PETER HARLING: "What we see now is a looming battle for the big cities -- for the capital in particular. The regime has scored a number of very superficial, symbolic victories in terms of cracking down on armed groups, but without ever being able to hold the ground it regained through these military operations."

In Geneva Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross called the humanitarian situation in Syria "extremely tense." Spokesman Hicham Hassan said people throughout Syria are finding it more and more difficult to get food and medicine. He said a million and a half civilians need long-term assistance.

HICHAM HASSAN: "People who are being displaced are in need, for example, of bread even. This is something now that is difficult to get for many people who are fleeing or who are still staying or not able or refusing to leave their homes."

A nine-week-old ceasefire is supposed to be in effect. United Nations and Arab League negotiator Kofi Annan met Friday in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

There are fears that the conflict in Syria may be crossing into Lebanon. The neighboring country has yet to recover from its civil war more than twenty years ago. The war split Lebanon along religious lines.

There have been recent clashes between two neighborhoods in Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli. Two gun battles killed twenty-five people in Tripoli and then spread to Beirut where two people died.