Syria-related clashes rage in Lebanon

BEIRUT — Syria’s Western-backed opposition plunged into disarray on Sunday as its president resigned and its military leader refused to recognize a prime minister recently elected to lead an interim rebel government.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A top Iranian official visiting Damascus on Monday said Israel will regret its “latest aggression” on Syria and said the entire Muslim world should be ready to defend the Syrian people. Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, also said Iran supports any initiative for dialogue between President Bashar Assad and his opponents to end the civil war in Syria, but insisted that any talks be held in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

MUNICH — Israel’s defense minister indicated Sunday that his country was behind an airstrike on Syria that U.S. officials said targeted anti-aircraft weapons bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It was the first public comment by an Israeli government official on the Wednesday strike. “I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in Germany at a security conference with top diplomats and defense officials from around the world.

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BEIRUT — The United Nations estimated Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria’s 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule, a toll one-third higher than what anti-regime activists had counted. The U.N. human rights chief called the toll “truly shocking.” Opposition activist groups had been estimating the death toll at more than 45,000 and this was the first time that the U.N. estimate was higher.

BEIRUT — Syrian authorities on Friday beefed up security measures in Damascus as rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad urged supporters to mark the second anniversary of the country’s uprising by stepping up attacks against the regime. The revolt against Assad’s authoritarian rule began in March 2011 with protests in the southern city of Daraa, after troops arrested teenagers who scrawled anti-regime graffiti on a wall. It has since morphed into a civil war with an estimated 70,000 people killed, according to the UN.

BEIRUT — In another blow to President Bashar Assad, his commander of military police defected. The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, is one of the most senior members of Assad’s inner circle to join the opposition during the 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule. He appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying the army has been turned into a gang to kill and destroy.