Cracks in city loyal to Syrian President Al Assad

Aleppo, Syria: In the apartment of an elderly Aleppo woman, the TV was tuned to the pro-government channel Al Dunya. Patriotic music played over images of a happy and prosperous Syria. On her balcony, a small Syrian flag waved in the night chill.

"I told my cats that if they are with us then they can stay, but if they are against us I'll send them out into the streets," said the woman, a widow who is a staunch supporter of President Bashar Al Assad. Her daughter, a teacher who still lives at home, leaned down toward a calico cat warming herself near the furnace.

"Do you love Bashar?" she asked. The cat closed her eyes, and they took it as affirmation. For 11 months, the rest of Syria has been asking the same question about Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city. Often described as sitting on the sidelines of the bloody national uprising, Aleppo now appears to be wavering and uncertain. While Al Assad's security forces continue to crack down on the anti-government movement across much of the country, Aleppo's populace seems unsure just where to stand.

"Are you with or against?" is a common question among friends and family. The answer leads to heated discussions. The debate is of great consequence to the future of the nation. Like Damascus, Syria's capital, Aleppo has escaped much of the mayhem that has engulfed areas where wide-scale dissent has been violently stifled by government forces.

A hundred and sixty kilometres to the south, Homs, Syria's third-largest city, is an opposition stronghold and a battleground. No one is yet predicting such a turn of events in this longtime loyalist bastion, which serves as the nation's commercial hub. But the government is keeping a tight lid on both Aleppo and Damascus, mindful that major unrest in either could truly threaten Al Assad's rule.

Protests have broken out in the suburbs and surrounding provinces of Aleppo, but the city itself has so far been devoid of large demonstrations. At the same time, more than a dozen residents of the impoverished neighbourhood of Marje were reportedly shot and killed by government forces during Friday protests in the last two weeks. And Aleppo's streets are now nearly empty of once-ubiquitous images of Al Assad after a series of attacks on shop fronts and car windows in the last two months.

Merchants

In the city's old, mazelike bazaar, where shoppers, donkeys and motorcycles coexist on narrow cobblestone paths, merchants by and large continue to support Al Assad. In their shops, which offer goods varying from gold jewellery to spices, under-shirts to wedding dresses, televisions are turned to Al Dunya or a government-run station. But it is no longer unusual to see people watching the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel, itself a possible indication of where one stands. Al Jazeera's reports have consistently played up Syrian government attacks on civilians, to the point that the official Syrian news agency now accuses foreign satellite networks of fomenting "sedition" against the government. "Are you still watching Al Dunya?" asked a man who writes for an online newspaper, as he walked into a relative's home and glanced at the television. "Why are you watching Al Jazeera?" replied the woman with suspicion.

"Our life is Al Dunya." If the future here is uncertain, one thing most people agree on is that Aleppo has fast become a city on edge. In a place where people frequently dined late into the night at restaurants or impromptu sidewalk grills, they now exhibit fear of the dark as reports emerge of kidnappings, holdups and rapes.

Shortage

Meanwhile, an economic slowdown is pinching wallets. Gas, diesel and heating fuel prices have risen dramatically. There is also a bread shortage, and one hairdresser noted an increase in short haircuts as women try to save on conditioners and longer showers.

On days when fuel trucks come to deliver gas, motorists wait in line for hours to fill up. Government supporters blame the protesters and rebel fighters for the increasing economic chaos and a sense of lawlessness. Some say the opposition has created an atmosphere of anarchy where criminals see opportunity. Whatever the case, the loyalists say, the city's deteriorating conditions are a strong reason for Al Assad to remain in control. More and more, however, it appears that those who have not yet taken a side are less sure what to think.

"We talk to those supporting the revolutionaries and what they are saying sounds right, and we talk to those who support the regime and what they are saying sounds right," said a college English major in her early 20s. "We don't know what's actually right."

Turkey warns Syrian leader of backlash

The Syrian regime faces a bloody demise, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned.

"Sooner or later you will be held to account for Homs," Erdogan said in a clear warning to President Bashar Al Assad. "Bashar, it will all come back down on you."

Al Assad, once regarded as a friend, has lost all credibility with Ankara in the months since the unrest erupted, and Erdogan has now repeatedly called for the Syrian leader to go.

Turkey has long relied on a combination of economic and military sanctions in its dealings with Damascus, along with calls for the violence to come to an end. Arms shipments from Iran were blocked, and Ankara allowed deserters from the Syrian army to set up as the Free Syrian Army in a camp on its territory.

The Syrian National Council has established itself in exile in Turkey with Ankara's permission.

After Russia and China blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he intended to work on a new alliance in Washington, presenting Turkey as an honest broker in attempts to end the conflict. There had to be a new "road map", he said.

Turkey is pushing for an international conference involving all the major players, to be held in Turkey or in another country in the region.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for the "Friends of Syria" to form a group to work together for an end to the bloodshed. Washington's initial goal is to provide aid to those trapped in the conflict zones.

Erdogan is also trying to gain Russia's support for a joint plan of action. Ankara has made clear that military intervention in Syria is not an option, thus reassuring Moscow on a key point. The establishment of a protective zone for the opposition on the Syrian side of the border, which had been under consideration, has also been set aside.

Turkey's role as Syria's neighbour and its authority in international affairs "could be needed when it comes to an all-inclusive dialogue on Syria," Russian President Dmitri Medvedev told Erdogan by phone.