Syria: No power in world can topple Assad

Syria's information minister said Tuesday there is no power in the entire world that can defeat his country or topple President Bashar Assad. Omran Zoubi said all efforts to replace Assad are futile and opposition abroad is in "a state of turmoil," CNN reported. Zoubi's statements come after the Syrian opposition formally agreed in Qatar to form a new umbrella organization, the National Coalition Forces of the Syrian Revolution, that could provide the basis for a provisional government. Coalition spokesman Mohammed Dugham said they want Assad gone and will not talk with his government. The coalition would be allowed to take Syria's seat at the Arab League, which expelled Assad's representative, The New York Times reported. Tuesday's fighting in suburban Damascus was particularly brutal with at least 30 people killed, the opposition said. Government troops bombed a rebel-held Syrian village near Turkey for a second day prompting Turkish Prime Minister Recept Erdogan to warn that Ankara would not hesitate to respond if necessary, Turkey's Today's Zaman reported. He spoke as a Syrian warplane struck homes in the town of Ras al-Ain, just yards from the Turkish border. Witnesses told The New York Times the aerial assault destroyed several structures Monday and Tuesday. Ras al-Ain is an unofficial crossing point for thousands of Syrians fleeing to Turkey. They said the force of the bombings shattered windows in businesses and houses in Ceylanpinar, Turkey, just across the border. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu protested the Ras al-Ain bombing to Syria Monday, the Anatolian News Agency reported. In Israel, military leaders said Israeli tanks deployed in the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, hit a Syrian mobile artillery launcher Monday after several days of mortar fire from the Syrian side of the cease-fire line. Military officials and analysts in Israel told the Times they think the shelling was unintentional and Israel doesn't want to be drawn into the Syria conflict, which began in March 2011. Activist organizations estimate about 40,000 people have died and more than 400,000 refugees have fled to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.