BEIRUT (AP)
-- The Syrian government has dispatched reinforcements including tanks
and armored personnel carriers to a predominantly Christian village
north of Damascus where rebels have clashed with regime troops this
week, a monitoring group said Friday.
Opposition
fighters led by an al-Qaida-linked rebel faction attacked the
mountainside sanctuary of Maaloula on Wednesday, and briefly entered the
village a day later before pulling out in the evening. The assault has
spotlighted fears among Syria's religious minorities about the prominent
role of Islamic extremists in the rebel ranks fighting to overthrow
President Bashar Assad's regime.
The
government forces sent to Maaloula have taken up positions outside the
village, which is still under the control of local pro-regime militias,
said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights. He added that there were skirmishes Friday
around the village, which is home to two of the oldest surviving
monasteries in Syria - Mar Sarkis and Mar Takla.
The
assault is being spearheaded by Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the most
effective rebel factions and a group the United States has deemed a
terrorist organization. The group includes Syrians as well as foreign
fighters from across the Muslim world.
The
Syrian government has tried to emphasize the role of foreigners fighting
on the rebel side as part of its narrative that the Assad regime is
battling a foreign-backed conspiracy.
In that
vein, Syrian state television said Friday the government is offering
500,000 Syrian pounds ($2,800) for turning in a foreign fighter, and
200,000 pounds ($1,150) for information about their whereabouts or
assistance in their capture.
As the fighting
continued on the ground inside Syria, President Barack Obama's
administration forged ahead in its efforts to win congressional backing
for military strikes against Syria over a suspected chemical attack on
Aug. 21 outside Damascus. The U.S. accuses the Assad regime of being
behind the attack, while Syria blames the rebels.
Obama
on Friday was expected to use the last day of the Group of 20 economic
summit in Russia to continue his quest to scrounge up foreign support
for armed action. He has had little public success so far, with only
France willing to take part in any military response.
The
prospect of a U.S.-led strike against Syria has raised concerns of
potential retaliation from the Assad regime or its allies. On Friday,
the State Department ordered nonessential U.S. diplomats to leave
Lebanon over security concerns and urged private American citizens to
depart as well.
The Shiite militant Hezbollah group, an Assad ally that has sent fighters into Syria, is based in Lebanon.
The
G-20 summit's host, Russia, is staunchly opposed to any Western action
against Syria. The Kremlin has continued its decades-long alliance with
Damascus throughout the civil war, backing Assad militarily,
economically and diplomatically.
On Friday,
Russia's Interfax news agency said Moscow had three naval ships moving
toward Syria in the eastern Mediterranean and another en route from the
Black Sea. The privately-owned agency said two amphibious landing crafts
and a reconnaissance ship have already passed through the Dardanelles,
while another landing vessel left the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on
Friday morning for the Eastern Mediterranean with "special cargo."
The
Ministry of Defense was unable to confirm the ships' departure. Kremlin
Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov said Thursday that Russia is boosting its
naval presence in the Mediterranean "primarily" to organize a possible
evacuation of Russians from Syria. It is unclear how many ships Russia
has there.
Reports of increased Russian naval
presence near Syria have stoked fears about a larger international
conflict if the United States carries out airstrikes.
In
Damascus, the Syrian state news agency SANA said the speaker of
parliament, Mohammad Jihad Laham, urged the U.S. Congress to engage in a
"civilized" dialogue with Damascus rather than resorting to a dialogue
of "fire and blood."
In a letter sent late
Thursday to House Speaker John Boehner, Laham appealed to the U.S.
lawmaker and his colleagues "not to rush into any irresponsible,
reckless action."
---
Associated
Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and
Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.
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