Their comments came as footage of an incendiary bombing of a school added to fears that the Assad regime could now act against civilians with impunity.
The Syrian National Coalition said it "regretted" the House of Commons vote against intervention. The vote would encourage President Bashar al-Assad to "use chemical weapons again on a much greater scale", an official said.
Assad regime supporters came out on to the streets cheering the vote, one activist in Damascus, Susan Ahmad, told The Daily Telegraph. "They were chanting to tell Assad to keep going," she said. "They said that all the world was afraid of taking action against Assad, and nobody could stop him."
But others said the effect was more symbolic if an American-led attack went ahead anyway. The Syrian government was said to be moving weaponry and troops out of the country's military installations and into urban areas where any attack would cause mass civilian casualties. » | Ruth Sherlock, Beirut, Damien McElroy in Amman and Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, August 30, 2013
