By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Syria's civil war is closing in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power in Damascus with clashes between government forces and rebels flaring around the city Tuesday, raising fears the capital will become the next major battlefield in the 20-month-old conflict.
A mortar slammed into a ninth-grade classroom in the Damascus suburbs on Tuesday, killing nine students and a teacher, according to state media, as the civil war closed in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power.
Syrians fear embattled President Bashar Assad is planning to attack civilian opponents and armed rebels alike with chemical and biological weapons, human rights activists said Monday after Syria declared for the first time that its army has weapons of mass destruction.
The Syrian regime threatened Monday to use its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, in its first ever acknowledgement that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Syria on Sunday denied U.N. claims that government forces used heavy weapons during a military operation that left scores dead and brought immediate international condemnation, while the International Committee of the Red Cross said it now considers the conflict in the country a civil war.
Syria on Sunday denied U.N. claims that government forces used heavy weapons during a military operation that left scores dead and brought immediate international condemnation, while the International Committee of the Red Cross said it now considers the conflict in the country a civil war.
Dozens of Syrian soldiers defected overnight to Turkey, crossing the border with their families as tensions between the two countries soared three days after Syrian forces shot down a Turkish military plane.
Syria's government has agreed to a written deal with the United Nations and other international organizations that would allow aid workers and supplies to enter four hard-hit provinces, U.N. officials announced Tuesday.
GET OUT OF SYRIA
Syria on Thursday blamed up to 800 rebel fighters for the massacre in central Syria last week that killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children, in its most comprehensive explanation to date of the bloodshed.
The Syrian government on Sunday denied responsibility for an assault on villages that left more than 100 people dead, blaming the killings on "hundreds of heavily armed gunmen" who also attacked soldiers in the area.
The Syrian government denied Sunday its troops were behind an attack on a string of villages that left more than 90 people dead, blaming the killings on "hundreds of heavily-armed gunmen" who also attacked soldiers in the area.
A Syrian official on Monday accused the West of taking advantage of the Middle Eastern country's unrest to try to destabilize it and warned the opposition that militarizing is a big mistake that will backfire.
A Syrian activist group reported Monday that 138 people have been killed across the country including in the embattled city of Homs where a team from the Syrian arm of the Red Cross brought aid to one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.
Mr. Makdissi said the uprising has "legitimate demands" but left unclear whether he considers his departure a defection.
Jihad Makdissi, who was known for defending Mr. Assad's regime in fluent English, said in a statement sent to the Abu-Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia that he did not go to Europe or the U.S. after leaving Syria.
