Video: Syrian PM urges political, military leaders to defect

>>> syria's prime minister who defected to the rebel side said today president bashar assad 's regime is near collapse. speaking from jordan, the prime minister urged other syrian political and military leaders to also defect. nbc is following developments from istanbul, turkey, syria 's neighbor to the north. kwha what's the very latest on the fighting today?

>> reporter: as it has been for the past 17 months it's certainly unfolds in many cities all at the same time. syrian opposition activists who've been keeping a running tally of the death toll say today's death toll has already competed 60. over the past several days every day it's about 100 or so. today as they have been over the past several weeks, the syrian military and armed forces have been pounding the city of aleppo and other parts in eastern part of syria including suburbs of the capital, damascus. there's no doubt the syrian military is still continuing with its assault on various cities across the country. but as you mentioned, the former syrian prime minister says the government only controls about 30% of the country. that's mostly where these operations are taking place.

>> also the rebels are claiming that a lebanese man captured in the capital yesterday is a member of hezbollah , set to fight in syria . how accurate are these reports?

>> reporter: well, hezbollah has come out from southern lebanon with a statement denying that that individual was a fighter or a member of the lebanese militant or resistance group as they are known there. but syrian rebels have said that over the past 17 months, hezbollah , which has been a very close ally of the syrian regime, has been sending fighters, particularly very technically capable and savvy fighters to help -- help put down the rebellion taking place in syria . now, according to the syrian rebels or free syrian army , they have captured many fighters over the past several months. this was the most recent example. the man on the tape identified himself as a hezbollah fighter. there's no way to independently verify that claim.

>> aman, you're so close to the area. i think sometimes the distance doesn't make it possible for us to really understand this is not a battle going on on a battleground. these are cities that are being pummeled on a daily basis. these are women, men and children who have no dog in the fight that are being slaughtered on a daily basis. paint the picture for us of just how widespread this is and who are the victims?

>> reporter: well, when this uprising began, if you can call it that, when this revolution began, it began as a peaceful protest precisely by those you mentioned, men, women and children young and old. as the marine saw this gaining momentum they began to use military force . there's no town or city spared since the conflict began. it began in the country i'd. some of the bigger towns, moving into some of the major cities. now we've seen it reach the capital. we've seen it reach syria 's largest city of aleppo. really it is everywhere. it has now covered the entire country and has really created some very dangerous sectarian fault lines. as you mentioned right now, most of the people fighting the regime, they're a bunch of rag tag rebels who've been able to get their weapons from makeshift places and on the black market . by no means are they fully functioning opposition rebel movement . nonetheless, they are giving the regime a very hard time .

>> ayman, thank you so much for being with us.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/48664343/

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