海角大神

Syrian President聽Bashar al-Assad聽sent a senior diplomat to聽Moscow聽on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy聽Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said.

Brahimi, who saw聽Assad聽on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in聽Damascus聽this week, is trying to broker a peaceful transfer of power, but has disclosed little about how this might be done.

More than 44,000 Syrians have been killed in a revolt against four decades of聽Assad聽family rule, a conflict that began with peaceful protests in March last year, but has since descended into civil war.

A video posted by rebels on Wednesday showed the bodies of dozens of soldiers executed by a roadside. At least one of them appeared to have been beaten to death. The聽United Nations聽and rights group say the military and rebels have both committed war crimes, but have so far placed most of the blame on the聽army.

Past peace efforts have floundered, with world powers divided over what has become an increasingly sectarian struggle between mostly Sunni Muslim rebels and聽Assad's security forces, drawn primarily from his Shiite-rooted Alawite minority.

Deputy Foreign Minister聽Faisal Makdad聽flew to聽Moscow聽to discuss the details of the talks with Brahimi, said a Syrian security source, who would not say if a deal was in the works.

However, a Lebanese official close to聽Damascus聽said Makdad had been sent to seek Russian advice on a possible agreement.

He said Syrian officials were upbeat after talks with Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League聽envoy, who met Foreign Minister聽Walid Moualem聽on Tuesday a day after his session with聽Assad, but who has not outlined his ideas in public.

"There is a new mood now and something good is happening," the official said, asking not to be named. He gave no details.

Russia, which has given聽Assad聽diplomatic and military aid to help him weather the 21-month-old uprising, has said it is not protecting him, but has fiercely criticized any foreign backing for rebels and, with聽China, has blocked U.N. Security Council action on聽Syria.

Seeking A Settlement

础听Russian Foreign Ministry聽source said Makdad and an aide would meet Foreign Minister聽Sergei Lavrov聽and Mikhail Bogdanov, the Kremlin's special envoy for聽Middle East聽affairs, on Thursday, but did not disclose the nature of the talks.

On Saturday, Lavrov said聽Syria's civil war had reached a stalemate, saying international efforts to get聽Assad聽to quit would fail. Bogdanov had earlier acknowledged that Syrian rebels were gaining ground and might win.

Given the scale of the bloodshed and destruction,聽Assad's opponents insist the Syrian president must go.

Moaz Alkhatib, head of the internationally-recognized Syrian National Coalition opposition, has criticized any notion of a transitional government in which聽Assad聽would stay on as a figurehead president stripped of real powers.

Comments on Alkhatib's Facebook page on Monday suggested that the opposition believed this was one of Brahimi's ideas.

"The government and its president cannot stay in power, with or without their powers," Alkhatib wrote, saying his Coalition had told Brahimi it rejected any such solution.

While Brahimi was working to bridge the vast gaps between聽Assad聽and his foes, fighting raged across the country and a senior Syrian military officer defected to the rebels.

In the northern province of聽al-Raqqa,聽Syrian army聽shelling killed about 20 people, at least eight of them children, a video posted by opposition campaigners showed.

The video, uploaded by the聽Syrian Observatory聽for Human Rights, showed rows of blood-stained bodies laid out on blankets. Sobbing relatives could be heard in the background.

The shelling hit the province's al-Qahtania village early on Wednesday. The聽British-based Observatory, which has a network of activists across聽Syria, said there was no rebel presence in the town, and the motives of the attack were unclear.

"This Is The Fate Of Swine"

As the violence grows, so does sectarian hatred between the Sunni Muslim majority and minorities such as聽Assad's Alawite sect, which has largely supported the president.

Several Islamist units, among them the US-blacklisted聽Jabhat al-Nusra, released a video showing the bodies of dozens of聽Assad's fighters along a highway near an Alawite town in the central province of Hama, where rebels launched a new offensive.

The unseen speaker in the video dated the scene to Dec. 21 and said 50 men were ambushed in a convoy and killed. Piles of bodies lined the road with many more scattered further away. One of the men appeared to have been beaten to death, with parts of his face smashed in and some of the skull protruding.

"Let this be a lesson," the cameraman says. "These are聽Assad's apostate dogs on the road ... this is the fate of all swine."

On the back of the Hama offensive, rebels relaunched their assault on the聽Wadi Deif military base聽in the northwestern province of聽Idlib, in a battle for a major聽army聽compound and fuel storage and distribution point.

The military used artillery and air strikes to try to hold back rebels assaulting Wadi Deif and the town of聽Morek聽in Hama province further south, where they have cut its supply routes. In one air raid, rockets fell near a field hospital in聽Idlib's town of聽Saraqeb, wounding several people,聽the Observatory聽said.

As violence has intensified in recent weeks, the death toll has climbed.聽The Observatory聽reported at least 120 killed across the country on Wednesday, a number likely to rise overnight.

The head of聽Syria's military聽police changed sides and declared allegiance to the anti-Assad聽revolt.

"I am General聽Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the聽army聽from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction," the officer said in a video published on YouTube.

A Syrian security source confirmed the defection, but said Shalal was near retirement and had only defected to "play hero".