Syria's civil war could approach a turning point

(CBS News) LONDON - The civil war in Syria could be approaching a turning point. Rebels Saturday night are threatening the Damascus airport, the Assad regime's lifeline to its few remaining allies.

The outskirts of Damascus have become a battleground, with some of the fiercest fighting the city has seen yet. Syrian rebels say they're closing in on the capital, street by street.

Now within their sights is their biggest target: the Damascus International Airport, about 12 miles southeast of the city.

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Heavy bombardment was reported Saturday in the suburbs in the surrounding area.

Rebel leaders called the airport a legitimate target, and gave a stark warning to the regime and outside travelers to avoid it at all costs.

Fighting near the airport road forced the suspension of commercial flights this week. Some airlines have already stopped altogether.

A rebel takeover of the airport would also cut off weapons supplies from regime allies like Iran, said Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"It has the country's longest runways," he said. "It's from that location that jets from Iran land carrying a lot of sophisticated weapons. So knocking that location out, taking it over and holding it would allow the rebels to begin their push to Damascus without having the threat of resupply from the Iranians."

That makes it far too valuable for forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up without a fight.

The battle for Damascus and its airport might prove to be the bloodiest in more than 20 months of Syria's brutal civil war.

[joesapper]

So the reports are assad gang is much smaller as weapons have been turned over to Iranian guys in Syria for use , against the wishes of many in assad ranks , so the math is , the crazies have control according to reports .

Well the ex assad military guys that defected are the only hope at this point as their reach is able to talk to once friends on the assad side to stop this madness .

So other then the crazy mindset of the handlers , one has to say that the chance of thses chem weapons trading hands into hands of terrorist has just jumped up to more than a probable level rather than a possible level.

The math in less than a day could be that assad's crew has lost control and contact with more than some of these weapons , it all depends who will be on the end of the line when the call is made ?

unbelievable in this day and age that we are watching madness , on levels of mass murder , that others have supported up to just a week ago . Now we have crazies with rants & chants running the show , this is not in the interest of anyone . May God stop this madness .