BRUSSELS/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rebels said on Wednesday they had surrounded an air base near Damascus, a fresh sign of battle closing in the capital a day after NATO drew a line in the sand by agreeing to send air defense missiles to Turkey.

The Western military alliance’s decision to send U.S., German and Dutch Patriot missile batteries to help defend the Turkish border would bring European and U.S. troops to Syria’s frontier for the first time in the 20 month civil war.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – By day, the streets of Syria’s capital are crowded with cars and with shoppers. It looks normal, but it isn’t – by noon, people are planning how to get home before nightfall.

Roads suddenly blocked by the army cause traffic jams. Workers race to quit the office, hit the shops and get home by dark. Dark is when the kidnappers come out to seek new victims, and the clashes raging on the outskirts creep ever closer to the heart of Damascus.

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Syrian foreign ministry spokesman, who was the most public face of Bashar al-Assad’s government as it battled a 20-month-old uprising, has fled the country, a diplomat in the region said on Monday.

Jihad al-Makdissi, who is in his 40s, previously worked at the Syrian embassy in London and returned to Damascus a year ago to serve as spokesman for the ministry, defending the government’s crackdown on the revolt against Assad’s rule.

CAIRO/BEIRUT, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A Syrian foreign ministry
spokesman, who was the most public face of Bashar al-Assad’s
government as it battled a 20-month-old uprising, has fled the
country, a diplomat in the region said on Monday.

Jihad al-Makdissi, who is in his 40s, previously worked at
the Syrian embassy in London and returned to Damascus a year ago
to serve as spokesman for the ministry, defending the
government’s crackdown on the revolt against Assad’s rule.

CAIRO/BEIRUT, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A Syrian foreign ministry
spokesman, who was the most public face of Bashar al-Assad’s
government as it battled a 20-month-old uprising, has defected
and fled the country, a diplomat in the region said on Monday.

Jihad al-Makdissi, who is in his 40s, previously worked at
the Syrian embassy in London and returned to Damascus a year ago
to serve as spokesman for the ministry, defending the
government’s crackdown on the revolt against Assad’s rule.

BEIRUT, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Syria said on Monday it would not
use chemical weapons against its own people after the United
States warned it would take action against any such escalation.

The statements came amid media reports, citing European and
U.S. officials, that Syria’s chemical weapons had been moved and
could be prepared for use in response to dramatic gains by
rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian forces pounded rebel-held suburbs around Damascus with fighter jets and rockets on Sunday, opposition activists said, killing and wounding dozens in an offensive to push rebels away from the airport and stop them closing in on the capital.

The army struck hard after a week of rebel advances, including the capture of two military bases near the capital. Rebels had been planning to push into central Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts and fighting in the past week has been fierce.

BEIRUT, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Syrian army forces pounded
rebel-held suburbs around Damascus with fighter jets and rockets
on Sunday, activists said, killing and wounding dozens in an
offensive to push rebels away from the airport and stop them
closing in on the capital.

The army struck hard after a week of rebel advances,
including the capture of two military bases near the capital.
Rebels had been planning to push into central Damascus from
their strongholds on the outskirts and fighting in the past week
has been fierce.

BEIRUT, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Syrian army forces pounded
rebel-held suburbs around Damascus with fighter jets and rockets
on Sunday, activists said, killing at least ten and wounding
dozens in an offensive to stop rebels closing in on the capital.

Rebels planned to push into the city centre from their
strongholds on the outskirts and fighting has been fierce. The
army sent reinforcements after a week of rebel advances,
including the capture of two military bases near the capital.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rebel strikes against military bases across Syria have exposed President Bashar al-Assad’s weakening grip in the north and east of the country and left his power base in Damascus vulnerable to the increasingly potent opposition forces.

Rebel fighters, who have taken at least five army and air installations in the last 10 days, are still waging an asymmetrical war against a powerful army backed by devastating air power, and predict months of conflict still lie ahead.