MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By KIM SENGUPTA and CATRINA STEWART – “Britain has formally opened talks with the Syrian opposition movement as international pressure continues to mount against the beleaguered regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Frances Guy, a former ambassador to Lebanon, met members of the exiled opposition in Paris yesterday. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, is to meet members of the Syrian opposition in London next week when they will also hold talks with senior officials in Downing Street.

Although the UK, along with other Western states like France – which appealed to the United Nations yesterday to impose tougher sanctions – has been in informal contact with the opposition for the last three months, the progression of the working relationship opens up the prospect of the rebels eventually being recognised as the country’s representatives and supplanting the Assad regime.

The West’s Libyan mission started in a similar fashion with the country’s revolutionaries, but senior diplomatic sources warned against drawing parallels. ‘This is not about recognition of them as the government – that is not the case,’ said a senior diplomatic source. ‘The difference with the Libyan situation was that the Libyan National Transitional Council controlled swathes of the country. We are asking the Syrian opposition to present a coherent set of policies and organise themselves.’ The Syrian National Council and the National Co-ordination Committee for Democratic Change are among the groups whose leaders have been involved in the talks.” Read more.

Syrian army defectors attack intelligence base near Damascus – “Syrian army defectors have attacked a string of military bases near Damascus, including an intelligence complex on the outskirts of the capital, in the first such reported assault on a major security facility in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Members of the Free Syrian Army fired shoulder-mounted rockets and machine guns at the compound run by Air Force Intelligence in Harasta, a suburb of the capital. A gunfight ensued and helicopters circled the area. The attack appeared to mark an escalation in armed confrontations between government and opposition forces instead of clashes involving street protesters.” Read more.