:00:02. > :00:12.Afghanistan and President Karzai's decision to have talks with the
:00:12. > :00:18.
:00:18. > :00:28.Taliban. But now it is time for Welcome to this Reporters special,
:00:28. > :00:31.
:00:31. > :00:33.Inside Syria. I'm Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle East editor.
:00:33. > :00:37.Kalashnikovs against tanks. The defiance of anti-government
:00:37. > :00:41.protesters, ready to lay down their lives to overthrow President Assad.
:00:41. > :00:48.But he has supporters who will die for him. His supporters rallying
:00:48. > :00:51.for Damascus call the uprising a terrorist plot. It is not a war yet
:00:51. > :00:56.but it is starting to look like one. Security forces are taking
:00:56. > :01:05.casualties as well. The Foreign Minister rejects the Arab League's
:01:05. > :01:14.peace plan. And no way back. We meet the defectors from the Syrian
:01:14. > :01:20.army now fighting for the right to We have had a lot more freedom to
:01:20. > :01:24.report here in Damascus than ever. We come to this place where a
:01:24. > :01:27.funeral is happening without any kind of government officials.
:01:27. > :01:32.Otherwise we would not have made it through the Free Syrian Army checks
:01:32. > :01:39.points. I thought this place would be like Tripoli under Colonel
:01:39. > :01:42.Gaddafi where sometimes we were locked up. That has not happened.
:01:42. > :01:52.We have found a city near Damascus where President Assad's does not
:01:52. > :01:55.
:01:55. > :02:02.necessarily have control. We have been to other places. We have been
:02:02. > :02:08.to a town called Zabadani. There is a ceasefire in Zabadani. After ten
:02:08. > :02:13.months of trauma for local people. The army has outposts that they're
:02:13. > :02:18.not shooting. The regime was forced into a truce because their men came
:02:18. > :02:28.into conflict with others. Zabadani is a half-hour's drive from
:02:28. > :02:34.Damascus. I saw pockets of damage from the fighting. An activist said
:02:34. > :02:42.that he would be in more danger if his face was shown. What are you
:02:42. > :02:47.going to do next week or the week after that? We will still protest.
:02:47. > :02:56.Protest every day. Until the regime comes down. We will defend
:02:56. > :03:05.Zabadani's main square is now dominated by what Syrians call the
:03:05. > :03:08.Independence Square. Protesters want revive national symbols. These
:03:08. > :03:11.people are effectively in control of their town and able to walk in
:03:11. > :03:18.the main square unmolested by security forces is a sign that the
:03:18. > :03:27.regime is feeling the strain of the uprising. This movement may not
:03:27. > :03:31.last long. President Assad's forces are still camped on the outskirts.
:03:31. > :03:36.These are the local heroes, fighters from the Free Syrian Army.
:03:36. > :03:39.Defectors from the regular forces and men who have taken up arms.
:03:39. > :03:43.They are celebrating a victory but some worry that the men have only
:03:43. > :03:50.pulled back because of pressure from the Arab League. The fighters
:03:50. > :04:00.say they will be ready. They have heavy weapons, you have
:04:00. > :04:10.Kalashnikovs, how can you win this? God willing, we will win. He says
:04:10. > :04:15.
:04:15. > :04:20.we are ready to die for the women The chant was, God salute the Free
:04:20. > :04:30.Army. It is acknowledgement that the rebel fighters are changing the
:04:30. > :04:33.
:04:33. > :04:37.balance of power. The fireworks were to tell people it was time to
:04:37. > :04:45.protest. Zabadani is not the only town near Damascus seeding
:04:45. > :04:51.rebellion. It is the only one where the President has ceded power to
:04:51. > :04:55.the protesters. It is enough for me to have these two days of freedom.
:04:55. > :05:04.It does not matter if I die tomorrow. It is enough that I live
:05:04. > :05:12.The regime's forces are overstretched. But they are still
:05:12. > :05:16.powerful. This could be a pause, not a new beginning. This activity
:05:16. > :05:20.should not give the impression that he has lost control of his capital
:05:20. > :05:27.city. The fact is that the regime still has many strengths and some
:05:27. > :05:37.genuine support. Especially from the group that President Assad
:05:37. > :05:41.
:05:41. > :05:44.comes from. We went to District 86, one of their heartlands. Minutes
:05:44. > :05:51.after we arrived in District 86 in Damascus we were surrounded by
:05:51. > :05:55.support for President Bashar al- Assad. They were expecting us and
:05:55. > :06:05.had their banners ready. There is no reason to suppose this is not
:06:05. > :06:15.genuine. These people are from a religious sect that makes up 10% of
:06:15. > :06:16.
:06:16. > :06:26.the Syrian population. All they want support from the Arab League
:06:26. > :06:36.in what they call his fight against We love our president. We love
:06:36. > :06:36.
:06:36. > :06:46.Bashar al-Assad. He loves us. love Bashar al-Assad. I love Bashar
:06:46. > :06:48.
:06:49. > :06:52.al-Assad. Everyone loves Bashar al- This is the bedrock of his support.
:06:52. > :07:02.People from his own community. They are 100% behind what he is doing.
:07:02. > :07:02.
:07:02. > :07:06.They believe that this uprising District 86 is named after a
:07:06. > :07:13.military unit. Many of the men who work live here work for the
:07:14. > :07:23.security forces. These boys say their older brother was killed this
:07:24. > :07:26.
:07:26. > :07:34.He says he just signed up with He might find himself in a suburb
:07:34. > :07:44.of Damascus. These videos seemed to confirm reports that a unit was
:07:44. > :07:51.
:07:51. > :07:57.attacked. -- a funeral. Four people, protesters say, were killed by the
:07:57. > :08:05.military. The dead laid out in a mosque. The army was outside. Later
:08:05. > :08:07.it was claimed they were driven out. The Free Syrian Army say they did
:08:07. > :08:14.it and threatened to attack the presidential palace and hang five
:08:14. > :08:18.prisoners if the regime's forces came back. They Arab League warns
:08:18. > :08:26.of the risk of civil war. So far it has not found a way to stop the
:08:26. > :08:31.slide towards it. Pressure was coming from abroad. Syria's Foreign
:08:31. > :08:34.Minister delivered Syria's response. He accused the Arab League of
:08:34. > :08:42.ignoring a report from its own monitors and dismissed a peace plan
:08:42. > :08:45.that would have meant President Bashar al-Assad standing down.
:08:45. > :08:55.came up with a draft resolution, a political one, so we would not
:08:55. > :08:56.
:08:56. > :09:06.accept it. It is a blatant resolution that attacks Syria's
:09:06. > :09:12.
:09:12. > :09:15.sovereignty. It is an interference in Syria's internal affairs. This
:09:15. > :09:18.means that they have not discussed the report in detail, despite their
:09:18. > :09:28.work on the ground for one month and their fact-finding mission on
:09:28. > :09:39.
:09:39. > :09:47.We have been able to get out of Damascus. We went on a trip to Homs,
:09:47. > :09:50.the town in northern Syria that is one of the centres of the uprising.
:09:50. > :09:55.We were not able to get to the equivalent of this place, the place
:09:55. > :10:03.where the uprising is going on. We were on the government's side. What
:10:03. > :10:10.I found there was something that was starting to feel like a war. In
:10:10. > :10:18.northern Homs the regime was burying its dead. Three soldiers
:10:18. > :10:22.who officials say died in an ambush that killed them. -- 11. In almost
:10:22. > :10:24.a year of rebellion and the regime says that 2,000 of its people have
:10:24. > :10:34.been killed. President Assad claimed that he faced a land
:10:34. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:44.uprising. 2012 feels very different. On the edge of Damascus, more
:10:44. > :10:47.funerals, of 11 anti-Assad demonstrators. The UN says more
:10:47. > :10:54.than 5,000 protesters have been killed by the regime. Many more
:10:54. > :11:02.have been wounded. Back in Homs, the regime's casualties were coming
:11:02. > :11:04.to the hospital. Three dead soldiers as well. The damage is
:11:04. > :11:13.being inflicted by these men's former comrades, defectors from the
:11:13. > :11:22.regime's forces. They were killed an hour ago, says the ambulance
:11:22. > :11:32.driver. It is not a war in Syria. But in parts of Homs, it is looking
:11:32. > :11:35.
:11:35. > :11:45.like one. A lot of shooting here. Yes. What you think about President
:11:45. > :11:47.
:11:47. > :11:53.Assad? I want to finish my life with my family. Do not ask me about
:11:53. > :11:58.the President. Do not ask me about him. Homs feels exhausted and
:11:58. > :12:08.despairing. The violence that is now part of the uprising,
:12:08. > :12:09.
:12:09. > :12:12.protesters say it is a backlash against so many civilian deaths.
:12:12. > :12:19.There is a terrible example just a few hours' drive from here about
:12:19. > :12:29.what can go wrong. The country was torn apart by a civil war. The big
:12:29. > :12:29.
:12:30. > :12:34.fear in Syria is that something like that could happen here. The
:12:34. > :12:37.challenge now is to find a way to stop the slide into a future that
:12:37. > :12:40.no-one wants. The Free Syrian Army are increasingly active in Damascus.
:12:41. > :12:46.One of the suburbs, today at any rate, the regime's route does not
:12:46. > :12:50.run. A few nights ago, I went to a place not too far from here, Duma.
:12:50. > :12:57.We had to do it under the cover of darkness. Look at central Damascus
:12:58. > :13:02.and you may think the city is calm. There when night falls, head for
:13:02. > :13:07.the suburb of Duma, only 15 minutes' drive away. Getting into
:13:07. > :13:12.Duma is not easy. But at the end of a muddy lane there is a checkpoint
:13:12. > :13:18.controlled by the Free Syrian Army. A loose alliance of mainly army
:13:18. > :13:21.defectors across the country who are fighting President Assad's men.
:13:21. > :13:28.Locals say they keep the President's men out most of the
:13:28. > :13:33.time. Their light weapons, shotguns and pistols, cannot stop an assault,
:13:33. > :13:36.but could make it costly for the regime's forces to stay too long.
:13:36. > :13:45.The President says they are an armed gang directed by foreign
:13:45. > :13:48.conspiracies. They say they are protecting the people. Pass this on
:13:48. > :13:54.to the world, our revolution is peaceful, we did not attack the
:13:54. > :14:00.regime, they attacked us. We are in control here, Duma is ours, Syria
:14:00. > :14:10.is ours, and we will win. The army and security forces keep trying to
:14:10. > :14:10.
:14:10. > :14:20.get into here, but we defeat them. Duma is forbidding and dark, with
:14:20. > :14:20.
:14:20. > :14:25.power cuts and fuel shortages. The nights are very cold. So what has
:14:25. > :14:35.changed around here that means we are able to move in? I saw the Free
:14:35. > :14:36.
:14:36. > :14:41.Syrian Army. The army and the security are on the outskirts.
:14:41. > :14:46.you mean these are defectors who are fighting for you now? Yes.
:14:46. > :14:53.Slowly people emerge from the evening prayer. Too often for them,
:14:53. > :15:00.the nights have belonged to the President's arrest squads. They
:15:00. > :15:10.head for the mosque where numbers make them feel strong. We are not
:15:10. > :15:11.
:15:11. > :15:19.identifying interviewees at their request. What do you think should
:15:20. > :15:29.happen to him? We want to kill him. He has to be killed. You want him
:15:30. > :15:30.
:15:30. > :15:40.dead? Of course. He killed our families and our people. He has to
:15:40. > :15:43.be killed. The young men were full of bravado. The older ones also
:15:43. > :15:50.talked about victory but are more conscious of the regime's strength.
:15:50. > :15:54.Do you want foreign intervention? We are going to win whether there
:15:54. > :16:01.is intervention from outside or not. But intervention will accelerate
:16:01. > :16:07.the step down of Bashar al-Assad. Their enemy, the President, also
:16:07. > :16:13.has strong supporters who will fight for him. But for protesters
:16:13. > :16:18.across the country, there is no turning back. This is all bad news
:16:18. > :16:22.for the President. An important part of his capital city in the
:16:22. > :16:29.hands of the people and defended by men who had defected from his armed
:16:29. > :16:32.forces. It depends on how much firepower the President has at his
:16:32. > :16:42.disposal and whether he chooses to use it to regain control of the
:16:42. > :16:42.
:16:42. > :16:49.streets. They said it was getting dangerous and hustled us out. A few
:16:49. > :16:55.hours later, the security forces were back, arresting more people.
:16:55. > :16:59.This is an area of Damascus that the President has lost control of.
:16:59. > :17:07.We have heard that the police are coming. This has been a remarkable
:17:07. > :17:16.morning. To find out the strength of the opposition, drive into the
:17:16. > :17:21.suburbs of Damascus. It is only in the last five days that locals said
:17:21. > :17:26.that the Free Syrian Army has been openly on the streets. There are
:17:26. > :17:33.many defectors from the State Army. They say they are protecting the
:17:33. > :17:41.people who are about to hold a funeral. One of them showed off his
:17:41. > :17:50.old army identity card. They look well established, with sandbags in
:17:50. > :17:54.position. Everyone was on edge. For ten months, the regime's forces
:17:54. > :17:59.have been cracking down hard on Friday's protests. He said he had
:17:59. > :18:03.been a general in the Syrian government forces. A man
:18:03. > :18:13.interrupted to praise the Free Army. Then something no-one wanted to
:18:13. > :18:14.
:18:14. > :18:21.hear. Security coming? Do not be afraid, the general said. Our
:18:21. > :18:29.resistance is strong. Some of them got ready to fight. Stay with me,
:18:29. > :18:37.he said, do not be afraid. Sentries were sending information by
:18:37. > :18:47.telephone. They all seemed to know what their jobs were. They moved
:18:47. > :18:50.
:18:50. > :19:00.deeper into the suburbs. It felt as if every man in the suburb was
:19:00. > :19:03.
:19:03. > :19:10.there. A big send-off for a man who had been killed by the city forces.
:19:10. > :19:18.Across Syria, funerals are a focus for the opposition. They chanted,
:19:19. > :19:22.oh God, you are all we have. Oh God, we are your men. This is another
:19:22. > :19:26.section of the suburbs of Damascus that has slipped out of the control
:19:26. > :19:33.of President Assad. The only way he can comport his authority is by
:19:33. > :19:37.sending in his men and using their guns and their bullets. And for a
:19:37. > :19:43.moment, that is what they thought was about to happen. It shows the
:19:43. > :19:51.tension, even with the Free Syrian Army close by. But it was time for
:19:51. > :19:58.us to go. We were warned about snipers ahead. Getting out was not
:19:58. > :20:02.easy. They control a surprisingly big area but it was surrounded. All
:20:02. > :20:08.this does not mean the President is about to fall. He has his own
:20:08. > :20:13.strong support and heavy weapons. But the regime's forces cannot be
:20:13. > :20:16.everywhere at once, and the power of the opposition is growing.
:20:16. > :20:23.President Assad has sustained some serious blows, the Free Syrian Army
:20:23. > :20:27.is stronger than it has been. But the regime is still strong as well,
:20:27. > :20:30.and he is determined to fight it out, to hang on, and he believes
:20:30. > :20:37.that time is on his side, and he believes he has enough foreign