Two weeks ahead of an international peace conference on Syria, the country’s main Western-backed opposition group stands on the brink of collapse.

Syrian troops ousted rebels from the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanese border yesterday, after a devastating 17-day assault led by Hezbollah fighters from across the frontier.

A blunder by the Egyptian army that left 16 border guards dead at the hands of Islamist militants gave president Mohamed Morsi an early chance to claw back powers from a military whose political influence he had always wanted to curb.

Syrian President Bashar al- Assad made his first appearance yesterday since a bomb killed some of his top lieutenants, looking calm and composed on state TV, even as his forces turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and rebels seized two of the country’s border crossings.

Syrian president Bashar Assad made his first appearance today since the bomb blast which killed some of his top lieutenants.