DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior cleric in Islam's holy city Mecca exhorted followers on Friday to support Syrian rebels by "all means", the latest in a series of rhetorical attacks on President Bashar al-Assad reflecting rising sectarian tension across the Middle East.
His appeal came at a time when momentum on the battlefield has been shifting in Assad's favour, just a few months after analysts wrote him off, making the prospect of his swift removal and an end to Syria's civil war look remote in the near future.
