Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Rebels are preparing for a major offensive against
the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Free Syrian Army said it was planning a major offensive against
Assad that could begin as early as Jan. 8. FSA, based in Turkey and which
claims a force of 20,000, said its unilateral truce would end over the next
few days amid bloody regime attacks on anti-Assad protesters.

“They are not stopping the killings,” FSA said in a statement.

The rebel army, which had pledged to suspend attacks during an Arab League monitoring mission in Syria in December, said the Assad regime has broken its pledges to allow peaceful protests. FSA said Assad troops were deserting or surrendering to the rebels in record numbers.

On Jan. 2, 30 Syrian soldiers and four officers were said by FSA to have surrendered to rebel troops in the Zawiya region. The rebels said the soldiers handed over their weapons and submitted to interrogation by the FSA without resistance.

“We have information about all the officers ordering the shooting of demonstrators,” FSA military council secretary Capt. Amr Wawi said.

The United Nations has reported that more than 5,000 people were killed in the revolt against Assad, which began in March 2011. Western diplomats
said more than10,000 Syrian soldiers, most of them Sunnis, deserted the
regime, and many of them joined the rebels.

FSA has reported rebel operations in northeastern Syria, particularly
near the Turkish border. Wawi said more than 40 troops were killed in such
cities as Damascus, Dera and Dir Al Zour in early January.

“The situation has reached a stalemate, where each side is killing the
other with greater intensity,” a Western diplomat said. “But there is a
growing consensus in the West that the [Assad] regime has to be toppled this
year.”

On Jan. 5, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders conducted separate
meetings with two Syrian opposition groups in Brussels as part of a European
Union attempt to unite the anti-Assad campaign. This marked the first time
that the Muslim Brotherhood-oriented Syrian National Council allowed a
Western official to meet with another opposition group as well.

“The division of the opposition plays into the hands of the Syrian
regime,” Reynders said.

  Arab League, Bashar Assad, Capt. Amr Wawi, Free Syrian Army cites continued killings, prepares attack on regime forces, prepares to attack regime forces, Sunnis, Syrian National Council, Zawiya