By Aleppo
THE head of the exiled Syrian opposition has urged Arab ''brothers'' and friends to arm insurgents against the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad amid growing concern about the risks of reprisals by the regime against civilians in Aleppo, the country's commercial capital.
''We want weapons that would stop tanks and jet fighters,'' said the head of the Syrian National Council, Abdel Basset Sayda, in Abu Dhabi, as regime forces launched an all-out assault on Aleppo.
He urged Arab ''brothers and friends to support the Free [Syrian] Army'', saying the support should be ''qualitative because the rebels are fighting with old weapons''.
He said the rebellion, which began in March last year, needed support in order to achieve a ''significant change''.
''There should be relief support, but also support that allows this people to defend itself against the machine of killing,'' he said.
Mr Sayda said the opposition needed a minimum of $US145 million ($A139 million) monthly to provide basic needs, while it has received only $US15 million over several months.
Aleppo is shaping up as the biggest test yet of opposition fighters' capabilities against the regime's artillery and air power, with thousands of civilians fleeing to avoid what the US said may be a ''massacre''.
Government forces are using military helicopters in Aleppo, according to Associated Press, citing activists who said soldiers were targeting rebel-controlled neighbourhoods to crush the opposition forces for good.
The BBC cited activists who said troops were moving tanks into the south-western districts of Aleppo and that the bombardment of rebel-held areas intensified at the weekend, with military aircraft flying over the city at low altitudes, and many casualties.
At least 29 people were killed on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, contributing to a figure of about 140 nationwide.
The watchdog said more than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, had now died since the uprising against Dr Assad's regime erupted in March 2011.
''It started at 4am (11am AEST) and eight hours later it's still hell. This is madness,'' an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported from the Aleppo district of Salaheddin.
Civilians crowded into basements seeking refuge from the bombing, with eyewitnesses describing the clashes as the uprising's ''fiercest''.
''There are thousands of people in the streets fleeing the bombardment.
''They're being terrorised by helicopter gunships flying at low altitude,'' said an activist, adding that many had taken refuge in public parks.
Official news agency SANA reported fighting in Furqan district, where ''a terrorist group was terrorising residents''.
Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi, of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said his forces had repulsed troops in Salaheddin and that the regime offensive had been stopped. ''We managed to force the army to the neighbourhood of Hamdaniyeh,'' he said, adding that while the army had been halted on the ground, artillery and gunships continued to pound the city.
In Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia was ''not even thinking'' of granting Assad asylum, saying his nation is not and ''never was'' Syria's closest ally.
Opposition groups yesterday reported fighting in the northern province of Idlib, Daraa to the south, and in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, where the government used helicopter gunships to blast rebel hideouts, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. AFP, BLOOMBERG, TELEGRAPH