Syria regime fires Scud missiles at rebels Syrian government forces have fired Scud missiles at rebel groups in recent days, according to the US and UK governments, in a move that represents a considerable escalation in the country's civil war. A US official said that more than half a dozen Scud missiles had been fired from around Damascus into northern Syria. The news comes at a time when rebel groups are believed to be making significant gains against government forces. Coming on top of warnings over the last week about the possible use of chemical weapons, US officials said the use of Scud missiles was the latest indication that the 20-month-old conflict was now reaching a critical phase. Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said he could not confirm the use of Scud missiles but added that "if true, this would be the last desperate act from a regime that has shown utter disregard for innocent life, utter disregard for the lives of its own citizens." Separately, the state department said there were indications that the Syrian regime had been using "incendiary barrel bombs" in recent days. "As the regime becomes more and more desperate, we see it resorting to increased lethality and more vicious weapons moving forward," said Victoria Nuland, a state department spokeswoman. On Monday, the Local Co-ordination Committees, an on-the-ground activist network, said that regime forces had fired "a long-range Scud missile" from near the town of Nasariyah in the Damascus governorate. A statement from the group posted on their website on Monday said the destination was "not determined so far." The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said that it had received no information about Scuds landing anywhere however. An opposition activist from Aleppo said that he had not received any information about Scud attacks in northern Syria, where their targets were reported to be. Activist networks typically report significant uses of force by the regime within one or two days of their occurrence. British officials said intelligence reports indicated that the regime first fired a Scud missile on Monday and that the firing had continued. "The trajectory and distance travelled suggest these were Scud-type missiles," a senior British official said. The Obama administration warned last week that the Syrian regime could be considering using chemical weapons against rebel forces, although they have since played down some of those concerns. The US official said there was no indication that the Scud missiles contained chemical weapons. Experts said that Scud missiles, which were made famous during the first Gulf war when Saddam Hussein used them, were not the best way to attack rebel groups because they were not especially accurate. Syria is believed to have at least three types of Scud missile, the most sophisticated of which can travel for further than 400 miles. Last week, Nato agreed to send Patriot missiles to Turkey, partly because of the potential risk from Syrian Scud missile attacks.