiles.

    The source said exiles were already smuggling light arms, communications equipment and night vision goggles to rebels inside Syria.

    While speaking to a group in London on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses the violent situation in Syria and the future of President Bashar Assad.

    Syrian opposition supporters were also trying to find ways to bring anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons to the Free Syrian Army, which is composed mainly of Syrian soldiers who have defected and volunteer civilians, the source added.

    Hamas ditches Assad
    The Hamas prime minister of Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said after Friday prayers at Egypt's Al-Azhar Mosque that Hamas commends "the brave Syrian people that are moving toward democracy and reform."

    Assad has long hosted and supported leaders of the Islamic militant movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, but the group has significantly reduced the presence of its exiled leaders in Syria since the start of the 11-month-old uprising against the Syrian regime.

    Some of the top Hamas leaders are now spending most of their time in Qatar, Egypt and Lebanon, as the group tries to distance itself from Assad's brutal crackdown on opponents.

    As efforts were being made to get weapons to the rebels, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on the world to find ways to deny the Syrian government "the means with which to perpetrate atrocities against the Syrian people."

    "We must seek ways and means of enforcing an arms embargo upon the regime," Davutoglu told the Friends of Syria meeting Friday.

    Syrian rebels have tried to fight back, but they are losing the battle after being outnumbered and outgunned. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    There was drama as the conference got under way at the Palace Hotel in Tunis, when several hundred pro-Assad protesters breached the grounds, forcing Clinton to be diverted to her hotel and delaying her appearance at the meeting. Police wielding batons stopped them getting inside the hotel itself and drove them out the parking lot after about 15 minutes.

    GOP rivals back arming Syria's rebels

    According to the copy of his speech, Ghalioun said that after Assad was gone there should be the "formation of a presidential council composed of national leaders and the formation of a transitional government of political, military and technocratic figures who have not fought against the revolution."

    NYT: US should help Syria rebels, McCain says

    He also proposed the creation of a council that would address the abuses of the Assad regime and prevent any political or sectarian reprisals.

    "The committee will work to reconcile and restore the sense of nationalism and human values that have been lacking during this crisis," he said. The transitional period would end with elections to a parliament that would draw up a new constitution.

    NYT: As others isolate Syria, Chavez ships fuel to it

    Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said in a speech at the meeting Friday that an Arab force should be created to impose peace in Syria and allow aid to get in.

    "There is a need to create an Arab force and open humanitarian corridors to provide security to the Syrian people," he said.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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