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| Members of the Free Syrian Army are seen on a damaged tank in Jerjenaz, near Idlib, on June 29 |
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday Syrian opposition forces were growing more effective and the sooner the violence ended, the better were the chances of sparing Syria’s government from a “catastrophic assault” by rebel fighters.
Syria’s navy fired live missiles from ships and helicopters over the weekend, in an exercise aiming at demonstrating its ability to “defend Syria’s shores against any possible aggression”, state media said.
Syrian television aired video of a variety of missiles being fired from launchers on land and from ships, with Defence Minister Dawud Abdallah Rahijia in attendance.
“Naval Forces conducted an operational live fire exercise on Saturday, using missiles launched from the sea and coast, helicopters and missile boats, simulating a scenario of repelling a sudden attack from the sea,” Syrian news agency Sana said, adding that manoeuvres would continue for several days.
Opposition figures have called for a no-fly zone and Nato strikes against Syrian forces, similar to those carried out in Libya last year which enabled rebel ground forces to end the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
But while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has faced sanctions and international condemnation over his crackdown on dissent which has left thousands dead, major Western and Arab powers have shied away from direct military action.
Turkey has reinforced its border and scrambled fighter aircraft several times since Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet on June 22 over what Damascus said were Syrian territorial waters in the Mediterranean. Ankara said the incident occurred in international airspace.
“The sooner there can be an end to the violence and a beginning of a political transition process, not only will fewer people die, but there is a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria but to the region,” Clinton told a Tokyo news conference.
She appeared to be referring to the possibility of Syrian rebels launching such an assault on state institutions rather than to any outside intervention.
“There is no doubt that the opposition is getting more effective in their defence of themselves and in going on the offence against the Syrian military and the Syrian government’s militias. So, the future ... should be abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime,” Clinton added.
“The sand is running out of the hour glass.”
In the US, Republican Senator John McCain criticised Clinton and President Barack Obama for failing to show greater American leadership in the Syria crisis.
“The US of America’s performance so far has been shameful and disgraceful,” McCain, the top Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, said on the CBS programme Face the Nation.
“We need to show first leadership. The president of the US should be speaking out for the people of Syria,” McCain said.
McCain said he was not calling for American forces on the ground in Syria but that the US should help arm Syrian rebels to make it a fair fight against Syrian government forces who have arms from Russia.
“We should get arms to them (rebels) so that we can balance the forces, it’s not a fair fight, Russian arms are pouring in, Iranians are on the ground,” McCain said.
McCain said the Syrian opposition has not been taken over by extremists, but that could happen if the conflict drags on. “The fact is that we know who to get arms to, we know that if they had a sanctuary or a safe zone that they could organise better,” McCain said.
More than 30 people were killed yesterday during a government bombardment and clashes between Syrian forces and Free Syrian Army rebels fighting to oust Assad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Activists reported heavy shelling in residential areas of Deir Al Zor city and in Daraa province, the birthplace of the revolt near the Jordanian border.
Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, said residents of Al Sharifa in the wider Deir Al Zor province were reporting that rebels had for the first time taken over a tank and were using it to attack army positions.
The rebels have gained confidence in recent weeks, staging bolder attacks, holding pockets of territory across the country and clashing with troops only a few kilometres from the presidential palace in Damascus.