Pentagon says Syrian opposition "making inroads"

WASHINGTON, July 17 (KUNA) -- The United States said on Tuesday that the Syrian opposition is making inroads and noted that there are increasing defections in the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"The focus of the entire United States government right now remains on diplomatic and economic pressure ... the opposition, we believe, is making inroads. And while the Assad regime is still in power, we have seen some cracks recently with defections", said Pentagon press secretary George Little in a press briefing.
"We expect at the end of the day that this crisis will end with a new leader in Syria and that the Syrian people hopefully will be free from violence and can be in a position to determine their own future", he added.
Little noted that "separate and apart from the attacks in Damascus, this regime should be worried. They are not only facing internal opposition, but they are facing serious opposition from the vast majority of the international community. The regime is undertaking deplorable acts and has been rightly condemned for those acts".
"I do not know that we can say for sure right now with respect to Damascus what this means, but it is noteworthy that the fight is occurring in the capital", he added.
Meanwhile, White House Principal Deputy Secretary John Earnest told reporters that there has been "inhumane brutality from the Assad regime against his own people and that has certainly aroused concern not just by the President and US officials, but by the leaders of countries all over the globe, including a number of countries in the region". (end) jm.bs KUNA 172200 Jul 12NNNN