When the uprising started in Syria ten months ago, protesters were adamantly opposed to taking up arms against the regime or calling for foreign intervention. Now, with some 6,000 civilians dead, many are changing their mind. The Syrian National Council, the main umbrella opposition group in exile, has called for the creation of "safe zones". It has also endorsed the Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors who are mounting an increasingly aggressive guerrilla campaign against the regime, though the council's chairman, Burhan Ghalioun, says they should fight only to protect protesters. "After ten months, people want to end the killing in any way possible," says Razan Zeitouneh, a lawyer and activist in Damascus who still argues for a peaceful revolution. In America and Britain, some thinktanks close to the neoconservatives who influenced George Bush are eagerly floating the idea of intervention. This is gaining momentum, not least because of the probable failure of the Arab League to effect a negotiated settlement that would require multi-party elections and the early exit of Mr Assad. A team of observers representing the league was allowed into Syria on December 27th, raising hopes that the daily death toll might fall. Far from it. At least 220 people have been killed since the observers arrived.
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