Syrian army pounds Aleppo province, Homs

Syrians show the remains of fired ammunition to UN observers in Azzara supports Bashar al-Assad\'s regime in the situation that has developed in Syria\".Although Moscow did not attend the meeting, a diplomatic source insisted that \"Russian political and security circles are changing their position \".The meeting took place as news emerged that a general from Assad\'s most trusted inner circle had defected in what would be a major blow to the regime as it battles the opposition.
General Munaf Tlass, a boyhood friend of Assad, was a general in the elite Republican Guard charged with protecting the regime. He is the son of former defence minister Mustafa Tlass, a close friend of Assad\'s late father and predecessor, Hafez.
A source close to the regime said he was on his way to Paris to join his wife and his sister, Nahed Ojjeh, widow of Saudi millionaire arms dealer Akram Ojjeh.
Tlass was sidelined by the regime more than a year ago, after he was deemed unreliable.
His defection comes two weeks after a colonel in the air force won political asylum after landing his MiG-21 fighter jet in neighbouring Jordan.
In other developments, UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Friday for scaling down an observer mission in Syria to refocus on political efforts to end the bloodshed.
He said the observers\' mandate should remain unchanged, though with a \"reduced military observer component,\" and the focus shifting from monitoring a ceasefire that has never taken hold toward a more political role.