Russia says Bashar al-Assad is losing control of Syria

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [2]is increasingly losing control and the opposition may win, according to Russian state news agency, ITAR-Tass. 

During hearings at the Kremlin advisory body, the Public Chamber, on Thursday, Bogdanov said: "We must look at the facts: there is a trend for the government to progressively lose control over an increasing part of the territory."

"The opposition victory can't be excluded," he said. 

Bogdanov's comments are the first acknowledgment from a Russian official that the Syrian president could lose the 21-month civil war. 

Throughout the Syrian conflict, Russia has shielded Assad from international sanctions [3] and provided his regime with weapons. 

While Bogdanov's comments don't signal an immediate change in stance, analysts say his remarks suggest that Moscow has begun positioning itself for a regime change in Syria. 

Meanwhile, the death toll in Syria continues to rise. 

In the latest attacks, a car bomb killed 16 people, seven of them children, in the Qatana suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, according to state-run media.

[4] © 2012 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)