TURKEY CONCERNED OVER ASSAD FALL
tert.am
10.12.12
Syrian rebel fighters are at last allowing themselves to believe what
seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago, The Guardian reports.
After a bloody three-week siege of Damascus, they are so confident
that they may be on the brink of seizing the capital that they are
allowing themselves to consider what would happen in the chaotic
aftermath of a victory.
And it is not just in Syria that anxiety is growing about what might
follow the fall of the beleaguered Syrian regime. Fear is growing
among its neighbours, too, about what might then ensue.
The security establishment and presidential palace, so far unbending
pillars of state control, are now well within reach, rebel fighters
on the outskirts of Damascus say. But to hold on to the city once it
falls, they believe, means turning their minds to what comes next.
“This time, unlike July [the last co-ordinated assault on Damascus],
the regime are not fighting like they were,” a rebel leader from
Darrya, near the capital, said. “They are shelling us from the
mountain and bombing us with jets. But they seem cautious. We are
dictating terms.”
The southern outskirts of the city are now firmly guerrilla territory.
Rebel groups are openly trying to disrupt flights to the nearby
international airport. “It is a strategic target and we need to
control it,” the rebel leader said. “We must use big ideas these days.”