Diplomats torn over support for fractured Syrian opposition

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Damascus is reacting to the growing calls for intervention in Syria with a renewed offensive near the Turkish border.

As white smoke drifted over hills near the country's northern frontier on Friday, forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad intensified their crackdown on rebel positions, cutting several key opposition supply lines and killing at least seven people within a few kilometres of the border in an apparent effort to thwart discussions of foreign intervention.

In Tunis, foreign ministers spoke with unusual frankness about their options: smuggling arms to Syrian rebels, protecting humanitarian shipments to rebellious cities, or other forms of intervention. The so-called "Friends of Syria" meeting, which included U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ended without agreement on immediate action.

More than 60 nations and international groups called for a civilian United Nations peacekeeping mission that would deploy after the violence ends, however, and Saudi Arabia's delegation argued in favour of giving weapons to the opposition. Other ministers urged their colleagues to accept the idea of humanitarian corridors, from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, which would require military support for aid shipments to embattled cities.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird joined in pressing the Assad regime to open the country to international assistance, pledging $1.5-million in Canadian aid. The Friends of Syria group said that supply depots would be set up along the Syrian border, but it's unclear how the aid will make it into the country without the approval of the Syrian government.

"We call on Syria to immediately allow full, safe, rapid, and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance to all those in need," Mr. Baird told the conference, according to a copy of his speech.

The Assad regime did not reply directly to the proposals on Friday, but appeared to be answering with tanks. Syrian activists, refugees and rebels say that all but one of their major smuggling routes from Turkey into rebel-held enclaves have been shut down in the last 10 days. Truck drivers and travellers arriving from Syria described unprecedented numbers of Syrian tanks and artillery units near the border.

Some activists said the Syrian forces had started a renewed campaign of placing land mines along the border, where minefields are already a well-known hazard. On Wednesday night, a local farmer complained that one of his pigs was blown up by a hidden bomb while foraging in a previously safe area.

"They are trying to close all the ways that lead inside Syria," said Raed Al-Saleh, 27, a Syrian refugee. From the Turkish Red Crescent camp near the border where Mr. Al-Saleh now works as an organizer, he could see smoke rising from the nearby Syrian town of Salken; phone calls from his friends inside Syria confirmed that fighting was under way.

Near another camp, Shaban Khatib, 29, who described himself as a member of the Free Syrian Army, said that he made regular trips on foot among the olive orchards between Syria and Turkey, but those journeys have recently become more dangerous.

"Two weeks ago it was much easier," Mr. Khatib said. "If we had weapons maybe we could face them, but we have nothing."

The young rebel was attending the funeral of a friend, Mustafa Sher Mohammed, 28, a shopkeeper who took up arms against the regime. Mourners said that a Syrian government sniper killed Mr. Mohammed near a border crossing on Wednesday.

Truckers at the nearby crossing of Cilvegozu reported dozens of tanks gathered at an old customs depot about five kilometres inside Syrian territory. The crackdown had eliminated some pockets of rebel control along the trucking route, they said; this caused a rush of traffic at the crossing, as drivers scrambled to get their freight through the treacherous border while the government had control. One trader estimated that 80 trucks crossed at Cilvegozu on Thursday, a far greater number than during previous weeks.

The regime's apparent advances against the rebels in the border region served as another reminder of the opposition's weakness in Syria. At the conference in Tunis, participants signalled they would step up ties to the Syrian National Council, the opposition umbrella group, calling it "a legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.

But the ministers also expressed concerns that the umbrella group still has not unified opposition factions across political and sectarian lines – and Mr. Baird urged opposition forces to forge a united plan.

"The opposition needs to develop a clear vision for a post-Assad era," Mr. Baird told the conference. "Canada strongly believes that the protection of religious minorities must be an important part of that plan."