Turkey has made a new proposal to Russia for an orderly peaceful transition in war-ravaged Syria in the post-regime era, a Turkish newspaper reported on Monday.

The proposal calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down in the first three months of 2013 and for the transition process to be undertaken by the opposition National Coalition, which was recognised as the sole representative of Syrians by Arab and Western states last week, the Radikal newspaper reported.

The plan was discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on December 3 and Putin reportedly considered it a "creative formula," according to Radikal.

Turkey, once an ally of the Damascus regime, has become a fierce critic of the bloody crackdown on a rebellion that has turned into civil war.

For its part Russia has been one of Assad's few allies, routinely blocking resolutions against his regime at the UN Security Council.

While Erdogan and Putin agreed to disagree on Syria during their talks this month, Putin has said that Russia's leaders were not "inveterate defenders" of the current regime in Syria.

Ankara, which has been tight-lipped on the new proposal, is seeking to deprive Assad of Russian and Iranian support, according to the Radikal newspaper.

The plan is likely to be turned down by Assad but it might change the course of the 21-month conflict due to the international community's support, Radikal said, noting that the United States, Egypt, Qatar, Russia and the United Nations have been debating the Ankara-led proposal over the past 10 days.

During a visit to Turkey on December 7, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said that he has "taken note" of the Istanbul summit where Putin and Erdogan discussed "new ideas" on how to respond to the Syrian crisis.

Ban told reporters in Ankara that he hoped that the new strategies would be very closely coordinated with UN peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, so that there would be a consensus of views among the international community.

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The U.S. has said it would intervene if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons in the country's ongoing conflict.

Craig Whitlock and Carol Morello of The Washington Post report U.S. officials are increasingly worried that Syria’s chemical weapons and missiles could fall the hands of Islamist extremists — who are among rebel forces currently battling for the army's largest chemical weapons stockpile near Aleppo — or even Assad's own generals.

That's why defense contractors are currently training Syrian rebels how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles, and why the U.S. has threatened to neutralize the stockpiles before the unthinkable occurs.

Richard Johnson and Mike Faille of the National Post published this infographic that shows why world leaders have such a huge cause for concern.

SEE ALSO: There Isn't A Ruler In The World That Wants To Use Chemical Weapons

US Sends Troops And Missiles To Turkey As Syrian Conflict Escalates

REPORT: The US Is Openly Sending Heavy Weapons From Libya To Syrian Rebels

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Veteran war correspondent Patrick Cockburn of The Independent has been in Damascus for 10 days and says he is "struck by the fact that the situation in areas of Syria I have visited is wholly different from the picture given to the world both by foreign leaders and by the foreign media."

Last week NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was on the brink of collapse, and there have been multiple reports that rebels are closing in on the capital and battling within a mile of the presidential palace.

But the "best informed Syrians and foreign diplomats"told Cockburn that recent attacks on the capital have been "thrown back by a government counteroffensive" and recent rebel gains are partly explained by "a new Syrian army strategy to pull back from indefensible outposts and bases and concentrate troops in cities and towns."

Cockburn drove north 100 miles to Homs and found that all but the Old City of Syria's third largest city is in government control. And the director of the military hospital covering much of southern Syria told him that the number of wounded arriving every day "indicates sniping, assassinations and small-scale ambushes, but not a fight to the finish."

Elizabeth Kennedy of the Associated Press reports that Assad is far from finished since he has "thousands of loyal troops and a monopoly on air power."

Cockburn does acknowledge that Assad's regime is not in a good place. In the last week rebels have captured two major army installations in Aleppo as well as various air bases near both Aleppo and Damascus. In late November the Internet in the country was cut and the Damascus International Airport was shut down during intense fighting.

And Syria's vice president recently said that the army cannot defeat the rebel forces, and that the regime may be contemplating an exit strategy in the form of a political settlement.

Nevertheless, Cockburn writes that the regime is "a long way from total defeat, unless there is direct military intervention by foreign powers."

As for Assad himself, a Russian source reportedly told The London Times that he plans to “fight to his last bullet” in his Alawite ancestral home, where he would be guarded by "at least seven largely Alawite commando battalions and up to one ballistic missile battalion."

SEE ALSO: How The Syrian Conflict Is Going To End

Why Syria's Chemical Weapons Are So Terrifying [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Russia is categorically opposed to the Turkey’s installation of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles along its border with Syria.

Most have assumed that the Moscow's opposition was driven by its friendship with embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But Russian military experts tell Kommersant that Moscow is actually concerned that the missiles will be used in military action against Iran.

In spite of the fact that the planned location of the missiles is relatively far from the Iranian border, they could be easily deployed to any place in Turkey, and be used against Iranian rockets.

The experts Kommersant spoke with said that having the Patriot missiles in Turkey seriously increases the risk of armed conflict with Iran, which would not be able to strike back if the Patriot missiles are deployed. 

“Turkey has explained its request to NATO to put the Patriot missiles on its border with Syria as exclusively related to its need to defend itself from a possible attack from the Syrian army.

"But according to our information, there could be a second motivation for this actions, which is a preparation for military action against Iran,” said one diplomatic source in Moscow. 

Continue Reading at WorldCrunch >

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Amid widespread concern yesterday, and calls for silence on the topic by NBC, Richard Engel, NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent has been freed from his Syrian captors.

Engel and his team were captured last Wednesday and liberated after a firefight that went down at a roadside checkpoint yesterday.

From NBC:

“After being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by an unknown group, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew members have been freed unharmed. We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country,” the network said in a statement.

The captors were unidentified and were not believed to be loyal to the Assad regime.

Engel, 39, along with other employees the network did not identify, disappeared shortly after crossing into northwest Syria from Turkey on Thursday. The network had not been able to contact them until learning that they had been freed on Monday.

With no claim of responsibility or of a coordinated kidnapping, and no ransom demands, many questions remain about the incident that came to an unexpected, but fortunate conclusion at a standard checkpoint. Engel credits the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, a Syrian rebel group, with his release.

It was al-Sham that engaged Engels captors, killing two of them, before an unknown number of others got away. It's interesting that the Ahrar al-Sham, meaning "Free Men of Greater Syria," considered fundamentalist in their Islamic views are allies of the al-Nusra Front.

The latter group was recently labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, but remains the "most aggressive and successful arm of the rebel force." Both groups themselves are said to be responsible for abductions of their own, performed largely against opposing Sh'ite forces and civilians.

A highly respected foreign correspondent, Engel is one of the only Western journalists to cover the entire Iraq War. He published the experience in a widely praised book titled, "War Journal: My Five Years In Iraq." Fluent in Arabic, Engel accessed parts of Iraq unlike anyone else. Even George W. Bush called him to the White House for a private briefing and the resulting book is one of the definitive works from that conflict.

From yesterday:

Turkish media is reporting that veteran journalist Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent and Middle East bureau chief, and his Turkish colleagueAziz Akyavaş are currently missing in Syria. 

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports that Engel and Akyavaş haven't been in contact with NBC News since Thursday morning.

John Cook of Gawker reports that NBC has been "asking every reporter who inquires about the pair to participate in a news blackout," but the Turkish reports have already been referenced by journalists and others thousands of times on Twitter.

Prominent investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill argues that NBC's news blackout should be respected, although the news has been picked up by outlets including The Daily Mail, The Houston Chronicle, and The Atlantic Wire:

There are processes going on that other media are not privy to and you should respect that. It could mean life/death for the missing journo

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 17, 2012

The desire to get a "scoop" should be put in check when there are very good reasons--namely the lives of our colleagues-- to stay quiet

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 17, 2012

There are cases where the families/employers ask for coverage. There are actual strategies at play and that should be respected.

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill)December 17, 2012

Turkish news channel NTV notes that Turkish journalists who have been arrested and detained in Syria do not have any information about the journalists' whereabouts.

[UPDATE 4:50 p.m.]John Cook at Gawker has published a response to readers wondering why Gawker decided to publish their post against NBC News' wishes:

The rationale for the blackout was offered in off-the-record conversations, so I can't present their argument here. But I will say this: No one told me anything that indicated a specific, or even general, threat to Engel's safety. No one said, "If you report this, then we know, or suspect, that X, Y, or Z may happen." It was infinitely more vague and general than that.

As I wrote in the post, when the New York Times maintained a blackout about David Rohde, the rationale was clear: I was directly told that the Times had reason to believe that the people who had Rohde would harm him if news got out. There was nothing approaching that level of specificity or argumentation here. I would not have written a post if someone had told me that there was a reasonable or even remote suspicion that anything specific would happen if I wrote the post.

Also: There was in practice no blackout. Xinhua and Breitbart had published English language accounts. There were probably like 100 posts to Twitter per minute about him. This was a situation where the information was freely available on the internet, and in the region—these are large Turkish outlets reporting this information. It was out.

SEE ALSO: How The Syrian Conflict Is Going To End

Veteran Journalist Says The Media Is Totally Misreporting What's Happening In Syria

There Isn't A Ruler In The World Who Wants To Use Chemical Weapons

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As Syria's brutal 21-month civil war grinds on, the likelihood of the opposition seizing control of a chemical weapon stockpile or manufacturing site is increasing as rebel groups gain more territory.

“It’s almost inevitable [that rebels acquire chemical weapons],” told The Washington Post. “It may have already happened, for what we know.”

Syrian Major-General Adnan Sillu, who defected from the regime earlier this year and reportedly once led the army’s chemical weapons training program, told Al-Arabiya that the main storage sites for mustard gas and nerve agents — such as ones in Homs, east of Aleppo and east of Damascus — would be easily overrun if rebels reached them.

“They’re not secure,” Silou said. “Probably anyone from the Free Syrian Army or any Islamic extremist group could take them over.”

Last week the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the al-Nusra Front — the frontline rebel force recently blacklisted by the U.S. — had seized a chlorine factory east of Aleppo, according The Post.

The chlorine factory is near the major chemical weapons production and research complex of Safirah, where the Syrian Army reportedly tested missile systems for poison gas shells at the end of August.

“The risks of the [proliferation] of Syria’s chemical weapons are real," Cornell professor Kathleen Vogel said. “In light of the mounting instability of Syrian military forces and the growing chaos in the country, there are dangers from the loss of tight command and control of its weapons facilities."

The U.S. initially worried that Assad would use them on his own people, but now they are more concerned about the weapons falling into the hands of 'terrorists" such as al-Nusra, who have been linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

“After the regime falls, anyone could take them,” Silou said, noting that they easily could be moved to Iran, to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon or to Iraq. And until the regime falls, rebels have the opportunity to capture the key chemical sites as they attempt to cripple Assad.

Either way it is an international imperative that the chemical sites are secured, and even though defense contractors are training Syrian rebels how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles, nonproliferation analysts told The Post that no country besides the U.S. is likely to be able to supply enough trained personnel and specialized equipment to secure and dismantle Assad's chemical arsenal.

SEE ALSO: Veteran Journalist Says The Media Is Totally Misreporting What's Happening In Syria

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NBC Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his crew were driving through what they believed was rebel controlled territory last Wednesday when 15 armed men in ski masks ambushed them.

The Syrian attackers overwhelmed the crew's rebel guards and executed one of them on the spot.

Engel said their captors were part of a Syrian government militia called Shabiha, trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who hoped to swap the group for four Iranian agents and two Lebanese prisoners held by rebels.

From The Washington Post:

Engel, [his producer and cameraman], who appeared together on “Today,” said they were not hurt physically but were subjected to “psychological torture,” including threats that one or all of them would be killed.

“They made us choose which one of us would be shot first, and when we refused, there were mock shootings. They pretended to shoot Ghazi several times,” Engel said, referring to [Ghazi] Balkiz. “When you’re blindfolded and then they fire the gun up in the air, it can be a very traumatic experience.”

Turkish reporter Aziz Akyavas told Turkish television channel NTV that they were blindfolded, handcuffed, given no food and “every now and then had guns pointed on our heads."

The ordeal came to an end Tuesday when the kidnappers stumbled through a rebel checkpoint, wound up in a firefight and fled after two of them were killed, leaving the captives behind but taking most of their equipment and clothing.

The group that rescued Engel and his fellow captives, the Ahrar al-Sham, are closely united with another rebel group recently labeled a terrorist organization by the American government — the al-Nusra Front.

SEE ALSO: NBC Correspondent Richard Engel Has Been Freed From Kidnappers In Syria

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Syria expert Joshua Landis told Voice of America journalist Cecily Hilleary that he thinks Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will eventually flee to the coastal mountains of his ancestral Alawite homeland.

Landis, whose wife is Alawite, said Assad will allow Damascus to be destroyed before relinquishing it to rebels. When he does "the Syrian Army, which has now largely been turned into an Alawite militia, will be forced back into the coastal mountains."

Assad and his troops will be able to survive there, according to Landis, if Iran and Russia continue to provide support in the form of weapons and money while the Sunni Arabs that make up the opposition fail to unify.

Landis said the rebels will likely remain divided since they have never worked out their differences regarding "ideology, country versus city, class, and also north and south, Aleppo versus Damascus ... Islam versus secularism, the role of minorities, and so forth" because "Syria went straight from French rule to, really, dictatorship."

There have been indications of the tensions between religious and secular rebels as the extremist elements such as the al-Nusra front—which makes up nine percent of the opposition— say they aim to create an Islamic state in Syria ruled by strict Sunni Islam and will fight any secular government after Assad.

“After the fall of Bashar there will be so many battles between these groups,” an Iraqi who joined the regular Free Syrian Army told the New York Times. “All the groups will unite against al-Nusra."

The assessment sounds like what Israeli expert on Arab affairs Dr. Mordechai Kedar told The Times of Israel in July: "If Assad’s Alawite sect, considered infidels by Sunni Muslims, withdraws from Damascus and hunkers down in western Syria where it holds a majority ... and the non-Arab Kurds break off into their own mini-state, as they have done in Iraq, then the remaining Druze, Christian, Sunni and Salafist sects will battle for what remains."

Landis sees a "a long, long battle" ahead because "both sides are radicalizing, and the radicals are taking over– not only among the Sunni Arabs but also within the Alawite community, and that means bad things because it’s going to destroy – it is destroying Syria," Landis, who is the director of the Center for Middle East Studies and associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, told Hilleary.

SEE ALSO: There Isn't A Ruler In The World Who Wants To Use Chemical Weapons

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Just hours after Syrian forces bombed a line of starving residents waiting for bread, reports came out that the government used chemical weapons on the city of Homs, a rebel-held city in Western Syria.

There has been no official confirmation yet, but if these reports are true, it may force the U.S. to intervene.

The U.S. said in August that such a move by the Assad regime would constitute a "Red Line" and shift its military position. Obama amplified the warning again in early December when news of chemical weapons preparation came out of Syria.

Now it's clear even the American public considers it unacceptable: a Washington Post poll out last week states 63 percent of Americans support military involvement against Syria if chemical weapons are used.

All of this makes the most recent reports out of Homs even more concerning.

While there is no official confirmation, The Times of Israel reports that at least six rebels are dead and 60 injured after opposition forces say "poison gas bombs" were dropped on the town of Homs.

Al Jazeera reports seven people have died in Homs after inhaling a poisonous gas "sprayed by government forces in a rebel held Homs neighborhood."

There is video here on YouTube via Al Jazerra from “a field clinic in the city” of exposed victims explaining and exhibiting their reported symptoms.

From Al Jazeera:

Activists also told Al Jazeera that scores of others were affected in al-Bayyada neighbourhood. Side effects reported include nausea, relaxed muscles, blurred vision, and breathing difficulties.

Residents said they did not know the nature of the gas sprayed.

"The situation is very difficult. We do not have enough facemasks. We don't know what this gas is but medics are saying it's something similar to Sarin gas," Raji Rahmet Rabbou, an activist in Homs, told Al Jazeera.

This Google+ page claims to have the names of those killed so far in the attack.

Haaretz reported that they spoke to a Syrian activist who says government jet fighters dropped the "poisonous material" on Homs.

However, there has still been no official confirmation of the attack. We also don't know exactly what gas was used in the attack, though some people believe that it may be chlorine. Iris Mentus at American Jihad Watch twitter stream posted that the gas may be chlorine at about 7 p.m. yesterday evening.

The Chechen Center, a self-described "pro-Russian newspaper also indicated that the gas may be chlorine. It tweeted"Parts of Syria are currently under chemical attack. Most reports seem to indicate chlorine attacks similar to those in Iraq in 2007."

If it is chlorine, it should be easy to determine. It moves in a green cloud, has a strong odor and is water soluble. The last part is good news for anyone on the receiving end of chlorine because covering the nose and mouth with a wet cloth goes a long way to diminishing the danger. U.S. Army manuals direct those exposed to chlorine to "Mask and Move"

While not the most lethal chemical weapon, chlorine's psychological effects following an attack are legendary. And for a rebel group already on the edge of exhaustion, hunger, cold, and despair there's no doubt that will be the case in Syria if the attacks are in fact genuine.

The following video is one of two posted on Al Jazeera English and the one not requiring proof of age due to its graphic content.  WARNING: Content is still difficult to watch.

This is breaking news we will continue adding to.

SEE ALSO: What the SAW really means to an outnumbered soldier >

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Reports that chemical weapons were used this weekend in Syria were effectively confirmed today after doctors at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) interviewed witnesses and victims of the attack.

Doctors at SAMS describe a "probable" use of what chemical specialists refer to as "Agent-15," or 3-Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, or what NATO calls "BZ." They classified their report as "probable" because the higher classification of "confirmed" would require laboratory testing.

From SAMS:

The Gas effects started [a] few seconds after the area was shelled. Right after the shelling, patients described  seeing white gas with odor, then they had severe shortness of breath, loss of vision, inability to speak, flushed face, dizziness, paralysis, nausea and vomiting, and increased respiratory secretions. Doctors who treated patients said that patients had pinpoint pupils and bronchospasm. Patients were treated in a field hospital. Gas masks were not available.

The particularly nasty aspect of this chemical weapon is that use of atropine needles, a common countermeasure against nerve agents, is actually a toxic combination and can lead to exacerbation of symptoms, even death.

Referred to as an "incapacitating" chemical in military circles, the worst known non-lethal reactions to high doses of BZ include stupor, hallucinations and "regressive" phantom behaviors such as plucking at one's hair and disrobing.

Conversely, Agent-15 is not nearly as lethal as Assad's stockpile of nerve and blistering agents— Sarin, VX, and Mustard — which can kill from the mildest direct exposure.

SEE ALSO: Assad Is Reportedly Using Chemical Weapons >

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Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held "constructive" talks in Syria with President Bashar al-Assad, as Washington warned that his regime's days are numbered.

As jihadists seized an area populated by the embattled leader's Alawite community, the opposition National Coalition accused Damascus of committing a "massacre" of dozens of civilians in the bombing of a bakery.

The United States condemned the "vicious" attack in which at least 60 people are reported to have been killed in a regime air strike on a bakery in the town of Halfaya, in the central province of Hama on Sunday.

"Brutal attacks such as these show that this regime has no future in Syria," acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement.

"Those that commit atrocities will be held accountable. The United States calls on all parties that continue to assist the regime in executing its war against the Syrian people to end their support," he added.

As violence raged in flashpoints across Syria, some 1,000 people attended Christmas mass in Damascus, praying for peace to return nearly two years into an uprising that has killed tens of thousands.

Heba Shawi said she hoped "the smile comes back to children's faces" during the festivities, which other church-goers admitted would be much more low key than usual.

Hours earlier, Brahimi, the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, met with Assad, who described the talks as "friendly and constructive".

"I had the honour to meet the president and as usual we exchanged views on the many steps to be taken in the future," Brahimi said, while labelling the crisis as "worrying" given the scale of the bloodshed.

More than 44,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the eruption in March 2011 of the uprising that morphed into an armed insurgency when the Assad regime unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.

On Monday alone, at least 119 people were killed nationwide, including 38 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Brahimi, who last visited Syria on October 19, expressed hope "all parties are in favour of a solution that draws Syrian people together".

"Assad expressed his views on the situation and I told him about my meetings with leaders in the region and outside," said the veteran Algerian diplomat who took over the position from former UN chief Kofi Annan.

Assad said his "government is committed to ensure the success of all efforts aimed at protecting the sovereignty and independence of the country", state television reported.

The official SANA news agency blamed the bakery killings on an "armed terrorist group" -- the regime term for rebels -- saying "many women and children" had died.

The National Coalition, recognised by many countries and groupings as the legitimate representative of Syrians, blamed Assad's regime for the "massacre" in Halfaya, saying it "targeted children, women and men who went out to get their scarce daily bread ration".

Meanwhile in Hama, the Observatory said the Al-Nusra Front and other jihadist groups on Monday overran large parts of the village of Maan populated by Alawites, the offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad belongs.

Rebels last week launched an all-out assault on army positions across Hama, home to a patchwork of religious communities, the Observatory said.

Activists accused Assad's regime of unleashing killer gas bombs in the central city of Homs.

The Observatory said six rebels died in Homs on Sunday night after inhaling "odourless gas and white smoke" emanating from bombs deployed by regime forces in clashes with rebels.

"These are not chemical weapons, but we do not know whether they are internationally prohibited," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Russia, one of the few staunch allies of Syria, downplayed fears of chemical weapons being deployed.

"I do not believe Syria would use chemical weapons," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told English-language television channel RT. "It would be a political suicide for the government if it does."

Meanwhile, rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned the regime's transfer of civilians to military courts, and urged action to ensure Syria's courts meet international fair trial standards.

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Syrians, who are fighting a civil war in which 40,000 of them have died just this year, are still more optimistic about their own future than US Republicans, recent polls reveal. Republicans also are much less optimistic than Greeks, whose economy may still bring down the whole of Europe, and Afghans, who are hopeful despite three decades of on-and-off civil war.

A Gallup Poll of global sentiment concludes that Greeks are the most pessimistic people in the world, in fact much more so than Syrians. But the survey did not break down results by political party. If it had, US Republicans would have topped the list. A new Washington Post-ABC poll shows that 72% of Republicans are fearful about what 2013 holds in store for them personally. (In the same poll, just 20% of Democrats are fearful.)

According to Gallup, 42% of Greeks foresee a grimmer future, along with 33% of Syrians. And in a recent Asia Foundation poll, 52% of Afghans said their country is moving in the right direction.

What troubles Republicans?

The Republican fear factor is a gigantic leap into trepidation—in 2008, 54% of Republicans said they fear what is ahead; in 2006, the number in the same poll was just 20%. What troubles Republicans? It is fear for the world at large (79% expect a bleaker 2013, compared with 36% of Democrats) and the US economy in particular (82% are pessimistic about next year; 28% of Democrats feel that way).

But what about their personal situation did the Republican respondents fear? The poll does not appear to have asked. But oddly, 62% of Republicans are optimistic about their family’s financial situation next year,  lower than the 78% of cheery Democrats but a definitively rosy outlook.

One possibly correlating number is support for owning guns: If you own a weapon or support liberalized availability of them, you may be a hunter, but you may also seek protection against a perceived threat out there. In a Pew Poll released Dec. 20—after the Sandy Hook massacre in which a gunman murdered 20 first-grade students with a semi-automatic weapon—69% of Republicans said continuing to protect the right to own guns is more important than regulating ownership (72% of Democrats took the opposite view).

But are we talking fear, such as worry about personal safety, or something more idiosyncratic? Consider the Gallup poll, whichalso gauged “positive emotions” (this is a relevant question since one can reasonably regard fear of the future as a negative emotion). It found that 85% of Panamanians feel pretty good, compared with just 46% of Singaporeans, who are much wealthier on a GDP basis. Here are the questions that comprised the gauge of this good feeling:

Did you feel well-rested yesterday? Were you treated with respect all day yesterday? Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?

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The head of Syria's military police has defected from the army and declared allegiance to the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to a video and a Syrian security source.

The high-level defection, while not a strategically significant development in the 21-month-old conflict, will be a blow to morale for Assad's forces, which are hitting back at a string of rebel advances across the country.

"I am General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the army from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction," the officer said in a video published on YouTube.

A Syrian security source confirmed the defection but played down its significance.

"Shalal did defect but he was due to retire in a month and he only defected to play hero," the source said.

Wearing a camouflage uniform with red officer insignia on the shoulder, Shalal spoke from a desk in a room in an undisclosed location. Some rebel sources said he had fled to Turkey. It was not clear when Shalal had changed sides.

"The army has destroyed cities and villages and has committed massacres against an unarmed population that took to the streets to demand freedom," he said. "Long live free Syria."

Meanwhile, more than 45,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak in March 2011 of an anti-regime revolt that became a bloody insurgency after a brutal crackdown on dissent, a watchdog said Wednesday.

"In all we have documented the deaths of 45,048 people," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, adding that more than 1,000 people were killed in the past week alone.

Giving a breakdown, he said those killed included "31,544 civilians, 1,511 defectors, 11,217 soldiers and 776 unidentified bodies."

The Observatory, which relies on a network of medics and activists on the ground, counts non-military combatants who have taken up arms against the regime as civilians.

The actual number of people killed in Syria's spiralling conflict is likely much higher.

"We believe the real number could be as high as 100,000," Abdel Rahman said.

"Many of the thousands missing in jails are feared dead. Both the army and rebel fighters are concealing many of their casualties," he added.

The Observatory does not include in its toll thousands of shabiha (pro-regime militiamen), people believed to be informants for the state, or foreign fighters who have joined the anti-regime insurgency.

Source: Reuters/AFP

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The United Nations on Wednesday predicted the number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries will double to 1.1 million by June next year if the country's war is not ended.

There are now more than 540,000 registered refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt, according to the latest UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report on Syria.

That figure has increased by more than 140,000 in six weeks. "Syrians continue to cross borders to seek safety," OCHA said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees "estimates that if fighting in Syria continues the refugee figure could reach 1.1 million by June 2013," the report added.

Aid groups say hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled the 21-month old conflict without registering with UN agencies.

The United Nations has appealed for $1 billion to fund refugee operations until June.

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Russia has warned that Syria would descend into "bloody chaos" should a proposal from Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy, to set up a transitional government fail.

Mr Brahimi, the international Syrian peace envoy, challenged all sides in the conflict to work together to pave the way for democratic elections and sideline President Bashar al-Assad.

His proposal received strong backing from Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister who said negotiations were the only way to end the fighting.

"The alternative to a peaceful solution is bloody chaos. The longer it continues, the greater its scale – and the worse things get for all," he said.

After five days of negotiations with the regime in Damascus, Mr Brahimi claimed to have the outlines of a power-sharing pact but his proposals were instantly rejected by the main opposition council.

It has been angered by the suggestion that Mr Assad could stay on as figurehead despite the deaths of 45,000 in the fighting.

The Christmas mission by Mr Brahimi, who has kept a low profile for months, alongside a "softening" of Russia's hardline support of Assad's regime, has lifted hopes for a diplomatic end to Syria's civil war.

Mr Brahimi said the regime must make once unthinkable concessions to the leaders of the 21-month uprising.

"Change should not be cosmetic – the Syrian people need and require real change, and everyone understands what that means," said Mr Brahimi, the joint UN-Arab League envoy.

"We need to form a government with all powers ... which assumes power during a period of transition. That transition period will end with elections."

Speaking before he prepared to fly to Moscow on Friday, Mr Brahimi also warned, however, that there must not be a "collapse of the state or the state's institutions" during any power-sharing period.

Yasser Tabbara, a spokesperson for Syria Opposition Coalition, said the terms outlined by the envoy were unacceptable.

"It has been the position of the coalition that we need to find a quick solution on the issue of Bashar al-Assad stepping down. The priority of the Coalition is to preserve lives and finish this with the least casualties. However, the plans proposed by Lakhdar Brahimi are out of touch with reality," he said. "The plan takes us back months and months, if not years."

Moaz al-Khatib, the Coalition leader, flatly dismissed Mr Brahimi's proposals in a Facebook posting earlier this week.

Moscow has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity to promote power-sharing and its view that the conflict does not have a military solution.

Mr Lavrov met on Thursday with Faisal Mekdad, the Syrian deputy foreign minister and Mr Assad's cousin, to press Damascus to co-operate with Mr Brahimi.

Western diplomats remain doubtful of the shift in Russia's stance.

One European official said there was "nothing that gave credence" to suggestions that Russian was moving closer to a joint approach with the US and other opposition backers.

Grassroots rebel supporters believe the Brahimi mission is a distraction at time when fighters have advanced to the gates of the presidential palace in Damascus.

"As long as the regime is still bombarding its people with missiles, how can we accept Assad hanging on," said a British-based activist from Homs. "We will change Assad even if it does take longer than we hope."

Alarm over Syria's disintegration led to crisis talks between Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister and King Abdullah of Jordan over the fate of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

The meeting – the first between the two leaders in two-and-a-half years – was confirmed in anonymous briefings to the Israeli media after it was initially reported by the London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Qods Al-Arabi.

It is believed Mr Netanyahu travelled to Jordan without the knowledge of Israeli diplomats.

Mr Netanyahu publicly predicted the collapse of Mr Assad's regime this week and warned of "implications" for Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons.

Israel fears the weapons could fall into the hands of Islamists fighting Mr Assad or the Lebanese Shia group, Hizbollah, an ally of Iran.

Mr Netanyahu's government has twice sought Jordan's co-operation to attack the weapons facilities, according to the Atlantic magazine.

"Reports of this meeting in the press are quite credible," one Israeli official told The Daily Telegraph. "It makes a lot of sense to have top-level co-ordination [between Israel and Jordan] about non-conventional weapons, which are a matter of great concern here."

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Russia has invited the head of the main Syrian opposition for talks. 

The Associated Press reports that foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters today that he has officially contacted the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces through the Russian Embassy in Egypt. 

The move is the most overwhelming sign yet that Russia's support for the Assad regime has deteriorated significantly. Russia has been Syria's most important ally in the conflict to date.

Although Moscow has not officially recognized the SNC as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people — as the U.S., U.K., and France have — the invitation signals that Russia recognizes the importance and influence that the coalition holds.

Perhaps due to a clever PR move, Russia's shift comes at the same time as a controversial and aggressive move regarding U.S. adoptions.

Just hours after the meeting's announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law an anti-adoption bill that bars U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children. The bill is the latest move in a diplomatic spat between the two states that has occupied the international spotlight for the past month. It is widely perceived as a retaliatory measure taken against the U.S. in response to a trade bill that levies sanctions alleged Russian human rights abusers.

Most U.S. news outlets appear to be focusing on Russia's aggressive move, not the retreat.

SEE ALSO: Russia warns the world that Syria may turn into a 'bloody chaos'

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Dozens of tortured bodies have been found in a flashpoint district of Damascus, a watchdog reported on Monday, in one of the worst atrocities in Syria's 21-month conflict.

The report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights came as a gruesome video emerged on the Internet of a separate slaying of three children who had their throats slashed, also in the capital.

"Thirty bodies were found in the Barzeh district. They bore signs of torture and have so far not been identified," said the Britain-based Observatory.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a grassroots network of anti-regime activists, estimated there were 50 bodies, and added that "their heads were cut and disfigured to the point that it was no longer possible to identify" them.

The video posted online by activists showed the bodies of three young boys with their throats slit open and hands bound behind their backs. Their bodies were discovered on Monday in Jubar.

The Observatory also reported the killing of the boys, who opposition activists said had been kidnapped the day before at a checkpoint on their way home from school.

These reports could not be verified independently because of restrictions on the international media by the Syrian authorities.

Regime warplanes, meanwhile, bombarded rebel positions on the northeastern and southwestern outskirts of Damascus, leaving eight civilians dead including two children, said the Observatory.

Seven rebels died in clashes near the capital and in Zabadani to the east near the Lebanese border.

Fighting erupted in Daraya as army reinforcements massed in the battleground town, where more than 500 people were reportedly killed in the conflict's bloodiest massacre in August.

Two rebels were killed in fighting in Syria's second city Aleppo, where fighting has been at a stalemate for months since rebels launched an attack on the commercial hub in mid-July.

Syrian television reported that the army was "clearing Aleppo of terrorists".

In the northwestern province of Idlib, fighters from the jihadist Al-Nusra Front and other rebel battalions pressed an offensive on Hamidiyeh military post, which they stormed two days ago, and continued to lay siege to the nearby base of Wadi Deif.

Regime warplanes responded by raiding rebel positions around Wadi Deif, one of the government's last outposts in the largely rebel-held north, as similar raids were made in the southern province of Daraa, the Observatory said.

In central Syria, the army shelled the town of Halfaya in Hama province, where an air strike on a bakery last week killed 60 people, and Houla in Homs province, where pro-regime militiamen are suspected of killing more than 100 people in May in another major massacre.

The conflict, which erupted in March 2011, has claimed more than 45,000 lives, says the Observatory, which relies on medics and activists on the ground in compiling its tolls.

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Early last week we reported that Syrian rebels were claiming exposure to chemical attacks from the Assad regime and new reports back up their disputed claim.

Ynetnews, a widely read Israel newspaper, reports that "Western intelligence sources" learned its initial doubts were wrong and chemical weapons have been used no more than 19 times.

From Ynet:

A close examination of footage and other material by experts in the West proved that the regime's army has in fact been using paralyzing chemical agents for a few months now against the rebels and civilians who support them. These agents are not mustard gas, Sarin nerve gas or VX, which are classified as chemical weapons, but they can definitely be considered toxic and harmful to humans.

For now, there have been less than 20 incidents in which Syrian army forces and the Shabiha militia have sprayed gas or a toxic liquid in rebel-held residential neighborhoods. Since the rebels did not display any bomb remnants, it is safe to assume that the gas was sprayed manually.

Videos at the time and independent medical sources lent credence to reports last week, but U.S. officials told Wired's Danger Room they doubted the claims.

More unnamed sources to rebut unnamed sources, with each side having its own agenda. Israel bombed a Syrian nuclear facility in 2007 and if the U.S. admits chemical weapons are in use it will have crossed the "Red Line" of military action.

Th "Line" was the Pentagon's promise to intervene militarily if it learned Assad's regime put the weapons into play.

Breitbart goes a step further and calls out the Obama administration for "Yawning" at the facts and ignoring its commitment.

From Breitbart:

Rebel forces in Syria report that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is now using chemical weapons on them. Moreover, intelligence operatives from the West have confirmed those reports as well. But there has yet to be a peep out of the Obama administration over it. This news is made even worse by the fact that death numbers rolling in from Syria show 24-hour periods in which 400 people have been killed by conventional warfare alone. Add chemical weapons to that and who knows how high the death toll for one day could climb?

To date, over 44,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict and estimates are that the number could climb to 100,000 by the end of 2013 if there is no true intervention.  

CNN confirms that 100,000 estimate and mentions Saturday was perhaps the deadliest single day of the conflict with nearly 400 fatalities listed by the opposition.

SEE ALSO: The 25 most effective weapons in the US arsenal >

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A new analysis carried out on behalf of the UN estimates that over 60,000 people have died since the Syrian civil war began 22 months ago.

The estimate is the much higher than other figures that have been released to date. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that the death toll had reached over 40,000 as of November 22, 2012. Activists opposed to the Assad regime claim that the conflict has cost 45,000 lives, according to the AP.

The analysis listed 59,648 individuals that had lost their lives in the conflict that had occurred as of 30 November 2012. Each case was "fully identified by the first and last name of the victim, as well as the date and location of the death."

"Given there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013,"UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday. "The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking."

The joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters that he believes the death toll could reach 100,000 by 2013. 

Read the full press release from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights here.

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BOSTON, Mass. — Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a US journalist on Thanksgiving Day. More than a month later, he remains missing.

American James Foley, 39, was last seen on Nov. 22 in Idlib Province. Idlib has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent months between Syrian rebels and government forces.

Richard Engel, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News, and three members of his team, went missing in the same region in December. They were freed after their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by Ahrar Al Sham, a Syrian rebel group. Engel said a firefight erupted and two captors were killed. The rebels then escorted Engel and his team to the border with Turkey.

Little is known about the group that kidnapped Engel and his team. And it remains unclear if the same group is responsible for taking James.

James, or Jim as he is known by friends and family, previously wrote for GlobalPost in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. In April 2011, while on assignment for GlobalPost, forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi captured Jim in the eastern part of the country. Two other journalists, American Clare Gillis and Spaniard Manu Brabo, were also captured. A fourth journalist, South African Anton Hammerl, was killed. Foley, Gillis and Brabo spent 44 days in Libyan prisons before being released. Foley later returned to Libya to cover Gaddafi's fall.

Jim has written for GlobalPost periodically since then, including from Syria. His last article for GlobalPost detailed the growing frustration among civilians in Aleppo — Syria's largest city — with the ongoing conflict. Jim has most-recently freelanced for various news outlets, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), a French news service.

“We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he’s okay,” said John Foley, Jim's father. “Jim is an objective journalist and we appeal for the release of Jim unharmed. To the people who have Jim, please contact us so we can work together toward his release.”

The Foley family has set up a website dedicated to campaigning for Jim's release. 

GlobalPost CEO and Founder Philip S. Balboni said in a statement, “Over the past nearly six weeks we have been working intensively with many parties in the United States and in the Middle East to secure Jim Foley's freedom so he can return home to his loving family. Jim is a brave and dedicated reporter who has spent much of the past year covering the civil war in Syria, believing like so many of his colleagues that this is a very important story for the American people to know more about. We urge his captors to release him.”

Foley had set off toward the border in a car about an hour before his capture. A witness, a Syrian, later recounted over the phone to a journalist in Turkey that an unmarked car intercepted Foley. The witness said men holding kalashnikovs shot into the air and forced Jim out of the car.

The witness said he noticed nothing that would indicate whether the aggressors were rebel fighters, individuals looking for a ransom, members of a pro-government militia, or a religious-based group with other motivations.

In the second half of 2012, kidnappings have proliferated across Syria. The perpetrators come from all sides of the conflict as well as from unaligned criminal groups. While kidnappings were initially attributed primarily to government forces or groups connected to the Syrian intelligence services, groups aligned with rebel forces are using this tactic in ever greater numbers. Other groups of various allegiances and motivations, including Islamic groups, have grown in numbers over the last year, are also adding to the danger.

Jabhat Al-Nusra and Ahrar Al Sham are the largest of the Islamic rebel groups. Al Sham in particular has a reputation among the opposition as some of the fiercest fighters. There are also Islamic groups loyal to the Syrian regime. The US State Department recently labeled Al-Nusra a terrorist organization. It was formed late last year to fight the Syrian government and has claimed responsibility for a number of bombings in Damascus and Aleppo.

The Syrian conflict, at first a peaceful uprising demanding government reform, turned violent in April 2011 when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned his security forces on protesters. Rebel fighters made up of civilians and defected Syrian army soldiers soon began to fight back. More recently the conflict has taken a dark turn as foreign governments and foreign extremists pour money, weapons and personnel into the country — all sides fighting for different ends.

In 2012, Syria was one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The organization recorded 28 deaths in 2012, along with numerous kidnappings.

American journalist Austin Tice has also been missing since Aug. 13. A video surfaced on Oct. 1 that appeared to show Tice in the custody of foreign Islamic fighters. But the video's authenticity has been questioned. The US State Department has asked the Syrian government to be “more forthcoming” with information about the missing journalist. But the Syrian government says it has no information about Tice's whereabouts.

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