what's the most probable scenario for the syrian crisis here's the executive director of the syrian center of the political and strategic studies about the current ziad. trying to hold on to power president assad is introducing some political and economic reforms. the election process and local governments corruption and give more freedom to the media the protesters have little clique this rhetoric say just nice words with no real meaning behind the syrian ministry of defense as opposed to serious restrictions on communications and introduced a complete ban on internet access in some areas of the. why the welcome to the show thank you for having me thank you for coming. in. and this is your first of all i wanted to i want to check more people especially when the when the publisher interviews with you or your article or the press they label you as an opposition leader one of the one of the members of the opposition so so you do you do you agree that there do you position yourself as an opposition with true yes i have been active in the opposition since two thousand actually i mean ice cube

inside and syrian opposition. saya now there are certain country they have this seem this emoji into the door that a consensus among them actually there will not accept there is any kind of the i would question what i said since actually he's responsible of the ideas of more than fifteen hundred and he had been detained more than fifteen thousand in the country and also this is why i. agree that the uprising in syria is a cross there sicked it's a christian have been killed i've been career killed and this is why this is uprising. kitty it is such kind of a moment among the syrian this is because the spirit of unity among the syrians what are the demands of the syrian opposition we they want to overthrow us this is and this to but what else what specific things do they demand for their country for the people but as symbolized it is we need actually to move from under a dictatorship regime to be a democratic country c.n.d. fifty's has a long tradition of a democratic institutions in one thousand nine hundred fifty

now the syrian president has announced amnesty for the syrian prisoners. they say the amnesty is not enough in turkey. >> we don't know if he will be out. i cannot get any legal sense from that. things are very complicated. >> the opposition is trying to come up with a plan for a democratic syria. the gathering brings to bettetoa broad group. they are keen to see the president step aside. >> it is time for the international community to ask the international criminal court to issue an order against the president. he is making these decisions. >> after weeks of violent crackdowns by the syrian government, the opposition will only be satisfied by a change of the regime, backed up by far reaching reforms. >> we will take an in-depth look at the situation in syria later in the show. >>> the unrest in africa has sparked a flood of migrants heading into europe, arriving in at an italian island. under current european law, that means they have to stay in italy until a decision is reached on their fate, but the government in rome wants other european countries to

the syrians were out their welcome. what are the prospects of iran wearing out its welcome with the shia and it is already not welcome among many other groups. >> guest: it is a little bit different because iran does not occupy the country with its own army and it doesn't control the country directly. it controls -- iran and syria jointly control lebanon's foreign policy and internal security policy that they really don't control much else because there are no syrian soldiers in the country. there are no iranian soldiers in the country. hezbollah occupies and controls its own territory where its supporters live but hezbollah doesn't govern directly or really even indirectly anybody else in the country, so they are going about it in a much more sophisticated way. if you are christian living in the east beirut or the coastal city of jini, your daily life is utterly unaffected by any of this where as when the syrians were occupying the country are daily life was very much affected by the fact that your cities and neighborh

>> translator: first of all, who believes the syrian tv or syrian media in general?ince the beginning of the revolution, which is practicing all kinds of lies and instigating syrians against each other and accused syrians who participate in this process to be criminals or to be terrorists, et cetera. nobody believes this media, which has no credibility at all. second, this is not the first time they do the same, to kill and humiliate the families and for them to say that only criminals did bad for their son. >> and it seems that's what they're doing with hamza's family. his father and uncle appeared on state television yesterday, reportedly after meeting with president assad. and they said the medical report was legitimate and hamza's father said that assad is "the best president ever." how is it that they make these people go on television and say these things? >> by terrifying people. we heard about this before it happened. we got a report that they went to the family's house and they arrested the father and everybody knew then that the next day we will see somebod

tonight, the syrian dictator is killing his own people to survive. our elizabeth palmer is on the syrian border to hear refugees' stories of survival. bill whitaker in arizona finds out what it's like to fight the spreading wildfire. the u.s. may be heading toward a disastrous default, so nancy cordes wondered where has your congressman gone? and that miracle plane. we watched it come and watched it go, but we found the real story is in the lives that were changed forever. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. w3 >> pelley: good evening. tonight, the syrian dictator is slaughtering his own people to keep a grip on the power his family has held for 40 years. a slow but persistent rebellion started back in march and now there is a new surge in violence near the turkish border. american reporters can't get into syria, but the associated press quotes activists as saying that today at least 32 people were killed. elizabeth palmer has reached the syrian refugees in turkey and she heard their stories today. >> reporte

what is a party law that will lead to full integration of syrian society and preserve the syrian unity and at the same time prevent syria from turning there are some of questions which need to be raised. as to the election law, do we want to elect an individual or a program? there are questions and so far we do not have answers. even if we have an answer, we should not say that this is the right answer and proceed carrying all that negative aspects to future generations. we should take responsibility together. we have people with a great degree of awareness and the question is that of discussion. so we need to answer these questions, and these are only samples of a larger variety of questions. there are others. do we passed the party law and the election law before the election of the people's assembly? the majority said yes. some civil want to separate the elections law from the party law. do you want to postpone the people's assembly for a few months as some people have proposed, or do we have them on time? as far as we are concerned, we do not want to adopt a certain answer for thes

the crackdown began following a week ago when syrian state television said that 120 members of the syrian security forces had been killed by these armed gangs following an ambush and a fairly intense fire fight. we have been hearing conflicting reports from activists as to what may have actually transpired. there are a number of them who are reporting that it was, in fact, a mutiny that took place in the syrian security forces, that they turned on one of them, what resulted in the casualties. there are are others that were also reporting that, yes, some residents of the town were ar d armed, and they were the ones that launched the assault on the security forces. we spoke with one activist that has a fairly secure network insi inside it. his network was still looking into it and trying to find out what transpired and certainly these images were quite disturbing and quite confusing. also trying to figure out exactly what took place there. we're also doing the best we can to try to obtain accurate information as to what may have happened. monita. >> >> arwa, thank you very much for that. re

this is what syrian soldiers do to helpless handcuffed prisoners. >> this is what syrian soldiers do to a helpless elderly man. >> this is what the regime does to its people who are protesting. [ gunshots ] video today from a damascus suburb. right now syrian soldiers and government thugs are on the brink of exacting bloody retribution on an entire city. and their leader, bashar al assad according to the neighboring prime minister of turkey taking all this very lightly. tonight for whatever it's worth and whoever can do something about it, we want to show you the truth of what is happening in syria. the pictures are hard to look at, i know, but people are risking their lives to take these images. they are dying so that you and i may know the truth. this is exclusive video, new video of a recent protest. a peaceful protest in northern syria, photograph bade dissident who managed to escape to turkey. thousands of unarmed men, and then gunfire, chaos, and carnage. the massacre neither the first nor the last. they appear to be escalating. in fact, today helicopter gunships firing on prot

the syrian army does appear to be getting ready as these unverified pictures suggest.ith so many people leaving syria, towns and buildings in the north west have been completely abandoned. the syrian authorities insist that the people are fleeing from armed gangs and that armed forces are in the area. >> in the army is now surrounding the area. they have not gone yet. we have been asked by people who do not have relatives across the corner in turkey to move in so that peace and quiet can be resumed again and life can go back to normal. >> the refugees are coming out. the flow is increasing. that reflects the fact that the turkish prime minister has said that the door woman closed to the refugees. many of those coming in say they are extremely relieved to have found century in turkey. the military council as been considering a resolution to oppose the violence. in geneva, the un commission of human rights has called force against its people unacceptable. >> strong pressure must be brought to bear on the syrian authorities to stop the excessive violence and respond to th

occupied by the syrian military. but today hezbollah state in its corner and leaves everybody alone as long as they don't try to get in hezbollah's way and as long as they continue to be able to control and dictate lebanon's policy. >> even though the shia of lebanon have been treated badly, their fellow citizens in lebanon as long as i can remember and hundreds of years certainly by the 80's was still the community considered second-class, first-class. they didn't rate the top positions, and yet their numbers have grown. if you want to talk they were getting to the position they could demand more power. do you think they want to take over the state of lebanon to be the government of lebanon? the iranians thought at one stage. >> of the hard-liners of hezbollah would like to take over the state also i imagine they know it's not really possible. the pragmatist's among them must know it's not possible so what they want more realistically is more power for themselves as they can and there's a lot of fear that if they di

the syrian occupation wasn't supposed to collapse 15 years. it was supposed to be according to the agreement temporary, and the syrians were supposed to be there to make the peace and then slowly withdraw. so more and more new lebanese people began to chase against this and the assassination of the early sunni primm minister was the last straw. >> host: syria has gone and the early 70's when and stayed from 76 as you can see until 2005 so it was a long period and a lot of who syrians regarded lebanon as part of their country which it was until after the first world war, so they left very reluctantly, but they left, the sense of the irresistible force wanting them out. >> guest: yeah. well, there were too many people in lebanon who were not going to put up with it any more but also the united states and france were putting enormous pressure on syria to get out of lebanon and i think that al asad was concerned about the recent u.s. invasion of iraq, which he told joe klein and "time" magazine he said please send the message i am not saddam husse

the syrian army does appear to be getting ready. as these unverified pictures suggest with so many people leaving syria, towns and villages in the northwest have been almost completely abandoned. the syrian authorities insist people are fleeing from what they call armed gangs, and that the security forces are only in the area because the locals have asked them to comment. >> what i do know is the army is now surrounding the area. they haven't gone in yet. i think possibly they will go in. we have been asked by people who do have relatives across the corner in turkey to move in so peace can resume and life can be go back to normal. >> the refugees are still coming out. in fact, if anything, flow is increasing and that reflects the fact that the turkish prime minister has said that the door will not be closed to the refugees and many of those coming in se they are extremely relieved to have found sanctuary in turkey. the u.n. security council has been considering a resolution drafted by great britain and france and others to condemn t

and these unfortunate syrians may in fact be the lucky ones. a western correspondent near the camp says refugees are telling her that the syrian regime tried to stop them from leaving, holding its own people captive and worse, much worse. this is the body of testimony mar al sharai, returned to his family after a month in captivity. like all amateur video, we can't independently verify it, in part because syria won't allow us in. his body is missing an eye and several feat, we're told. his family says his leg and neck was broken. he was kneecapped as well, shot not to kill but inflict excruciating pain. tamir was just 15 years old. he was reportedly arrested on the same rally attended by hamza al khatib. this is hamza's body. cigarette burns over his body and his penis was cut off. hamza was only 13 years old. he and tamir and others taken in, tortured and murdered and weeks later returned to their families, not so parents with mourn and bury them, but as a tool of terror, as a warning to others. tow the line or we'll take your kids. days after

unless he demonstrates something that is tangible that the syrian people can grab hold of, the syrian protests will continue, and he will continue to lose credibility. >> so far we haven't seen the kind of huge crowds turning out in syria. it is hard to know exactly what is going on because foreign journalists can't get into the country. if people leave the country, if we don't see the millions showing up, al-assad could carry on? >> indeed. the balance is such in the two major cities, the equivalent of london or birmingham, or washington, d.c. and new york, where you need that mass of demonstrations to turn the military forces. we are not just talking about al-assad. it is the family that is running the country. it is that tribal leadership that is running the country. is his very similar to the situation in libya. it is not because these people aren't prepared to take to the streets, the amount of security in those cities is so significant. >> and so far the security forces don't seem to have turned against the al-assad family. that begs the question of what can the international co

the committee is from syrian tv.me film and say these people were armed and they had to be killed. he says planting weapons on victims is part of the regime's strategy, to paint protesters as terrorists. syrian state television claimed security forces were targeting unarmed group and aired this strangely emotionless statement by a man, two of the dead men were his sons, two his nephews. there was a gunfight between the army and the group inside, which included my children and my nephews, he says. and then adds, i saw them carrying weapons and killing and shooting at the army. activists says he was forced to make the at the same time. abazid says the men were unarmed and were responsible for food distributions during the siege. this video, also just posted, shows how people came up with their own methods to distribute food across the battle zone, filling water drums with vegetables and other basics and using a pulley system to move them. abizid told us the five men who were killed were using the same technique when sy

resolution condemning violence on syrians itself. will that help your mission to help you get within syria, to help the syrian people? do you think it would hinder it because of the pressure being applied on the government? >> i think when these kind of goings on are happening and people are dying pretty well every day and quite often in large numbers, it's important there is pressure. that's the only thing that perhaps will mitigate the violence or bring it to a halt. so yes, i think we welcome pressure. we made some very strong statements ourselves yesterday, the high commissioner for human rights talked about how syria is bludgeoning its own population and i think it's incredibly important the focus remains on what's going on and what's happening now in jisr al shugur is very ominous. it's been bulling up for several days. as you've reported, many people are fleeing. and we're very alarmed about what may be just around the corner. >> when we show the video we've been showing there, cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity

>> i spoke to the grand old man of syrian opposition, rais -- raid saif. he shows how bloody minded the opposition have become. they have no confidence in the government. >> after at least 1300 lost their life for the revolution, after 1000 injured, and tens of thousands arrested -- now we say there is no way to go back to the old situation. syria belongs to the syrians. syria does not belong to the assad family. they should have been stopped. it is in us. the syrians would never accept that. >> do people acknowledge that president aside -- assad has support in certain quarters, perhaps concentrated in the army, a powerful institution? >> i could not talk to the army or any of the elite who think along the lines of the president. one thing i did ask people is that up until now it has been thought that at least assad did guarantee some form of stability for the country. so the community were in support of him. but many people and spoke to in the business community said that is gone. there is so much corruption. the country cannot develop. it cannot move unt

the syrian government claiming that armed bands killed at least 80 syrian security forces in that townme of the syrian refugees we've talked to have disputed that claim, saying that in fact fighting broke out between rival security forces, with some soldiers objecting after they had been ordered to open fire there. refugees say this border town is a ghost town. everybody has fled. we've seen images and talked to some of the hundreds who have been camping outside in the countryside in the hills along the turkish border. turkish state media reporting that more than 120 refugees, about 20 families, were allowed to cross the border overnight. our sources tell us there are hundreds more waiting on sirtian side of the border, among them, dozens of syrian soldiers who have defected and are now wearing civilian clothes. monita? >> ivan, forgive me if you've already spoken of this, but in terms of, is there fear that there's going to be more military onslaught of those perhaps syrian government making its way into this town to try and i guess round up these refugees who are trying to leave and

and out without doubt the syrian people need to rid themselves of redeem that has persecuted them for many years but i don't think that foreign intervention is going to help resolve the problem for the syrian people let's talk about this resolution is being put forward it doesn't include is it any sanctions or military action do you think people are opposing this or trying to get a mild resolution passed russia or in china disapprove only to overstep it later as we saw in libya. who well it seems to be designed or formulated. it is merely an expression of concern so that people will not blame the major powers in the world that you are not saying something about what's going on in syria but it does not amount to. a practical measure whether we consider it to be positive or negative in order to show actual concern so i really don't know what purpose this serves apart from the from. expressing an apology for not being able to do much well as western leaders are calling for this resolution against syria another interesting news lines come out the un atomic watchdog has also launched an in

desperate syrians are fighting to cross that border and get to safety, even as the syrian army advances on the rebellious border area. cnn's ivan watson is there and joins us now. ivan, what are you seeing today? are the streams of refugees continuing across the border? >> reporter: they are absolutely, eliot. more than 3,800 refugees now. there were barely 400 48 hours ago. the turks are planning to open up a third camp. we've been to one of the hospitals in this area. they say they have at least 30 bullet wound victims there. we talked to one of them. he actually came across weeks ago after being shot at what he said was an unarmed protest against the government. and you know, the turkish authorities are expecting more to be coming in the days ahead, particularly after the syrian government finally launched this much feared military offensive into a border town where the syrians claim 120 security forces were killed. what we've been hearing from across the border are tanks riding through villages, firing indiscriminately, setting fire to farm fields, and then a vicious attack using ma

but now syrian soldiers are joining the exodus.att andrews reports tonight, he's just over the border in turkey. >> reporter: to the cheers and surprise of the people on the street, two truckloads of syrian soldiers defied orders and joined the demonstrators. this mass defection in northern syria this week reveals the key weakness in the assad regime. after weeks of being ordered to fire into crowds, more and more soldiers don't want to shoot any more. many are defecting and fleeing into turkey, including this syrian soldier we met today near a refugee camp. he did not want to be identified. he was ordered, he says, to confront a group of armed protesters outside the strategic town of dara but found, instead, an unarmed crowd full of women and children. what did you do? >> ( translated ): "i didn't want to fire," he says "so i aimed my gun in the air. some of the others behind me, they did fire." >> reporter: the syrian soldier told us most of the men in his unit felt betrayed and used by the regime. "i felt so bad," he said "that

that's the mess from the white house to the syrian president. the u is backing britain, france, germany and portugal in calling for the u.n. security council to take a stand on the syria crisis. reports out of the country suggest more than 1,000 people have been killed since anti-government protests began three months ago. and the fear of further violence is driving hundreds of syrians out of the country. more than 1,000 crossed the turkish border in the past day. that's according to turkey's anitollia news agency. the government said 120 of its troops were ambushed and killed in the town just last weekend. syria does make it difficult for foreign bjornalistss to work in the country. we want to go to arwa damon. we understand there's a ratcheting up of military action. >> reporter: that military action concentrated in the northwestern part of the country in the town you mentioned there, jisr al shugur. what we're hearing is there is a state of cautious calm, he was describing it. people very tense, shops remaining closed. people fully expecting

>> mitchell: tonight, a brutal assault on a border town by the syrian army. wyatt andrews has the harrowing stories of protesters' attacked by their own government. the president and the speaker in a golf summit. bill plante tells uss what their camly-friendly game may mean for the budget talks. bear peterson reports on the homecome of gabrielle giffords. and the kiss seen around the world. elaine quijano has the story behind this couple's embrace in the middle of vancouver's hockey riot. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> mitchell: and good evening. we begin tonight with news of another violent day in syria, a day when syrian troops, backed by tanks and machine guns, once again stormed into a border village to attack their citizens. it comes just hours before syrian president assad is set to address the nation. >> reporter: it's a glimpse of exactly how bashar al-assad imposes his special terror on the syrian people-- army troops using tanks and a fleet of military buses rolled into the town of bdama today, maki

le this 23 yrd syrian says he was shot in the leg and arm by syrian security forces at another protest of more than 30 syrian gunshot victims being treated at a hospital in turkey. we're oppress and we want our free do. we want our president to be overthrown. he can't show his face because he's terrified of his own government. so are these people. syrian refugees emerging from the orchards heading toward the turkish border. many are on the way. the first wave staying in tents at this abandoned tobacco famtry. the turkish government is already building two more camps. if the killing in syria doesn't stop, turkey stands poised to become the next home for a generation of terrified syrian refugees. the brave activist who smuggled himself across the border to give us this report went back in on friday. hoe said he wanted to participate in another round of anti-government protests after friday prayers. we talked with him by cell phone a few hours later hch e said he had been shot in the right thigh after security forces operating on both the ground and from helicopters began spraying machine

well, the syrian government is trying to bludgeon its population into submission. that was the charge from the us -- u.n. human rights commissioner just today. her comments come as people are fleeing the northern town of jisr al-shughour and fleeing into turkey. >> a refugee camp being run by the turkish authorities. hundreds of syrians are living here. others are just mingling with the general population. many staying with relatives. some are thinking about crossing but haven't done so. they're living in makeshift tents right by the border, waiting to see what the syrian army does, and they say if it gets bad, they'll leave. those who have already made the move say they fear a major military assault. >> do you think there will be an attack on jisr al-shughour? >> yes, yes, they said, we think the army may come with tanks and air power to attack us. the syrian army does appear to be getting ready, as these unverified pictures suggest with so many people living syria, towns and villages in the northwest have been almost complete lay -- completely abandoned. the syri

desperate syrians are fighting to cross that border and get to safety, even as the syrian army advances on the rebellious border area. cnn's ivan watson is there and joins us now. ivan, what are you seeing today? are the streams of refugees continuing across the border? >> reporter: they are absolutely, eliot. more than 3,800 refugees now. there were barely 400 48 hours ago. the turks are planning to open up a third camp. we've been to one of the hospitals in this area. they say they have at least 30 bullet wound victims there. we talked to one of them. he actually came across weeks ago after being shot at what he said was an unarmed protest against the government. and you know, the turkish authorities are expecting more to be coming in the days ahead, particularly after the syrian government finally launched this much feared military offensive into a border town where the syrians claim 120 security forces were killed. what we've been hearing from across the border are tanks riding through villages, firing indiscriminately, setting fire to farm fields, and then a vicious attack using ma

in fact, i think what that symbolizes for many syrians is the total lapse of any effort by the syrian government to work with and listen to their own people. >> so, eliot, i asked secretary clinton if this action meant that the syrian regime had really lost all legitimacy. she said that every day that goes by, the government is becoming more untenable. and she said she hopes that this young boy will not die in vain. she hopes the government will end the brutality and move towards democracy. really the strongest comments i've heard from anybody in this administration about the future of this regime. >> you know, elise, there obviously is the frustration. i think it is impossible for anybody who has seen the video, seen the pictures of what is almost a medieval act of torture not to respond that way. but i guess the question for the state department is what will happen next with respect to u.s. policy? is there a tangible, definitive next step that the secretary indicated will follow because of this heinous behavior? >> well, the next step is to go to the u.n. security council and the u

safe haven along the turkish/syrian border. back to you, john. >> gives you a sense of where he is. the border is up here. as you zoom in, talking about refugees leaving from here and getting up in here so they can escape the border into turkey if necessary, a mounting humanitarian crisis. there's word tonight from the united nations that the security counsel's preparing a resolution to the violence in syria. despite the threat at the moment of a russian veto. arwa damon from beirut. over the past several weeks, there's been a lot of international condemnation of syria. now the united nations security council saying free political prisoners, stop the restrictions on the media and the internet. is there any reason to believe the syrian regime will listen to the united nations security council? >> reporter: no, john, there isn't, especially not if the regime's past behavior has been anything to go by. already, they have come under new renewed sanctions by the u.s., by the european union. the only response we've seen when we look

and the syrian government can, a new syrian government will have almost no leverage inside lebanon at all because syria has this intricate web of bribed and bullied officials in lebanon that it uses to maintain its hold there. and all those relationships will dissolve at once if there's a new government. and somebody else rising to power in damascus will have to start from zero and might not even be interested in trying to dominate lebanon in the first place. so this would be very bad for hezbollah, it would be very bad for iran. but i don't expect to see this in syria anytime soon because assad, like gadhafi in libya, is willing to shoot as many people as he think he has to to stay in power. that's clear. i mean, the body count is now somewhere around a thousand. and his father killed tens of thousands in 1982 during an uprising in his regime. and everybody in syria remembers this. i mean, how could they forget? 20-40,000 people killed in 1982. they still remember it, they sometimes still talk about it. and nobody's going to go in and stop the syrian government from maskerring -- mas

everything which came to this camp came from that town. >> reporter: syrian refugees who have reachedey also erupted in anger after assad's speech. a demonstration captured on a cbs news cell phone. this woman, who asked not to be identified, is shouting "we don't want assad. we don't want assad anymore." the protestors want assad gone, but assad wants to remain in power and what we are hearing here on the turkish/syrian boarder is that assad's speech today only stoked up the tensions inside syria, he did not calm things down. >> pelley: wyatt, you can't get into syria, it's a very difficult story to cover and i wonder simply how do we know what we know in that story? >> reporter: scott, you're right syria is closed to foreign journalists, so are these refugee camps where the syrian refugees are. but cell phone service here is remarkably good. so we've been sending cell phones into these camps to interview refugees directly and even giving cell phones to syrians sneaking across the border at night to look after their homes and so all of the first-person accounts, or almost all, that w

some have endured or witnessed frightening experiences at the hands of syrian government forces. >> syrian soldiers beat up our neighbors. the army came to our village. we had to leave home. we came here five days ago, and we were caught in the rain. the tent collapsed while we were inside. >> there is an alternative. well-run turkish camps with proper tents, adequate food, and medical supplies. several thousand syrians have already opted to shelter here, but they cannot bring their livestock, and they are registered and controlled by the turkish authorities. many of them prefer to stay in the improvised camps along the border. >> is there a real sense of crisis here? the syrians who want to come over the border are free to do so, and the turkish authorities have proved they are more than capable of looking after the seventh of thousands who already ve, but the accounts of those refugees make it clear that terrible things have been going on and still are over those hills behind me. there is a reason why those people are camped down there over the border living in miserable conditions and a

within the syrian armed forces? they must be frustrated. >> reporter: well, brooke, one does hear more and more stories about members of the syrian military defecting. but there are nowhere near the numbers that the opposition would need or would like to see in terms of this ongoing campaign to bring down the president. he still does have the support, whether it's because people are afraid to defect or because they are, in fact, loyal. but he, regardless, has enough support for the time being to be able to hold on to power. in fact, one activist i was speaking to earlier today was saying they really do need to try to win over the syrian military. what some of them have been doing during these demonstrations, we were hearing, is that they were directly on loud speakers reaching out to the military saying don't shoot at us. we're syrian. we're not terrorists like the government is saying we are. we're not carrying weapons. we are your brother and we are your countrymen. but at the same time, we do hear stories of thes

more than 8500 syrians are there now. an aide worker said they are the lucky ones. >> on the other side of the border over in syria, we have main about 10,000 people. that's more than who have come across the border. they're still living kind of to the elements. >> warner: in washington state department spokesman mark toner dismissed fears that civil war could follow follow if assad fell. >> to say that assad is somehow the glue that is keeping the country together i think is not taking into full account the violence and repression that he's using to crush any aspirations of the syrian people. he certainly has lost all credibility as a reformer and he's diminished his government's image around the world. >> warner: but that image seems undimmed in leadership circles in one nation: iran. in a statement today secretary of state clinton accused iran of aiding assad in his crackdown. in tehran, a foreign ministry spokesman responded with a blunt warning to the u.s. >> (translated:) americans are not entitled to have military

he told us syrian troops had fired on mourners from a helicopter and the funeral of a protester.ith all foreign journalists barred from syria, it's impossible to verify these accounts. it is building two new refugee camps, bracing for 10,000 more people running for their lives. reports are now coming in of a very large prodemocracy demonstration that took place just across the border from where i'm standing, which was broken up with extreme violence by syrian forces today. witnesses report that they fired down into the crowd from helicopters with heavy machine guns. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, turkey. >> lots more ahead. we'll check your weather when we come back. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. who made an unexpected arrival. [ woman ] he was 4 months early, weighing 1 pound, 12 ounces. [ female announc

syrian security forces are said to have killed five protesters today. funerals for some of the 20 activists today and the biggest day of protest since the uprising erupted 102 days ago. more syrians tried to escape, with hundreds crossing into neighboring lebanon as turkey temporarily closed its border. for more perspective on the latest developments in syria, we are joined in providence, rhode island, by former undersecretary of state, nicholas burns. with the situation in syria seemingly getting worse by the day, many americans are asking again, why no u.s. or nato military action in syria? what's your theory? >> i think there's no possibility the united states can go in militarily. we're engaged in iraq, afghanistan, and libya. there would be no international support. we can try to isolate the regime politically have, economic sanctions by the europeans and americans. this drama is going to be decide not by us. it's going to be decided by the syrian people and they are assaulting their government, that authoritarian, cynical government. you see prote

syrian officials say armed gangs attacked security forces. people said to be residents of the town were shown on state television. it journalist banned from syria, it is impossible to verify whether the official account is true. the opposition tells a different story. this video shows anti-government protests probably last friday. soldiers shot comrades who refused to open fire on civilians. other versions claimed that mutinous soldiers attacked loyalist forces. this is the first time the discipline in the security forces might be weakening. >> we will deal with the situation strongly and decisively, according to the law. we will not be silent about any armed attack that targets the citizens and security of the state. >> people now fear a crackdown by the syrian army. many have fled towards turkey. these women accused government troops of committing atrocities and they have denounced the president, bashar al-assad. >> there is uncertainty over whether the syrian ambassador to france has resigned. there was statement that was reportedly from t

he told us syrian troops had fired on mourners from a helicopter and the funeral of a protester.all foreign journalists barred from syria, it's impossible to verify these accounts. it is building two new refugee camps, bracing for 10,000 more people running for their lives. reports are now coming in of a very large prodemocracy demonstration that took place just across the border from where i'm standing, which was broken up with extreme violence by syrian forces today. witnesses report that they fired down into the crowd from helicopters with heavy machine guns. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, turkey. >> ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> what are you doing this weekend? >> enjoying the weather. >> that a girl. got some sun out there, right? >> last weekend we were talking about rain at this time. this weekend it's going to stay nice and dry. it will carry some fog. early on this evening, it looks like it's going to turn out to be a nice night. low clouds will sweep on shore. still breezy in spots. high clouds trying to work their way into the bay area. more sunshine on the way for saturday. tempera