Syria denies reports of defection as violence rages

Syria denied reports Saturday that top regime official Vice President Faruq al-Shara has defected as fighting raged in key battlegrounds in several parts of the country. The United Nations meanwhile won support from the West as well as Russia and China for its new envoy for Syria, veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi who was named Friday to replace Kofi Annan. In Damascus, state television issued a statement from Shara's office after opposition and media reports that he had fled, saying: "Mr Shara has never thought about leaving the country or going anywhere." Shara, 73, is the most powerful Sunni Muslim figure in the minority Alawite-led regime of President Bashar al-Assad and has served in top posts for almost 30 years. Assad's regime has already been hard hit by a series of defections since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011, including former prime minister Riad Hijab and high profile general Manaf Tlass -- a childhood friend of Assad. "Initial reports show that there was an attempted defection, but that it failed," the rebel Free Syrian Army said in a statement referring to Shara. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had said this week that there could be more "spectacular" defections from the regime, which was also shaken last month by a bomb attack claimed by the FSA which killed four security chiefs. On the ground, the army launched new air strikes on Aazaz in the northern province of Aleppo, just three days after about 40 people were killed in the rebel-held town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The army also pounded several areas of Aleppo, the northern city which has become the focus of the conflict since late July, while rebels and troops battled in the southern Salaheddin district of the city. In Damascus, fighting broke out in the heavily populated southern district of Tadamun, showing that the rebels still have pockets of resistance in the capital despite government forces last month claiming they had retaken it. Aleppo The Observatory said a total of 129 people were killed in violence on Friday alone. It reported at least 10 deaths on Saturday. And in a grim sign of the escalating brutality of the conflict, the Observatory said dozens of bodies had been found dumped in several areas of Damascus province. Opposition factions had reported that 65 bodies had been found dumped on a rubbish tip in a town near Damascus on Thursday, claiming the victims had been bound, executed and set on fire by pro-government forces. It is impossible to independently verify such claims as journalists are unable to report freely in Syria. Government forces appear to be resorting to more attacks from the air against the more poorly armed and disparate rebel groups, while accounts of people being shot dead by snipers are increasing. The intensified fighting has sent thousands more Syrians fleeing into neighbouring countries, particularly Turkey, as the divided international community appears powerless to act. But in a sign of a renewed effort to try to end the conflict, the United Nations announced Friday the appointment of Brahimi as new Syria envoy, the day after calling time on its observer mission. Brahimi himself however admitted he was not confident he would be able to end the 17-month-old conflict, which activists say has killed 23,000 people, while the UN puts the toll at 17,000. Asked whether he was confident the civil war could be ended, Brahimi told France 24: "No, I'm not. What I am confident of is that I am going to try my utmost, my very, very best." UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to give the new envoy "strong, clear and unified" support, after Annan complained his mission had been hamstrung by the deep rift on the Security Council between the West and traditional Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Brahimi, saying the world community was committed to bringing about change in Syria and "ensuring that those who commit atrocities will be identified and held accountable". China and Russia, which have both vetoed Security Council resolutions on Syria and has accused the West of hampering efforts to end the crisis, vowed to cooperate with Brahimi in the search for a political solution. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a ceasefire in Syria, saying that Brahimi's efforts would be ineffective unless violence ceased. "Political dialogue will not start, at least these efforts will not lead to a final result, if violence does not cease. And that does not depend on Brahimi," Russian media quoted Lavrov as saying. Assad himself has characterised the conflict as a battle against a foreign "terrorist" plot aided by the West and its allies in the region, led by Sunni Muslim powerhouse Saudi Arabia.