SNC urges international community to arm FSA

President Bashar al-Assad accused of mounting ‘massive military campaigns’ Damascus – George Al Shami The Syrian National Council has accused the country’s government of launching a massive military campaign that could result in \"mass violations of human rights\" and \"massacres.\" The SNC is the main umbrella group for the opposition against the current Syrian regime, lead by President Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement released on Sunday, the SNC condemned the Syrian regime, accusing Assad of mounting “massive concurrent military campaigns in Homs, Jebel Turkman and Daraya in Rif Dimashq.\"
The council went on to label the campaigns “an apparent bid to control and pressure the revolution\'s social support system, thereby bringing the Syrian public to its knees and pushing them towards giving up on the revolution.\"
The SNC is now urging the international community to put further pressure on al-Assad and called on western nations to act “swiftly” in backing the Free Syrian Army (FSA) so that it can protect unarmed civilians.
The SNC is also urging so-called \"revolutionary brigades\" in the areas affected by violence to \"band together\", oppose the attack and protect civilians \"via all means available, both military and political.”
 The news comes following a recent interview given by President Bashar al-Assad, where he told British broadcaster Sky News that violence in the country would not stop until the FSA had withdrawn.
Reports have emerged that the FSA has been gaining ground in recent days, taking several strategic sites such as the border town of Yaarabiya, Rakka Central Prison and a police academy in Aleppo.