Syria Conflict Escalates as Regional and World Powers Debate Assad's Future 2 of 2

democracynow.org - Syria is seeing some of the worst violence of the 11-month uprising against Bashar al-Assad amid an ongoing international standoff over how to respond. Assad's forces have launched what appears to be one of their fiercest assaults on the flashpoint city of Homs to date. Both the United States and Britain have closed their embassies in the Syrian capital of Damascus and withdrawn diplomatic personnel, citing safety fears. As the crisis escalates, Russia and China are facing criticism for blocking a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by the United States and Arab League calling for a political transition in Syria. To discuss the situation in Syria, we're joined by Patrick Seale, a leading British writer on the Middle East and author of "Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East." "It's at least a two or possibly a three stage crisis. Internally in Syria, the situation is getting worse by the day," Seale said. "At a higher level, there is a struggle between the United States on the one hand and its allies, and its opponents like Russia and China. ... Then there's a third level, possibly, of Arab Gulf states like Qatar, for example, even Saudi Arabia behind it, who are obsessed and worried by Iran and they think that Iran might stir up Shiite communities in the region." Watch part 1 of 2:    • Syria Conflict Escalates as Regional and W...   To watch the complete daily, independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for the additional Democracy Now! reports about Syria, visit http://www.democracynow.org/tags/syria FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE: Facebook:   / democracynow   Twitter: @democracynow Subscribe on YouTube:    / democracynow   Listen on SoundCloud:   / democracy-now   Daily Email News Digest: http://www.democracynow.org/subscribe Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit http://www.democracynow.org/donate/YT