End close for Assad: German intel chief

MOSCOW

MIT agents collect samples from rubble for chemicals, says a daily. REUTERS Photo

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is in its final stages and will be unable to survive as more parts of the country slip from his control, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND) said.

“Armed rebels are coordinating better, which is making their fight against al-Assad more effective,” Gerhard Schindler told the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung newspaper, in an interview made public Dec. 8.

“Al-Assad’s regime will not survive.” Rebels fighting to topple al-Assad declared Damascus International Airport a battle zone last week. Fighting around the capital city has intensified over the past week, and Western officials have begun speaking about faster change on the ground. “Evidence is mounting that the regime in Damascus is now in its final phase,” Schindler said.
 
Although neither al-Assad nor the rebels had been able to take the upper hand, al-Assad was losing control of more and more parts of the country, and was focusing his energy on defending Damascus, Schindler added.

MIT collecting camples: report

Meanwhile, Turkish intelligence officers have been collecting samples from rubble and soil near where Syrian forces have been shelling and bombing and analyzing them for traces of any chemical ruins, daily Sabah reported yesterday. According to the report, samples have been delivered to private laboratories in Turkey and scientists are preparing reports for the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and related institutions, but have so far not found signs of chemical substances.