Three simultaneous developments were still needed to clarify the Syrian regime’s orientation on what President Bashar al-Assad described as a big turning point in the course of events.
The first development was the collapse of the last pockets of armed opposition in the Qalamoun border area near Lebanon; the second development was the intensification of the mortar shelling on the capital from the nearby suburbs of Damascus; and the third development was the bombing by the Jordanian air force on April 16 of a convoy of gunmen belonging to Syrian opposition groups.