Opponents and supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad traded heavy machine gun fire and mortar shells in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli, leaving five people dead in what was described as some of the heaviest fighting there in years, officials said Thursday.
Tripoli has been a frequent flashpoint of sectarian tensions stoked by the civil war in neighboring Syria.
The latest overnight deaths brought to 16the number of people killed in clashes there this week, and the overall number of wounded rose to 190, said a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
On the other hand, fighting in al-Qusayr continued for a fifth day Thursday, after Syrian opposition leaders urged rebels from elsewhere to converge on the town, which is strategically important to both sides.
For the rebels, predominantly Sunni al-Qusayr is part of a supply line of weapons and fighters from nearby Lebanon.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition group, said Thursday that 46 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in the battle for al-Qusayr.
Overall, at least 104 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Syria in recent months, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria.
Elsewhere in Syria, rebel fighters captured an army base late Wednesday, a rare victory after a series of battlefield setbacks, the Observatory said.
The group said at least 40 pro-regime troops and 14 rebels were killed in the battle for the base, near the northwestern town of Nairab.
Positions:
Syria's main opposition bloc, meanwhile, welcomed a new demand by its main foreign supporters that Assad step down as part of any talks on ending the civil war.
However, Louay Safi, a senior member of the Syrian National Coalition, said Thursday that only written guarantees can bring the opposition to the table.
The dispute could jeopardize a new attempt to launch talks between the regime and the opposition at an international conference in Geneva. The aim of the talks is to form a joint transition government.
On Wednesday, the U.S. along with key European and Arab supporters of Syria's opposition said Assad must relinquish power at the start of a transition period.
However, Syria ally Russia, a co-sponsor of the Geneva talks, has not committed to Assad's departure, and the Syrian leader has said he will not step down before elections are held.
The statement by the opposition's foreign backers in Amman, Jordan appeared aimed in part in persuading Syria's opposition to come to the table.
Assad's departure at the start of a transition period is a key demand of the Syrian National Coalition, which started three days of meetings in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday.
However, the opposition will not attend the Geneva talks, tentatively set for next month, unless invitations say that Assad's departure from power is one of the goals of the negotiations, he said.
"If the transition and if the removal of Assad is not on the table, this is a non-starter for all the opposition," Safi said by phone from Istanbul.
During its three-day meeting, the coalition is to lay out its positions on peace talks, discuss bringing in other groups and elect a new leadership.
Meanwhile, a Syrian opposition leader urged
President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday to hand power to his deputy or his prime
minister and then go abroad with 500 members of his entourage, without immunity
from prosecution.
However, Alkhatib's proposal shows a willingness to work with people
associated with Assad throughout the revolt and will be seen as stretching out a hand to members
of the government.
The Sunni Muslim cleric's plan, posted on
his Facebook page, calls on Assad to step down in favor of Prime Minister Wael
al-Halki or Vice-President Farouq al-Shara, a veteran politician who has kept a
low profile since the revolt began in March 2011, prompting opposition claims
last year that he planned to defect.
Alkhatib said Assad should respond within
20 days and that he should then be given a month to dissolve parliament.
Once
Assad had ceded power, his government should stay in office for 100 days and
restructure the military before handing over to a transitional government
"which should be agreed upon and negotiated within the framework of
international assurances".
In turn, France has joined the
push for the European Union to declare the militant group Hezbollah a terrorist
organization, switching tack amid frustration with Hezbollah's support for
Syria's military.
French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius told reporters Wednesday night in Jordan, after talks about Syria,
"We have decided to ask that the military branch of Hezbollah be
considered as a terrorist organization."
For his part, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday acknowledged the difficulties of launching peace talks. "Nobody has any illusions about how difficult, complicated, what a steep climb that is," he said during a visit to Israel.
"But we also understand that the killing that is taking place, the massacres that are taking place, the incredible destabilization of Syria, is spilling over into Lebanon, into Jordan, and has an impact, obviously, on Israel," he said.
REUTERS/AP/LBCI