Syria crisis: The fire is getting closer AFTER a period of relative stalemate, the rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad and his regime have, in the past month, made further gains across the board. They have been steadily winning territory, including on the outskirts of Damascus, the capital. The Syrian National Coalition, the opposition umbrella group that got together under watchful American eyes in Qatar in mid-November to replace the ailing Syrian National Council, has been given a hefty diplomatic boost in terms of recognition. Perhaps most important, rebel politicians are trying harder than ever to gain influence, if not direct control, over the myriad fighting factions. And Mr Assad is showing increasing signs of desperation, bombing a hostile Palestinian district on the edge of Damascus and firing SCUD missiles at towns and districts held by the rebels near Aleppo, Syria's second city, half of which is in rebel hands. On December 12th ministers from more than 100 governments, meeting in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, recognised the coalition as the Syrian people's legitimate representative. This will help them get more cash and diplomatic clout. Meanwhile the governments of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which, unlike their Western counterparts, have backed the rebels with guns, have been fashioning rebel groups into a new body, the Supreme Military Council, through which arms can more efficiently be funnelled. The 30-man body includes some of Syria's most powerful commanders: Abu Issa of Saqour al-Sham, a group that has done well in the north-west; Abdulkader Saleh of Liwa al-Tawheed in Aleppo; and Abu Azzam of Farouq al-Shamal, which has been effective near Homs, Syria's third city. "Our council will hopefully be the nucleus of a new defence ministry for any transitional government formed by the Syrian National Coalition," says a man from Saqour al-Sham. Opposition backers hope that co-operation between the civil coalition and the military council may provide a basis for taking over national institutions, should Mr Assad and his regime crumble, or for negotiating a political solution, if he hangs on but is forced to parley to stay alive. Negotiation still looks unlikely in the near future, since the rebels are on a military roll, yet the regime is still entrenched in its strongholds. Attempts by the UN's envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, to bring the Americans and Russia, the regime's main ally, to an agreement whereby Mr Assad would step down, perhaps by March, while the rebel coalition leads a transition, still look fruitless. Hopes were raised when a Russian official suggested that Mr Assad was on the way out, only for another Russian the next day to deny vigorously that the Kremlin would ever dump its protégé. Some European governments are pondering whether to drop the ban against arming the rebels. France, which has been keenest to boost the rebels in every way, has been frustrated by the reluctance of America to step up intelligence-sharing or to increase lethal aid, even covertly. But the Americans, especially, remain wary of sending weapons without knowing where they will end up. The Free Syrian Army, which claimed to be an umbrella group for all the fighters, is now just a clutch of generally secular groups whose power is dwindling as better-armed and -organised Islamists gain weight. Regional military councils, whose goal was to unite fighters in Syria's 14 provinces, have been struggling to assert themselves, since private donations through personal networks still let independent-minded units ignore the councils. Neither they nor the coalition will gain momentum unless outsiders, particularly Western governments, are willing to back them wholeheartedly. Though rebels have been closing in on Damascus, sneaking into ever more suburbs around the edges, they admit they have been losing a lot of men as the regime's forces fight back. Mr Assad's people still control the city centre, despite the occasional bombing. All his elite units are intact. The rebels are wary of launching an assault too early without better weapons. Those who deride the West's timidity say that, as the war drags on, extremists are getting the upper hand among the rebels and that sectarian atrocities, for instance against Mr Assad's fellow Alawites, will increase. The national coalition's head, Moaz al-Khatib, has criticised the American administration's recent decision to designate as terrorists Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda that has proved effective as a fighting force. In sum, Mr Assad still looks doomed. But no one is expecting the rebels meekly to submit to a civilian authority or to settle differences amicably among themselves.