Media caption The BBC's Ian Pannell travels with cheering rebels in Aleppo. His report contains unverified graphic images of the victims of Syria's conflict 
 
 Syrian rebels in Aleppo have begun stockpiling ammunition and medical supplies as government forces prepare outside the city for a major battle. 
 
 Artillery and helicopter gunships have resumed attacking rebel targets and 14 people have been killed, activists say. 
 
 Troops and tanks are said to be ringing the city and reinforcements are reportedly on their way to join them. 
 
 In Damascus, activists said the army had pounded the capital's last rebel-held areas and 20 civilians had died. 
 
 Five children and four women were killed, according to London-based pro-opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, when shells hit the Yalda area. Helicopters also attacked the nearby district of Hajar al-Aswad. 
 
 The government has said its forces are trying to dislodge the "remnants of mercenary terrorist groups". 
 
 At the scene It is almost inconceivable that President Assad could allow his government to lose control of the city, so it is reasonable to expect that they are going to throw everything they possibly can at the city. And that is what they are preparing for here. One of the neighbourhoods is appealing for more blood supplies. We are hearing reports of hundreds, possibly thousands of families leaving some districts. Everybody is bracing themselves for an intensive campaign. The way it has worked in other cities is that there is an intensive bombardment by artillery and mortars, and then when it starts to go calm, tanks begin to roll in. This is a very congested heavily populated area, so it will be bloody. Rebels surprise regime in Aleppo 
 
 Checkpoints and snipers 
 
 In Syria's commercial hub of Aleppo, rebels have set up checkpoints and sniper positions and claim to be in control of half of the city. 
 
 A Syrian security source was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that special forces had begun arriving on the edges of Aleppo in readiness for a "generalised counter-offensive on Friday or Saturday". 
 
 A similar account has emerged from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which talks of reinforcements arriving from the main Damascus to Aleppo road to the south. 
 
 Columns of troops and tanks are also thought to be travelling from the city of Hama, and from the border posts with Turkey in Idlib province. 
 
 Aleppo is the country's commercial capital, and key to the battle to control the north of the country. 
 
 Street battles have been reported throughout the city for days, as rebels try to hold on to neighbourhoods captured in an offensive that began at the weekend. 
 
 Although it was relatively quiet on Thursday, activists said artillery fire could be heard in the Salah al-Din neighbourhood in the southwest of the city and clashes in Tariq al-Bab in the east had led to two rebels being killed. 
 
 Foreign journalists operate under heavy restrictions in Syria so claims made by either side are difficult to verify. 
 
 The BBC's Ian Pannell near the city says thousands of people are leaving as fears grow that an intense battle is looming. 
 
 He says the rebels are reinforcing their ranks with more fighters, medical supplies, and ammunition such as Kalashnikov rifles. 
 
 Talal al-Mayhani, an activist with connections in the rebel movement in Aleppo, said the battle for the city was likely to play out in a similar way to an earlier battle in the capital Damascus, when rebels took control of large parts of the city before being forced to withdraw in the face of a government offensive. 
 
 Reporter Laurent Van der Stockt from French newspaper Le Monde told the BBC that Free Syrian Army (FSA) commanders in Aleppo were full of confidence but were lacking weapons. 
 
 "A commander told me this morning they attacked a convoy and destroyed 10 armoured vehicles." 
 
 Luke Harding of the Guardian newspaper, 50km (30mi) west of Aleppo, told the BBC that much of the rest of Aleppo province was in rebel hands but it was an exaggeration to say they were in control of half of the city. 
 
 "It's true they're in the southern part of the city and the northeast. Tactically, they're doing guerrilla-style attacks and they can melt away quite quickly." 
 
 In Damascus, where government forces have largely repelled a sustained assault by rebels, state TV reported more clashes in the southern district of Qadam. 
 
 The report showed army troops firing intensively as they moved into heavily damaged streets. 
 
 The violence also spread to the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, where activists said street battles had taken place between rebels and soldiers. 
 
 More than 16,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of anti-regime protests in March 2011. 
 
 Repeated diplomatic attempts to stop the violence have foundered, with the UN Security Council bitterly divided. 
 
 Thousands of refugees have already sought shelter in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. 
 
 And conditions throughout the country have worsened as the fighting has spread and intensified in the two main cities in recent weeks. ||||| Here's a roundup of the latest developments relating to Syria: 
 
 • The government's counter-offensive against Aleppo is due to start on Friday or Saturday, AFP reports citing a security source. Thousands of troops and opposition forces had been dispatched to the city, as well as 100 tanks and a large number of other military vehicles (see 1.39pm). 
 
 • US officials are reported to favour defected Brigadier General Manaf Tlass as a successor to President Assad; others doubt that he would be acceptable to Syrians (see 9.47am). Saudi Arabia appears to be wooing Tlass too (see 11.23am). 
 
 • Rebel forces in Damascus have retreated to the southern district of Hajar Aswad where they have come under attack, an witness told the Guardian (see 12.11pm). 
 
 • Activists from Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus say at least five civilians were killed and 25 injured after regime forces attacked the camp with tanks and helicopter gunships this morning (see 4.41pm). 
 
 • Syrian opposition factions are meeting in Qatar to seek agreement on a transitional administration. Ian Black, the Guardian's Middle East editor, says some bitter internal debate is likely. 
 
 A statement from the Avaaz organisation regarding the situation in Yarmouk: 
 
 Activists from Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus reported that at least five civilians were killed and 25 injured after regime forces attacked the camp with tanks and helicopter gunships this morning. Activist Muhammad told Avaaz: "The regime forces shelled the neighbourhoods of Orouba and Thalathin, and stormed into the camp with tanks and military vehicles. Deir Yassine clinics were also hit in the shelling." Snipers were positioned rooftops and were taking pot-shots at "anyone moving in the street" according to another resident. Security forces stormed into the Palestinian ICRC hospital, dragging away at least 10 wounded civilians. Activists confirmed that FSA groups are in the neighbourhoods of Tadamon and Hajar al Aswad next to Yarmouk camp, but not inside the camp itself, due to an agreement to keep it as a safe area for displaced civilians. Palestinian families the camp are hosting around 20,000 displaced people – either in their houses or in makeshift shelters inside schools. They are mainly residents who fled the neighbourhoods of Midan and Tadamon and the city of Douma in Damascus suburbs. 
 
 Time Magazine is claiming the first-ever interview with a member of Jabhat al-Nusra, the shadowy group that is alleged to have carried out suicide bombings in Syria (though some have disputed its existence). 
 
 It took weeks of negotiations to secure an interview with a member of the movement, the first time anyone from the group has talked to the media. Higher-ups in the Jabhat declined to be interviewed but agreed to let Ibrahim, a 21-year-old Syrian, be interviewed. The Jabhat has a presence in at least half a dozen towns in Idlib province, as well as elsewhere across the country, including strong showings in the capital Damascus and in Hama, according to the Jabhat member and other Islamists who are in contact with senior members of the group. Bespectacled, with a wispy beard and thin moustache, Ibrahim said he joined the group eight months ago. He was recruited by his cousin Ammar, the military operations commander for their unit and a Syrian veteran of the Iraq war who fought alongside his Sunni co-religionists against the American invaders. 
 
 Luke Harding, who is in a rural area near Aleppo, relays FSA claims about shelling in the Salaheddin area in the south of the city. 
 
 Didn't manage to reach #Aleppo today. Spoke to commander inside. He confirms regime shelling of Salaheddin and other rebel districts... — Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) July 26, 2012 
 
 ...Also reports helicopter gunship above Free Syrian Army neighbourhoods. Seven families killed on Tuesday night in shelling, locals say — Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) July 26, 2012 
 
 Activists posted footage purporting to show damage caused by shelling in the Salaheddin area. 
 
 A spent shell cannister is shown at the end of the clip. 
 
 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said helicopters had attacked the Salaheddine and al-Jazmaty neighbourhoods today. 
 
 It says 11 people were killed in various districts of the city. 
 
 Rebels' claims that they control many of the neighbourhoods of Aleppo, for now at least, have been underlined by a video showing them cleaning the streets in a central district. 
 
 Greece is closing its embassy in the Mezzeh district of Damascus from today, "due to the worsening security situation", Reuters reports. Consulates in Aleppo, Latakia and Tartus will remain open, the foreign ministry said. 
 
 The closure of Brazil's embassy, also in the Mezzeh district, was 
 
 reported yesterday, with the ambassador quoted as saying "you simply cannot step outside there is so much shooting going on". 
 
 Diplomatic mischief making from Russia? Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has offered to send 30 observers to the depleted UN monitoring mission in Syria. 
 
 Lavrov: I hope the UNSC will extend its mission in Syria and restore or even increase its strength. In this case, we could send 30 observers — MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia) July 26, 2012 
 
 Yesterday, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Lasdous, said around half the 300 UN monitors had left Syria amid speculation among diplomats that he was trying to dismantle the mission. The mission's current mandate is not expected to be renewed when it expires in 26 days. 
 
 Here's a roundup of the latest developments relating to Syria: 
 
 • The government's counter-offensive against Aleppo is due to start on Friday or Saturday, AFP reports citing a security source. Thousands of troops and opposition forces had been dispatched to the city, as well as 100 tanks and a large number of other military vehicles (see 1.39pm). 
 
 • US officials are reported to favour defected Brigadier General Manaf Tlass as a successor to President Assad; others doubt that he would be acceptable to Syrians (see 9.47am). Saudi Arabia appears to be wooing Tlass too (see 11.23am). 
 
 • Rebel forces in Damascus have retreated to the southern district of Hajar Aswad where they have come under attack, an witness told the Guardian (see 12.11pm). 
 
 • Syrian opposition factions are meeting in Qatar to seek agreement on a transitional administration. Ian Black, the Guardian's Middle East editor, says some bitter internal debate is likely. 
 
 • Arab states plan to go to the UN general assembly and seek approval of a resolution calling for a political transition in Syria following the security council's failure to address the escalating crisis, AP reports. 
 
 • The head of the UN peacekeeping Herve Ladsous is trying to dismantle the now depleted monitoring mission in Syria, diplomats have told Inner City Press. One claimed that Ladsous was deliberately "misinterpreting" a resolution to extend the mission for 30 days. 
 
 • Arms control campaigners claim a first draft of a UN global arms trade treaty is meaningless as it would not stop weapons shipments from Russia to Syria. 
 
 • The rebel-held town of Azaz (or Izzaz) north of Aleppo is ruins about after weeks of fighting, Reuters reports. 
 
 More bluster from the Turkish prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or does he know something we don't? 
 
 AP quotes him saying that Bashar al-Assad and those close to him are about to leave power and preparations are underway for a "new era" in Syria. 
 
 We're wondering what has happened to Sana, the Syrian government's news agency. Its website has been down for the last two days. 
 
 Sana has gone offline several times recently, but never for such a long period. Possibly it has come under a cyber attack, but usually someone claims responsibility for such attacks – and we're not aware of any claims. 
 
 In theory, a cyber attack should not prevent Sana from using Twitter but there have been no tweets from its English-language Twitter account (@SANA_English) since Tuesday morning – which is very unusual. 
 
 Activists have smashed framed photographs of president Assad looted from a police station in Aleppo, according to new video footage. 
 
 The police building is in the Karm al-Qaterji district of the city, east of the centre according to Twitter user @markito0171 who has been mapping the location of activists videos for months. 
 
 The government's counter offensive against Aleppo is due to start on Friday or Saturday, AFP reports citing a security source. 
 
 It said that thousands of troops and opposition forces had been dispatched to the city. 
 
 It quoted Free Syrian Army colonel, Abdul Gabbar Kaida, as saying: 
 
 The army's reinforcements have arrived in Aleppo. We expect a major offensive at any time, specifically on areas across the southern belt, from east to west. 
 
 Kaida, who is directing the rebel forces in Aleppo, also claimed that 100 army tanks — as well as a large number of military vehicles — had arrived in Aleppo. 
 
 Yesterday Kaida told the Guardian's Luke Harding that the rebels controlled half of Aleppo. 
 
 The Syrian foreign ministry is playing down the defection of two of its diplomats – Abdulatif al-Dabbagh, the ambassador in the UAE, and his wife, Lamia Hariri, (both pictured) who was Syria's envoy in Cyprus. 
 
 The website of Syria's state news has been mysteriously out of action for most of this week, so for now we have to turn to the Chinese Xinhua agency for the Syrian government's line. 
 
 It reports: 
 
 Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told Xinhua that Dabbagh arrived in Syria on June 4 for consultation upon the request of the ministry, adding that the embassy in UAE " since then was run by charge d'affairs and now we notified the UAE that he is no longer an ambassador." The ministry, meanwhile, made clear that Hariri is not ambassador, but a diplomat that has been running the Syrian embassy in Cyprus till an ambassador is appointed. 
 
 Earlier this month, following the defection of Nawaf al-Fares, the Syrian ambassador in Baghdad, the foreign ministry said he had been dismissed for leaving the embassy without official authorisation. 
 
 Russia said its flotilla of 10 battleships currently in the eastern Mediterranean will not dock at Tartus, its naval port in Syria. 
 
 RIA Novosti quotes naval chief vice admiral Viktor Chirkov as saying: "The joint fleet flotilla will not enter the port of Tartus. It is carrying out military drills in the Mediterranean." 
 
 Other sources have confirmed Mahmoud Nassar's account of the attack on Hajar Aswad. 
 
 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has this: 
 
 The Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood is being bombarded by regime forces, who have surrounded the neighbourhood from several entrances; helicopters are being used in the attack. 
 
 Activists have posted video of smouldering cars and a building purporting to show the nearby Yarmouk Palestinian camp. 
 
 Dania, a Damascus activist, tweeted: 
 
 You can listen to audio of Hajar Mahmoud Nassar describing what he witnessed during the government's assault on Hajr Aswad today. 
 
 Read the previous post for the full report. At the end of the clip Nasar says: "I don't know if this day will end normal and safe ... they shoot everything." 
 
 Rebel forces in Damascus have retreated to the southern district of Hajar Aswad where they have been under attack for the last six hours, an witness told the Guardian. 
 
 Mahmoud Nassar, a citizen journalist from the area, said it has been under tank and helicopter bombardment. 
 
 "They [the Free Syrian Army] have withdrawn to Hajar Aswad and the areas around Hajar Aswad," he said. 
 
 The government's attack against the area is part of a counter offensive to retake the city. The government has retaken the Midan district and the nearby al-Qadam district. But there continue to be clashes across the whole of south of the city, according to to Nassar. 
 
 I saw them since six hours trying to go up a street - we are talking about 500m. They didn't succeed to bust those 500m because there's strong resistance from Hajar Aswad. So they are trying to go from the side of Hajar Aswad - from Yarmouk and al-Qadam. 
 
 
 
 View Damascus in a larger map 
 
 This Google map shows the areas he mentioned.Nassar said he saw a tank shell kill a man working on the tyres of a car. He also mentioned another man who was shot by a sniper while shopping for bread. 
 
 Nassar claimed that government forces were using heavy machine guns to attack an area that included a Palestinian hospital. "I saw the civilians trying to escape," he said. The security forces occupy the territory around the hospital in the area, he said. 
 
 Nassar saw helicopter firing machine guns and rockets at an area to the south of Hajar Aswad that includes a military base. "There are no aircraft just helicopters - two helicopters," he said. 
 
 The Free Syrian Army withdrew its forces from Damascus after the government began using helicopters against civilian areas, he claimed. Rebels don't have "smart weapons" to combat helicopters, he said. 
 
 I think it will be a long day in Yarmouk and Hajar Aswad. I'm about a 1km away and I can hear shots. 
 
 The Free Syrian Army is trying to attack tanks right now" he said, but added they could not fire because of Palestinian civilians in the area. 
 
 He suggested that the rebels were trying to create a safe haven in the Yarmouk camp. Most of the Palestinians in the camp supported the rebels, he claimed. 
 
 Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, the cigar-chomping defector backed by US officials (see 9.47am) seems to have thrown his lot in with the Saudis rather than the Qataris – unlike many of the other Syrian defectors. 
 
 He's featured today in an interview (in Arabic) with the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat where he thanks King Abdullah "for giving me this opportunity to visit Saudi Arabia" and describes the kingdom as "a friendly country to Syria". 
 
 He also confirms – as we suggested in the live blog yesterday – that he has been in Saudi Arabia performing the umrah pilgrimage. This helps to explain the period of silence following his defection. 
 
 In extracts from the interview translated by Reuters, Tlass says: 
 
 I am discussing with ... people outside Syria to reach a consensus with those inside. I left (Syria) ... to try to help the best I can to unite the honourable people inside and outside Syria to set out a road map to get Syria out of this crisis. I realise this is a difficult phase ... It's difficult for one person to bear the responsibility of such a phase. A group (including opposition) from inside and outside Syria should cooperate to accomplish this phase. 
 
 He adds that he "did not leave Syria to lead the transitional period". 
 
 Following the Qubair massacre last month, the Syrian government appointed its own commission to investigate, but it wasn't long before reports started circulating that the head of the commission, Talal Houshan, had defected. 
 
 These reports now appear to be confirmed by a video posted on YouTube where Houshan, apparently reading a prepared statement, accuses the Syrian government and its shabiha supporters of killing women and children. 
 
 In the statement, he refers to numerous "crimes" by the regime and cites eyewitnesses. 
 
 Many Kurdish towns in the northeast of Syria are now flying the Kurdish flag as Syrian troops have withdrawn from the region to fight back the offensives in Syria's two largest cities, Syria-watcher Joshua Landis writes on his blog. 
 
 Landis quotes a friend in Iraqi Kurdistan who says the Kurds' takeover of towns in Syria has "led to a crisis of relations between them and the FSA/rebels". 
 
 Supposedly, some months back there had been a pledge of mutual support between the Kurds and the rebels, regarding resistance against the regime. Now however, the Kurds seem more interested in protecting their homeland than in participating in the nation-wide struggle against the regime. After taking control of Hasake (haven't verified this), a conflict emerged between them and the FSA that wanted to control the area due to its strategic importance. 
 
 Landis also points to an article in The National by Aymenn al-Tamimi which begins: 
 
 Developments in Syria and Iraq have led some to speculate that the birth of an independent Kurdish state might be at hand. A closer analysis shows that a united Kurdistan is still unlikely, although a separate semi-autonomous Kurdish community in Syria, with some parallels to the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq, is a growing possibility. 
 
 Blogger Brown Moses has highlighted another video of a warplane flying over Aleppo. 
 
 The outline of the aircraft in the video – much clearer than in previous clips – shows that it is not a MiG fighter, contrary to what various news organisations are reporting. 
 
 The Wall Street Journal – which seems to think it's America's job to choose a replacement for Bashar al-Assad – says US officials have latched on to the cigar-chomping Manaf Tlass as a likely prospect. 
 
 Tlass, who defected recently, is "one of the few figures in opposition to the regime who could potentially help restore order in Damascus and secure Syria's vast chemical-weapons stockpile", Eric Linton writes citing unnamed officials. 
 
 Tlass was a commander in Syria's elite Republican Guard before his July 6 defection, and his father served as defense minister under Assad's late father, President Hafez al-Assad, for 30 years. He is also, unlike the Assad clan, a Sunni Muslim, which western officials hope could make him acceptable as a transitional figure to the country's rebel fighters and opposition leaders, who are also largely from the Sunni sect of Islam. 
 
 But the article doesn't find many others who agree. It acknowledges that "many in the opposition consider Tlass and his family too closely tied to the Assads' repression and corruption to be acceptable to Syrians". 
 
 It quotes a US defence official as saying "It's too early to say if Tlass will stand the strain and pick up traction or just fade away", while exiled Syrian activist Ammar Abdulhamid says: 
 
 Someone like Tlass is difficult to sell to the Syrian people. He certainly can't play any leading role in a transition. 
 
 In an article posted on the Jadaliyya website, Bassam Haddad describes some scary meetings with Manaf Tlass while researching the development of capitalism in Syria (and the related corruption). 
 
 On reform, he asserted the importance of gradualism, a Hafez al-Asad mantra, one that suits the reformers' timetable, not that of the purported beneficiaries. But he was also unabashed in asserting the need for top-down control, which to him transcended questions of right and wrong, or democracy and authoritarianism. The regime had to guide the reform process based on a holistic view, one that takes into account local and regional variables. I interjected that this approach is the norm for regimes like Syria's because reform is not the goal. He did not correct me, and reasserted the need for control. 
 
 Almost unnoticed last week, as attention focused on battles in Damascus, Kurdish activists in north-eastern Syria started taking control of a few towns without encountering much resistance from the Assad regime's security forces. 
 
 In an article for Comment is free, Fazel Hawramy (aka Kurdishblogger) says this is a significant development which could potentially tilt the balance of power against Assad. Kurdish relations with the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) are still problematic, though: 
 
 In April, the SNC issued a National Charter to "redress the injustice … the Kurdish people have faced for decades …" and work towards "the abolition of all discriminatory policies … and compensate those affected." While this is an important starting point, the Kurds – who have faced years of discrimination at the hands of successive "Arab" regimes in Syria – find it difficult to trust a guarantee by the SNC, which is dominated by Arab nationalists and members of Muslim Brotherhood movement. The Kurdish parties believe the charter falls short of full constitutional recognition. The insistence of SNC members to retain the word "Arab" in the official name of the country – the "Syrian Arab Republic" – has been one of the main stumbling blocks for the Kurds to trust the SNC as their legitimate voice in a post-Assad Syria. 
 
 (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. 
 
 Here's a roundup of the latest developments and analysis on Syria: 
 
 • All the signs indicate that a battle is looming in Aleppo, the New York Times reports. 
 
 After withdrawing all visible security forces, for a day, Syrian Army troops brought in on trucks or buses suddenly deployed around the 13th-century citadel. Thousands more were en route, according to rebel fighters and activists. "People know there is going to be chaos, fighting, shelling, so people are frightened," said one activist reached via Skype. "They have stocked up on canned goods and are not venturing out." 
 
 • "Victory is coming soon. Almost half of Aleppo is now with the FSA," Abdul Gabbar Kaidi the colonel in charge of the rebel battle for Aleppo told Luke Harding in northern Syria. 
 
 In this dark, asymmetric struggle, there is a sense that the rebels are winning, not by great degrees, but slowly and inexorably: an unstoppable human tide. The regime may have succeeded in quelling the rebellion in Damascus, for the moment. But virtually the entire country is in the grip of a popular revolution. The battle for Syria's biggest city, Aleppo ... is desperately poised. The rebels are outgunned, fighting street by street, and up against a mostly invisible enemy that rains death from the skies. 
 
 You can see video a interview with Harding in Syria here. 
 
 • Arab nations plan to go to the UN general assembly and seek approval of a resolution calling for a political transition in Syria following the security council's failure to address the escalating crisis, AP reports. Saudi Arabia's Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi and Qatari diplomat Abdulrahman Al-Hamadi announced plans to seek action by the 193-member world body, where there are no vetoes, during a Security Council debate on the Middle East. 
 
 • The head of the UN peacekeeping Herve Ladsous is trying to dismantle the now depleted monitoring mission in Syria, diplomats have told Inner City Press. One claim that Ladsous was deliberately "misinterpreting" a resolution to extend the mission for 30 days. 
 
 • The opposition Syrian National Council is poised to set up a base on Syrian soil like the Libyan rebels did in Benghazi, but the divisions appearing to be opening up, writes Ian Black. 
 
 The group's leaders will meet in the Qatari capital, Doha, today where SNC sources say that Riyad Seif, a respected dissident, is a leading candidate to head a "consensus-based" civilian administration. But Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, the most important member of Assad's inner circle yet to defect, is also being mooted as the head of an Egyptian-style supreme military council that could keep the Syrian armed forces intact and loyal, according to SNC officials and foreign diplomats. 
 
 • Syria's ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus - a married couple - have become the latest senior figures to defect from the regime, the White House has confirmed. Spokesman Jay Carney said: "This is another indication, we believe, that senior officials around the Assad inner circle are fleeing the government because of the heinous actions taken by Assad against his own people, and the recognition that Assad's days are numbered." 
 
 • Arms control campaigners claim a first draft of a UN global arms trade treaty is meaningless as it would not stop weapons shipments from Russia to Syria. Anna Macdonald, Oxfam's head of arms control, said the draft would allow countries to honour existing contracts to states no matter how much circumstances changed. "This means Russia could continue to supply arms to Syria. That is a key test for us. Would the draft [treaty] stop Russia arming Syria? No it wouldn't," she said. 
 
 • The rebel-held town of Azaz (or Izzaz) north of Aleppo is ruins about after weeks of fighting, Reuters reports. 
 
 Some houses have collapsed in heaps of rubble, pounded by tank fire, while the remaining buildings stand scorched or pock-marked with bullet holes. Burnt-out tanks struck by rebels' rocket-propelled grenades sit motionless on the town's roads, while spent bullet casings lay strewn across the ground next to an old leather Russian tank helmet. A mosque in the town's centre that served as a base for Assad's army is now all but destroyed, scorched tanks and armoured vehicles immobilised in its courtyard. Sandbags stacked in the mosque's windows mark deserted army sniper positions. 
 
 • The question is not how long Assad can cling to power, but will the authoritarian structure survive him? argues Fawaz Gerges director of the LSE's Middle East Centre. ||||| BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian military shelled rebel targets in urban enclaves on Thursday as it readied assault troops and armored columns for a possible invasion of Aleppo, Syria ’s densely populated commercial capital, where insurgents have embedded themselves over the past week in preparation for a battle. 
 
 Antigovernment activists reached by phone and Skype in Aleppo said that the city’s civilian population was gripped by foreboding as government forces massed on the southern outskirts, and that fierce street clashes had sporadically erupted. But Syrian military commanders appeared to be awaiting reinforcements before issuing invasion orders. 
 
 Military experts have long speculated that President Bashar al-Assad’s army, which has been scrambling to crush rebel resistance in urban areas like Homs, Hama and more recently central and southern neighborhoods of Damascus during the uprising, lacked the military resources to take on an armed rebellion in all major cities at once. That seemed to explain the delay in Aleppo, where anticipation of an attack has been building for days. 
 
 The United States expressed alarm about the possibility of mass civilian casualties in Aleppo, a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the Middle East’s most storied cities. Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters in Washington that there was “concern that we will see a massacre in Aleppo, and that’s what the regime appears to be lining up for.” 
 
 But Ms. Nuland also indicated that the United States was not reconsidering its stance against military intervention, saying, “We do not think pouring more fuel onto the fire is going to save lives.” And she drew a sharp distinction between Aleppo and the Libyan city of Benghazi, where fears of a slaughter by government troops led to a NATO bombing campaign that proved decisive in toppling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi last year. 
 
 “The kind of groundswell call for external support that we’ve seen elsewhere is not there,” Ms. Nuland said. 
 
 A resident in the city named Ahmed, reached by Skype on Thursday afternoon, said Aleppo was convulsed with rumors that the army’s elite Fourth Division, commanded by Mr. Assad’s brother Maher, was mobilizing for an attack. “We are terrified,” he said. 
 
 Antigovernment fighters — including foreign fighters — were arriving or were preparing to travel to Aleppo from surrounding areas, activists said. Although the insurgents claimed to have destroyed police stations in two of the city’s neighborhoods, they were repulsed when they tried to take over two others, said Majed Abdel Nour, a spokesman in the city for the Shaam News Network, an antigovernment activist group. 
 
 The possibility of a major battle for Aleppo came as Turkey’s prime minister injected a new element of tension into the Syrian conflict, asserting that Syrian forces had abandoned territories close to the Turkish border that had since been occupied by Kurdish militants hostile to Turkey. 
 
 In recent weeks, activists from Kurdish hamlets near the Turkish border have posted videos of celebrations there, including in Kobani, where residents were seen raising the Kurdish flag. 
 
 The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters in Turkey that his country’s armed forces would “take whatever steps are necessary against terrorism” in these areas, foreshadowing possible Turkish military incursions into Syria, similar to Turkey’s incursions into areas of northern Iraq where Kurdish militants have sought sanctuary. 
 
 Mr. Erdogan’s warning came a day after Turkey placed new restrictions on Syrian-Turkish commercial trade along the 550-mile border, barring Turkish vehicles from entering Syria after clashes inside Syria in which many were damaged. The Turkish restrictions do not prohibit Syrian merchants from entering Turkey or place any limits on refugees. 
 
 Most of the clashes that have paralyzed Aleppo in recent days have taken place in the poorer, eastern parts, where a host of informal neighborhoods have sprung up in recent years. Populated mainly by Sunni Muslims arriving from rural areas, residents are sympathetic to the fighters, offering them meals to break the Ramadan fast and other support. There have also been clashes near the city’s historic center. 
 
 But with shelling during the night, residents took advantage of daylight to try to flee. Government helicopters continued to patrol Aleppo, firing occasionally, activists said. 
 
 The official Syrian news agency reported Thursday that clashes between the army and armed groups had “resulted in the killing and wounding of many terrorists.” 
 
 Mohamed, a resident from the eastern part of Aleppo, said the army was randomly shelling the city and beefing up its presence at checkpoints. Dozens of civilians had been killed in the past two days, he said. 
 
 “This used to be a restless city,” he said. “Now it’s the opposite.” He added that there were no police officers on the streets, no fuel available and no bread. 
 
 Abu Qusay, a field activist and fighter from nearby Idlib Province, said that he and dozens of other fighters, including Libyans, were preparing to travel on farm roads toward Aleppo. The fighters were bringing some light weapons, and counting on finding more in stockpiles seized by the rebels inside the city, he said. 
 
 In Damascus, activists reported scores of deaths, including among civilians, during heavy fighting in southern suburbs, the scene of clashes over the last two weeks. 
 
 There were also reports of deadly clashes between rebel fighters and the army in Tall Shihab, a town that hugs Syria’s border with Jordan and that sits along a route used by refugees trying to escape Syria. 
 
 At a news conference in Damascus on Thursday, Hervé Ladsous, the United Nations under secretary general in charge of peacekeeping operations globally, elaborated on a decision announced Wednesday to send back roughly half of the 300 monitors whose work has been suspended in Syria since mid-June because of the violence. 
 
 “We found ourselves with too many people with not enough to do,” Mr. Ladsous said. 
 
 Nonetheless, Mr. Ladsous offered assurances that the monitoring mission was still functioning, even though its mandate, which expired last Friday, was only renewed for a further 30 days by the United Nations Security Council. “The U.N. is in no way packing and going,” he said. 
 
 Neil MacFarquhar reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Reporting was contributed by Kareem Fahim, Dalal Mawad and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Antakya, Turkey. ||||| 1 of 10. A tank belonging to forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Deraa July 24, 2012. Picture taken July 24, 2012. 
 
 AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - The Syrian army turned its forces on Aleppo on Wednesday, ordering an armored column to advance on the country's second biggest city and pounding rebels there with artillery and attack helicopters, opposition activists said. 
 
 As hostilities intensified near the Turkish border, Ankara said it was closing its crossing posts, although the United Nations said refugees fleeing Syria would be allowed through. 
 
 At the Syrian town of Azaz, a few miles south of the Turkish border, rebels appeared in control after heavy clashes over the past month in which they succeeded in driving out government forces, leaving the place a rubble-strewn ghost-town. 
 
 Syria's ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus - a married couple - have deserted their posts, becoming the latest officials to abandon the Damascus government, rebels said. 
 
 The 16-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has been transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the capital, Damascus, where fighting exploded last week. 
 
 Assad's forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. They appear to have beaten rebels back from neighborhoods in the capital and are turning towards Aleppo, a commercial hub in the north. 
 
 North of Aleppo, the town of Azaz has been almost completely destroyed by heavy fighting. Burnt-out armored personnel carriers sat on the roads where rebels hit them with rocket-propelled grenades. Bullet casings were scattered everywhere. 
 
 Most residents fled during the latest fighting, which drove Assad's forces out over the past month and ended in the rebels taking the Bab al-Salam border crossing with Turkey on Sunday. 
 
 Fighting in and around Aleppo is expected to prompt an exodus across the Turkish border, where some Syrian refugees are already complaining about poor conditions and have clashed with riot police in disputes over food. 
 
 "There is not enough food. They have broken our hearts, the Turks. Why are they doing this to us?" said a sobbing woman called Umm Omar, with her four children huddled next to her in a camp near the border. 
 
 ARTILLERY AND ROCKETS 
 
 Further south, Syrian forces used artillery and fired rockets on Wednesday on the northern Damascus suburb of al-Tel in an attempt to seize it from rebels, forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents and opposition activists said. 
 
 "Military helicopters are flying now over the town. People were awakened by the sound of explosions and are running away," Rafe Alam, one of the activists, said by phone from a hill overlooking Tel. "Electricity and telephones have been cut off." 
 
 Opposition sources also reported helicopters and machineguns were firing on the neighborhood of Hajar al-Aswad. The slum lies on the southern outskirts of the capital and has been a haven for rebels sneaking into Damascus from the suburbs. 
 
 In the north, opposition activists said thousands of troops had withdrawn with their tanks and armored vehicles from Idlib province near the Turkish border and were heading towards Aleppo. Rebels attacked the rear of the troops withdrawing from the north, activist Abdelrahman Bakran said from the area. 
 
 State-run Syrian television painted a more favorable picture, saying government troops were imposing security and stability in and around Aleppo. 
 
 "The terrorists are suffering terrible losses. Groups of them are throwing their weapons away and giving themselves up. Others are fleeing for the Turkish border," the television said. 
 
 Military experts believe an overstretched Syrian army is pulling back to concentrate on fighting insurgents in Aleppo and Damascus, important power centers for the government, while leaving outlying areas in the hands of rebels. 
 
 HELICOPTERS FIRING 
 
 In Aleppo, helicopters were seen firing missiles throughout Tuesday, residents said. Rebels were battling government forces by the gates of the historic old city. Troops fired mortars and shells at rebels armed with rifles and machine guns. 
 
 "I heard at least 20 rockets fired, I think from helicopters, and also a lot of machine gun fire," a resident, who gave his name as Omar, said by telephone. 
 
 Residents said fixed-wing jets had also flown over the city, followed by loud noises, though there were contradictory reports as to whether they had opened fire. Video footage posted by activists appeared to show a warplane firing its guns. 
 
 Assad's forces have occasionally launched air strikes from fixed-wing jets on other cities during the uprising, but tend to rely on helicopters for air strikes in urban areas. 
 
 The uprising has entered a more violent phase in the past 10 days since rebels poured into Damascus in large numbers. 
 
 Last Wednesday, an explosion killed four members of Assad's inner circle inside a security headquarters, a blow that wiped out much of the top echelon of his military command structure and shattered the reputation for invulnerability that his family has held since his father seized power in a coup in 1970. 
 
 Western powers have been calling for Assad to be removed from power for many months, and now say they believe his days are numbered. But they fear that he will fight to the end, raising the risk of sectarian warfare spreading across one of the world's most volatile regions. 
 
 Syria heightened the alarm on Monday by confirming that it had chemical and biological weapons and saying it could use them against external threats, prompting warnings from Washington and Moscow against using the arsenal. 
 
 In its strongest language yet, Russia told Syria that it was unacceptable to threaten to use chemical weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. 
 
 In a meeting with Syria's ambassador to Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov "laid out in an extremely clear form Russia's position on the inadmissibility of any threats of the use of chemical weapons", the ministry said. 
 
 Israel said that if Syrian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas used the situation to take control of the weapons, it would "act immediately and with utmost force". 
 
 As the revolt against Assad intensifies, top Syrian officials have started to abandon their posts. Syria's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Abdelatif al-Dabbagh, and his wife, who is Damascus's envoy to Cyprus, Lamia al-Hariri, have defected and are both now in Qatar, the opposition Syrian National Council said on Wednesday. 
 
 Brigadier General Manaf Tlas, a member of Assad's inner circle who fled Syria this month, appeared on television in his first public comments since defecting. He called on troops to abandon the government. 
 
 Elsewhere in the country, activists reported a series of killings by government troops and pro-Assad militia. 
 
 They reported an attack on a mosque in a village northwest of the city of Hama, with at least 15 confirmed dead. At least nine people were killed in army shelling of al-Herak, a town south of Deraa. In Damascus, activists said they found the bodies of 11 men executed by government forces in the district of Qaboun. 
 
 The accounts, like others from activists, could not be confirmed. Syria restricts access by international journalists. 
 
 The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which compiles reports from activists, said 1,261 people had been killed since the fighting intensified in Damascus on July 15. That made last week by far the bloodiest in an uprising in which activists say at least 18,000 people have been killed. 
 
 (Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Anna Willard, David Stamp and Will Waterman)
– Heavy shelling was reported today in Aleppo and Damascus, as government forces and rebels both gear up for a major showdown, reports Reuters. The Syrian military is sending convoys of tanks, troop carriers, and other hardware to the vital central cities, leaving rebels in control of much of the countryside. Activists claimed that rebels controlled about half of Aleppo, and, outgunned by the military, they doubt rebels can hold the city, reported the New York Times. Other developments: Rebels are rushing to stockpile munitions in Aleppo, reports the BBC, and setting up checkpoints and snipers even as thousands of residents flee the city. One resident in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus reported heavy shelling in the south of the city, beginning around 7am and continuing for three hours. As government forces pull out of the Kurdish parts of Syria to prepare for the large offensive against the rebels in Aleppo and Damascus, Kurds are using the withdrawal to fly the Kurdish flag, asserting their independence, reports the Guardian.