The crisis in Syria takes a dramatic turn for the worse. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
By msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson and news services
At least 11 people were killed early on Sunday in separate attacks as Syria's government forces battle rebels for control of areas around the capital, Damascus, according to reports by the state news agency and activists.
The violence followed Saturday's announcement that the Arab League has halted its monitoring mission in the country, sharply criticizing the regime of President Bashar Assad for the escalating armed conflict.
The uprising against Assad has become increasingly militarized recently as some frustrated protesters and army defectors arm themselves against the regime. Last week, more than 70 were killled in a single day.
The rising bloodshed has added urgency to new attempts by Arab and Western countries to find a resolution to the 10 months of violence that according to the United Nations has killed at least 5,400 people as Assad seeks to crush persistent protests demanding an end to his rule.
But the initiatives continue to face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab peace plan which it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.
Chris Doyle, director of the
Syria's state-run news agency SANA said "terrorists" ambushed a bus carrying soldiers on a road south of Damascus on Sunday morning, killing six soldiers and wounding six others.
It said an explosive device was detonated by remote control as the bus was traveling in the suburb of Sahnaya, some 12 miles (20 km) south of the capital. SANA says those killed include two first lieutenants. Six other soldiers were injured.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces killed at least five civilians on Sunday in an attack to take back large suburbs of the capital Damascus that had fallen under rebel control, activists said.
Around 2,000 soldiers in buses and armored personnel carriers, along with at least 50 tanks and armored vehicles moved at dawn into the eastern Ghouta area on the edge of Damascus to reinforce troops surrounding the suburbs of Saqba, Hammouriya and Kfar Batnba, they said.
In recent days, Syrian government forces killed at least 33 people in a rebel town near the Lebanese border.
Rankous, a mountain town of 25,000 people, 19 miles (30 km) north of Damascus, has been under tank bombardment since Wednesday, when it was besieged by several thousand troops led by the elite Fourth Division, under the command of President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher, they said.
A resident of the nearby town of Sednaya, who did not want to be identified, said the 33 were killed since Wednesday and that no casualty figures were yet available for Sunday.
"We have managed to get through to people there who say the bombardment has brought down at least 10 buildings," he said, adding that tens of soldiers have defected and went in to help defend the town.
"A tented army camp has been set up near the entrance of Rankous. Most of the town's residents have fled to nearby villages," he added.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian authorities.
It was the second major attack on Rankous since November when it was stormed by troops after a demonstration demanding Assad's removal was broadcast on the Arab news channel al-Jazeera, activists said.
As foreign powers consider their next move, Russia has put itself in conflict with the West as it shields Assad's regime from United Nations sanctions and continues to provide it with weapons even as others impose arms embargoes.
Russia's defiance of international efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protests is rooted in a calculation that it can keep a Mideast presence by propping up its last remaining ally in the region ? and has nothing to lose if it fails.
But Moscow's relations with Washington are already strained amid controversy over U.S. missile defense plans and other disputes. And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin seems eager to defy the U.S. as he campaigns to reclaim the presidency in March elections.
"It would make no sense for Russia to drop its support for Assad," said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the independent Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. "He is Russia's last remaining ally in the Middle East, allowing it to preserve some influence in the region."
Moscow may also hope that Assad can hang on to power with its help and repay Moscow with more weapons contracts and other lucrative deals.
And observers note that even as it has nothing to lose from backing Assad, it has nothing to gain from switching course and supporting the opposition.
"Russia has crossed the Rubicon," said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of Global Weapons Trade.
He said Russia will always be marked as the patron of the Assad regime regardless of the conflict's outcome, so there's little incentive to build bridges with the protesters.
"Russia will be seen as the dictator's ally. If Assad's regime is driven from power, it will mean an end to Russia's presence," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.
Syria has been Moscow's top ally in the Middle East since Soviet times, when it was led by the incumbent's father, Hafez Assad. The Kremlin saw it as a bulwark for countering U.S. influence in the region and heavily armed Syria against Israel.
While Russia's relations with Israel have improved greatly since the Soviet collapse, ties with Damascus helped Russia retain its clout as a member of the Quartet of international mediators trying to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
After Bashar Assad succeeded his father in 2000, Russia sought to boost ties by agreeing to annul 73 percent of Syria's Soviet-era debt. In the mid-2000s, Putin said Russia would re-establish its place in the Mideast via "the Syria route."
The most powerful Russian weapon reportedly delivered to Syria is the Bastion anti-ship missile complex intended to protect its coast. The Bastion is armed with supersonic Yakhont cruise missiles that can sink any warship at a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles) and are extremely difficult to intercept, providing a strong deterrent against any attack from the sea.
Reuters, the Associated Press and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.
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