Syria opposition chief make first Aleppo visit: source

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT

Rebels fighters prepare to fire a portable canon against an adjacent Syrian government-held building during fighting on February 27, 2013 in the Hawiqah neighbourhood of the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor. AFP PHOTO/ZAC BAILLIE

Syria's opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib made a first visit to the largely rebel-held northern province of Aleppo on Sunday, an opposition source told AFP.
 
"Khatib entered the country for a few hours on Sunday morning for the first time" since becoming head of the Syrian National Coalition in November, the source said on condition of anonymity.
 
"He visited Menbej and Jarablos to view the situation of residents there and to discuss their living conditions," said the official, referring to towns in Aleppo province.
 
"Khatib also held meetings with local officials in the two towns to discuss the (Aleppo) provincial election that is being held today (Sunday)" in the Turkish town of Gaziantep, the official said.
 
The opposition-organised election for a council for the province of Aleppo is being held in Gaziantep for security reasons.
 
"People in liberated areas live in difficult conditions, and Khatib's visit was part of an effort (by the opposition) to better coordinate affairs for citizens in these areas," the official added.
 
Amateur video footage distributed by activists show Khatib walking through the streets of Menbej, according to an unidentified cameraman.
 
The video shows Khatib, in a dark suit and scarf, accompanied by several men through a street lined with small shops.
 
One man is seen as recognising him and embracing Khatib, prompting others to do the same. Other passers-by stop Khatib and pose for a photograph with him.

Assad refuses to quit as foes advance in north Syria

President Bashar al-Assad insisted he will not step down and blasted Britain's support for his armed foes who reportedly killed dozens of soldiers on Sunday in attacks on a police academy in northern Syria, AFP has reported.

"We are ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants who surrender their arms," Assad told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, in a rare interview conducted last week at his Al-Muhajireen palace in Damascus.

"We can engage in dialogue with the opposition, but we cannot engage in dialogue with terrorists," he said in the videotaped interview.

His offer of talks was aired as UN chief Ban Ki-moon and his Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said they were prepared to broker peace talks between the Assad regime and the opposition.
 
A joint statement by the pair said the UN would "be prepared to facilitate a dialogue between a strong and representative delegation from the opposition and a credible and empowered delegation from the Syrian government".
 
The offer came after both sides in Syria had indicated a "willingness to engage in dialogue", the UN said.
 
In Iran, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that Assad, a close ally of Tehran, would contest a presidential election next year and it was up to the Syrian people to choose their own leader.

Syria is locked in a two-year-old conflict in which the United Nations estimates more than 70,000 have been killed. But Assad rejected the idea of standing down to end the bloodshed.

"If this argument is correct, then my departure will stop the fighting," the president told The Sunday Times. "Clearly this is absurd, and other recent precedents in Libya, Yemen and Egypt bear witness to this." Assad turned his sights on Britain, accusing London of seeking to arm the rebels.

"How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists and don't try to ease the dialogue between the Syrians?" he asked.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for changes to a European arms embargo on Syria "so that we can provide a broader range of support to the National Coalition", the opposition umbrella group.

Assad ruled out any mediation role for Britain, saying: "We don't expect an arsonist to be a firefighter." On a reported Israeli air strike near Damascus in January, Assad said his country would retaliate. "Retaliation does not mean missile for missile or bullet for bullet. Our own way does not have to be announced," he said.

Police academy, prison attacks

On the ground in the mainly opposition-held north, rebels killed more than 34 government forces in an attack on a police academy in Aleppo province and seized large parts of the facility, a monitoring group said.

They "seized control at dawn of large parts of the police academy" in Khan al-Assal, after eight days of fierce fighting for one of the regime's last bastions in the west of Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
 
"More than 34 regime forces were killed" inside the town's sprawling police academy, said the watchdog, which has reported dozens of fighters killed on both sides in the battle for the police academy.

It also reported that Jihadist fighters seized control of a prison in Raqa province and freed "hundreds" of detainees on Saturday night.

"Government forces pulled out of Raqa's central prison located in the northern part of the provincial capital after clashes that lasted days," the Britain-based watchdog said.

The prison takeover came as battles raged Saturday on the outskirts of the city of Raqa between rebels and Syrian troops, the Observatory said.

Sixteen rebels and 14 soldiers were killed in the fighting, which the Observatory said was "the most violent in the region" since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011.

In the oil-rich northeastern province of Hassakeh, Kurdish militants captured the towns of Ramilan and Qahtaniyeh from government forces, said the monitoring group which relies on a vast network of activists and medics.

A total of 182 people were killed in violence across Syria on Saturday, including 83 rebels and two Palestinians hanged at the Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus on suspicion of aiding the regime, it said in an updated toll.

The Observatory circulated a picture of the hangings.