With thousands of young lives shattered by the continuing war in Syria,
refugee Saleh tells CNN he lives in fear that when the phone rings it
will bring news that he has lost another brother in the fighting.
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With young lives shattered by the continuing war in Syria, refugee Saleh
tells CNN how he lives in fear that when the phone rings it will mean
he has lost another brother in the fighting.
WATCH
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REFUGEES FULL COVERAGE
SYRIAN REFUGEES »
Syrian rebels say they have captured a base used to bomb opposition
forces -- but U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi insists there can be "no
military solution."
FULL STORY
SYRIA CRISISSyrian rebels claim capture of strategic military base
January 11, 2013 -- Updated 2020 GMT (0420 HKT)
A Syrian mother and her two
children walk through the mud after the first snow of the year fell the
previous night at a refugee camp in Bab al-Salam on the Syria-Turkey
border, on Wednesday, January 9. Click through to view images from the
Syrian conflict from December and January, or see photos from November.
HIDE CAPTION
Showdown in Syria
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Rebel fighters and
militants from various Islamic groups, including the jihadist al-Nusra
Front, took part in the offensive, an opposition spokesman said.
They've seized control of
buildings, ammunition and military equipment at the base in Idlib
province, the opposition said, signaling a major blow to President
Bashar al-Assad's forces.
"They are taking credit
now for having taken the air base," U.S. State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday. "And, as you know, we consider
this significant on two fronts.
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"First of all, to ground
some of the air assets of the Assad regime that they've been using
against civilians. And, secondly, to break their ability to resupply in
the north."
The strategic base has
been used by government forces to send explosives to areas in the north,
according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In addition to housing
about government 400 soldiers, the group said, warplanes that attack the
region were taking off from there.
"The Taftanaz air base
has been completely liberated," said Hamza Abu Hussam, a spokesman for
the Binnish Coordination Committee, a local opposition group.
"I went down to see with my own eyes and was able to get in."
In a video posted on
YouTube, opposition forces from various groups cheer and chant "God is
great," purportedly after they took over the military airport.
CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Brahimi: No military solution
The U.N. and Arab League
special envoy to Syria stressed Friday that there is "no military
solution" to the brutal civil war being fought in the Arab nation.
Lakhdar Brahimi made the
remark after meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail
Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on Friday at
the United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland.
"We are all very, very
deeply aware of the immense suffering of the Syrian people which has
gone for far too long. And we all stressed the need for a speedy end to
bloodshed, the destruction, and all forms violence in Syria," he said.
"We stressed again, in our view, there is no military solution to this
conflict."
Syria accused Brahimi of
bias Thursday, casting a shadow on efforts to end a war that, according
to the United Nations, has killed more than 60,000 people in nearly two years.
Brahimi has "deviated
from the essence of his mission and clearly unveiled his bias to circles
known for conspiring against Syria and the interests of the Syrian
people," Syrian state media reported.
The statement from
Damascus was a response to a BBC interview in which Brahimi in effect
called on al-Assad to resign. He said the president would have no place
in the transition to a post-conflict Syria.
"I think what people are
saying is, a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long,"
Brahimi said, according to the interview Thursday.
Al-Assad took over from his late father, who seized power in 1970 and ruled for three decades.
Brahimi said both the
United States and Russia want to help end the war and forge a future.
The United States long has called for al-Assad to resign. Russia, which
historically has had close ties with Syria, has blocked tough action
against the government in the U.N. Security Council.
"I'm absolutely certain
the Russians are as preoccupied as I am, as Americans are, by the bad
situation that exists in Syria and its continuing deterioration, and I'm
absolutely certain they would like to contribute to its solution," he
said.
He cited the "absolute necessity" for pushing for a peaceful solution.
"It is the wider
international community," he said, particularly Security Council
members, who "can really create the opening that is necessary to start
effectively solving the problem."
Securing chemical weapons
The escalating conflict
and the president's efforts to retain his grip on power have sparked a
push to ensure that chemical weapons are secure.
U.S. officials say they are working with nations in the Middle East to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons sites.
"We're not talking about
ground troops, but it depends on what ... happens in a transition,"
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday.
Asked whether he had
ruled out putting U.S. troops in Syria to secure such weapons, Panetta
said: "You always have to keep the possibility that, if there is a
peaceful transition and international organizations get involved, that
they might ask for assistance in that situation. But in a hostile
situation, we're not planning to ask for that."
Russian navy holding exercises off Syria's coast
Ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are heading to the eastern Mediterranean for exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
A tactical group of
Black Sea Fleet warships, headed by the cruiser Moskva, will undertake
exercises in the eastern sector of the Mediterranean Sea. The tanker
Ivan Bubnov has fueled the ships, and emergency drills have been carried
out for the upcoming exercises. The tanker filled up on fuel and water
Thursday at the Cyprus port of Larnaka.
A Baltic Fleet group
consisting of the patrol vessel Yaroslav Mudry and tanker Lena will head
for the eastern Mediterranean, where the two ships will practice stores
transfers at sea. The patrol vessel will carry out anti-submarine
warfare drills.
Russia has a maintenance naval base at Tartus on the coast.
No let-up in refugee flight
The United Nations said
Friday that more than 612,000 people have been registered as Syrian
refugees or are "being assisted as such."
There were 194,769 in
Lebanon, 176,569 in Jordan, 153,163 in Turkey, 69,282 in Iraq, 13,292 in
Egypt and 5,059 elsewhere in North Africa, the U.N. refugee agency
said.
"Even with the winter
preparation work that has been done in recent months, many refugees in
both camp and noncamp situations are facing particularly cold and damp
conditions. At the same time, there has been no let-up in the numbers of
people fleeing Syria into neighboring countries," the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees said.
More deaths
The Syrian crisis
started in March 2011, when peaceful protesters demanding democracy and
reforms were met by a fierce government crackdown, which spiraled into
an armed opposition movement and a civil war.
At least 81 people were
killed Friday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria
said. Among them were 40 people killed in shelling by artillery and jet
fighters in Hasaka province, in the northeastern part of the country.
CNN's Joe Sterling and Saad Abedine reported
from Atlanta. CNN's Alla Eshchenko in Moscow and Faith Karimi in
Atlanta contributed to this report.
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