NATO's Rasmussen believes Syrian government approaching collapse

BRUSSELS / MOSCOW

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen holds a news conference during a NATO foreign ministers at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels December 4, 2012. REUTERS photo

The head of NATO said on Thursday he thought the government of President Bashar al-Assad was nearing collapse, and condemned the use by Assad's forces of Scud missiles to attack rebels, Reuters reported.
 
"I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
 
"I think now it is only a question of time."

Rasmussen said the Syrian government's use of Scud missiles showed "utter disregard" for the lives of Syrian people.

Russia acknowledges Assad losing control

A top Russian diplomat said on Thursday that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is losing "more and more" control of Syria after 21 months of conflict and an opposition victory cannot be ruled out, AFP reported.
 
"As for preparing for victory by the opposition, this, of course, cannot be excluded," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.
 
"You need to look the facts in the eyes -- the government regime is losing more and more control over a large part of the country's territory," he said.
 
The RIA Novosti news agency also quoted Bogdanov as saying that the recent recognition of the opposition Syrian National Coalition by the United States -- following similar moves by other states -- had only emboldened the opposition.
 
"They (the rebels) are saying that victory is not far away, 'let's take Aleppo, let's take Damascus'," he said. "The recognition of the opposition, the training with rebel fighters and the weapons from abroad are now only inspiring the opposition." Bogdanov said that despite the changing situation on the ground, Moscow would still insist on the fulfilment of an agreement between world powers in Geneva earlier this year to solve the Syria crisis through talks involving all the parties.
 
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia was surprised by US President Barack Obama's recognition of the Syrian opposition and Washington was now betting on an armed victory by rebels in the conflict.
 Russia has so far defiantly refused to turn against the regime of Assad despite the conflict that according to rights groups has killed 42,000 people since March last year.
 
The National Coalition is a bloc of opposition groups led by moderate cleric Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib formed after talks in Qatar in November as part of a Western-backed push to make the opposition a more cohesive force.
 
Meanwhile Russia's top general reaffirmed that Moscow was against any military solution to the conflict.
 
"Our firm belief is that the solving the Syria conflict is only possible by both sides without interference from a third side and above all without the use of military force," the Russian military's chief of staff Valery Gerasimov said, quoted by RIA Novosti.