MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“BEIRUT — Army defectors ambushed dozens of Syrian troops and regime forces gunned down civilians during one of the bloodiest days of the 8-month-old uprising, which appeared Tuesday to be spiraling out of President Bashar Assad’s control.

Up to 90 people were killed in a gruesome wave of violence Monday, activists said. The extent of the bloodshed only came to light Tuesday, in part because corpses lying in the streets did not reach the morgue until daylight.

As the bloodshed spiked, Assad’s former allies were turning on him in rapid succession — a sign of profound impatience with a leader who has failed to stem months of unrest that could explode into a regional conflagration.

Turkey, Jordan and the 22-member Arab League all signaled they were fed up with Assad’s response to the uprising and were ready to pressure him to go.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he no longer has confidence in the government led by Assad, a 46-year-old eye doctor who inherited power from his father 11 years ago.

‘No regime can survive by killing or jailing,’ said Erdogan, who cultivated close ties with Assad before the uprising began in March. ‘No one can build a future over the blood of the oppressed.'” Read more.

Syria: Arab League sets deadline to end ‘repression’ – “The Arab League has given Syria three days to ‘stop the bloody repression’ of protesters and allow in teams of observers. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani said Syria faced sanctions if it did not co-operate. At a meeting of the Arab League in Morocco, he said diplomatic efforts were ‘close to the end of the road’. As the meeting took place, angry crowds in Damascus attacked the embassies of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Morocco responded by recalling its ambassador to Syria, AFP news agency reported. Hours earlier – in another sign of Syria’s increasing international isolation – France also said it was withdrawing its ambassador.” Read more.