More deaths as rebels mention transition

24 Jul 2012, 7:55 pm   -   Source: AAP

As Syria's death toll continues to rise, the opposition has hinted at a peace proposal and accused the regime of deploying chemical weapons.

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Syrian officials and opposition activists say fierce clashes have persisted in Syria's commercial capital of Aleppo, stretching into a fourth day.

In separate developments, the opposition hinted it was ready to start talking about peace and accused the regime of deploying chemical weapons at airports near the country's borders.

The state news agency said on Tuesday that regime forces fought with rebels in the Aleppo neighbourhoods of Salaheddine and Sukkari and claimed they inflicted heavy losses.

The Britain-based Syria Observatory reported heavy fighting after midnight in several neighbourhoods as well as shelling by regime forces. Some areas also saw protests early in the morning.

Government forces appear to have reasserted control over the capital Damascus after a week of fighting.

At least 14 people were killed from midnight to Tuesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It put Monday's death toll nationwide at 116, including 64 civilians, 17 rebel fighters and 35 Syrian troops.

The opposition Syrian National Council on Tuesday also reported at least eight other people killed as regime forces put down a mutiny in an Aleppo prison during the night.

It said the deaths occurred when regime forces fired bullets and tear gas at protesting prisoners.

Meanwhile the Syrian opposition has said it would be willing to accept a transition led temporarily by a member of the regime if President Bashar al-Assad stepped aside.

Syrian National Council spokesman George Sabra said: "We would agree to the departure of Assad and the transfer of his powers to a regime figure, who would lead a transitional period like what happened in Yemen."

The Arab League on Monday called on Assad to swiftly step aside in order to end the fighting that has swept across the country.

"There is agreement on the need for the rapid resignation of President Bashar al-Assad," Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani told journalists at the end of a ministerial meeting in Doha.

"We accept this initiative because the priority today is to put an end to the massacres and protect Syrian civilians, not the trial of Assad," Sabra said.

Asked about which regime figure could lead such a transition, Sabra said "Syria has patriotic figures both in the regime and among officers in the Syrian army who could take such a role," without giving further details.

The Syrian regime has rejected all Arab League calls for a transition plan that would see Assad leave power.

Syrian rebels on Tuesday said government forces had moved chemical weapons to airports near the country's borders.

"We have confirmed information that the weapons were moved to airports located at the borders of Syria," Brigadier Kassem Saeddine, of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA), said.

"Most of us in the Free Syrian Army command know very well where these weapons are located and now we have solid information that (Syrian President Bashar) al-Assad has transferred some of these weapons, with the equipment for mixing chemical components, to airports near the border," he told the Doha-based broadcaster Al Jazeera.

The FSA said that the weapons had been moved to pressure the international community.

The claim came a day after the regime warned it could use the weapons if Syria was attacked by an external force.

On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdisi, warned that Syria would "not use any chemical or other unconventional weapons against its civilians, and will only use them in case of external aggression".

Syria's comments sparked wide-scale international condemnation and prompted US President Barack Obama to warn Syria not to make the "tragic mistake" of using such weapons.

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