Russia, US meet as Syrian rebels step up advance

The two major powers divided by Syria's civil war met head to head on Thursday, with signs emerging that Russia might curb its support for President Bashar al-Assad and Washington saying events were gathering speed on the ground.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Dublin on the sidelines of a security conference, at a time when rebel advances have brought the 20-month war to the doorstep of the capital Damascus.

"Events on the ground in Syria are accelerating, and we see that in many different ways," Clinton said before the meeting. "The pressure against the regime in and around Damascus seems to be increasing."

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN mediator who convened the meeting, said the two sides had not made any breakthroughs, but would seek a creative solution to their impasse.

Beijing on Friday urged all relevant parties to continue seeking a fair, peaceful and appropriate resolution to the Syrian conflicts.

China hopes all parties will take concrete measures to advance the implementation of the consensus reached by the international community, including the Geneva communique of the Action Group, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei at a regular news briefing.

"The Chinese side supports all efforts that can propel the process of a political resolution of the Syrian issue and supports Brahimi's mediation endeavors," he said.

Washington and its allies have long sought the overthrow of Assad.

Western countries and international officials have issued coordinated warnings in recent days to Assad not to use chemical weapons. In the latest, the United Nations said Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had written to Assad to urge him not to use poison gas.

US officials said they have seen intelligence indicating Assad might be more likely to use chemical weapons, although they have been vague about the nature of the information.

"I think there is no question that we remain very concerned, very concerned that as the opposition advances, in particular on Damascus, that the regime might well consider the use of chemical weapons," US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said.

Syria has not signed an international chemical weapons treaty banning poison gas, but has repeatedly said that it would never use such weapons on its own people.

Troops deployed

Assad's government said the warnings about chemical arms were aimed at whipping up an excuse for military intervention. NATO decided this week to send US, German and Dutch batteries of air-defense missiles to the Turkish border, meaning hundreds of American and European troops will deploy to Syria's frontier for the first time since the war began.

"Syria stresses again, for the tenth, the hundredth time, that if we had such weapons, they would not be used against its people. We would not commit suicide," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Maqdad told Lebanon's Al Manar television.

"We fear there is a conspiracy to provide a pretext for any subsequent interventions in Syria by these countries that are increasing pressure on Syria."

Fighting has intensified around the capital in the past week, prompting Western commentators to speak of an "end-game" that could soon see Assad toppled soon.

A senior US State Department official said Clinton's meetings with Lavrov and Brahimi were constructive, and US and Russian officials would follow it up with another meeting with Brahimi in coming days, seeking a political transition in Damascus.

Brahimi said, "We have agreed that we must continue to work together to see how we can find creative ways of bringing this problem under control and hopefully starting to solve it."

In one of the clearest signs yet that Moscow may be losing patience with Assad, Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russian President Vladimir Putin's party in parliament as saying the Syrian government was no longer capable of functioning.

"We have shared and continue to share the opinion that the existing government in Syria should carry out its functions, but time has shown that this task is beyond its strength," Vladimir Vasiliyev said.

Western countries have so far resisted conducting the sort of intervention in Syria's civil war that saw NATO air strikes help topple Libya's Muammar Gadhafi last year.

Germany approved the Patriot missile mission to Turkey on Thursday. NATO said it is a defensive step to prevent cross-border strikes on alliance member Turkey, but Syria fears it could be a prelude to imposing a no-fly zone over its territory.

Airport blockade

Rebel spokesman Abu Nidal said the army was pinned down along the airport highway by nightfall on Thursday by rebel fighters maneuvering to mount a blockade. The airport is not closed but commercial traffic has almost ceased.

"We know that arms have been going to the regime through the civilian airport," he said. A blockade would be "a good tool to put more pressure on the regime, which is part of a strategy of trying to drain their strength".

Western powers have shown no enthusiasm for armed intervention in Syria, preferring economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure and limited aid to rebel forces, who get most of their guns and ammunition paid for by sympathetic Arab powers.

Britain said on Thursday it will increase practical support for the rebels to include training and equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles.

Exactly what Syria's army has done with suspected chemical weapons to prompt a surge of Western warnings over the past two days is not clear. Reports citing Western intelligence and defense sources are vague and inconsistent.

While Western countries support the rebel aim of toppling Assad, they are also uncomfortable with some rebel groups, which espouse radical Sunni Islamist views.

US officials said the Obama administration was considering blacklisting Jabhat al-Nusra, an influential rebel group accused by other rebels of indiscriminate tactics that has advocated an Islamic state in Syria and is suspected of ties to al-Qaida.

Reuters-China Daily