LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In what has become a dreary and predictable state of affairs, dozens have been killed after opposition forces and Syrian army units engaged in deadly combat around elite Republican Guard posts in Damascus. At least 116 people were killed across the country. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll comprised 68 civilians, 41 soldiers and seven opposition fighters.

President Assad admitted that Syria is in a "real situation of war.
 
"When one is in a state of war, all our policies and capabilities must be used to secure victory," he told his new cabinet.

"Violent clashes are taking place around positions of the Republican Guard in Qudsaya and Al-Hama," just kilometers away from central Damascus, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said, noting it was the first time that artillery was used "so close to the capital."

U.S. officials describe Assad as "desperate" and slowly losing his grip on power, citing defections and fighting raging increasingly close to Damascus, and offered new support to NATO ally Turkey after Syrian forces shot down one of its fighter planes last week.

"Clearly, Bashar al-Assad has been slowly - too slowly - losing his grip over his country," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Air Force One.

"I would note that recent high-level military defections to Jordan and Turkey are another testament to the regime's loss of control over the situation in Syria."

"It is clear, however, that Assad is desperate to hang on to power at all cost, as evidenced by his continued use of air power and Shabiha gangs," Carney said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the meantime said his country has since changed its rules of engagement and would now treat any Syrian security threat as a military target after Friday's incident.

"Turkey will exercise its rights, born out of international law, with determination, and take the necessary steps by determining the time, place and method by itself."

Erdogan was at one time a close ally of Assad. His reaction to the downing of the jet is his fiercest outburst against the old-line Syrian regime to date.

The incident over the downing of the Phantom F-4 fighter jet has split Moscow and the West, with NATO condemning Syria and voicing its solidarity with member state Turkey. Russia maintains that the incident should not be seen as intentional.

"We believe it is important that the incident is not viewed as a provocation or an intentional action, and that it does not lead to destabilizing the situation," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

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