Islamic summit urges dialogue on Syria transition

CAIRO (Reuters) - Leaders of Muslim nations called on Thursday for a "serious dialogue" between Syria's government and an opposition coalition on a political transition to end nearly two years of civil war, but pinned most of the blame for the bloodshed on the state.

A two-day summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation backed an initiative by Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia to broker negotiations to stop the fighting in which at least 60,000 people have died.

"We all agreed on the necessity to intensify work to put an end to the tragedies which the sisterly Syrian people are living through," Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi told the closing ceremony.

The final communique, issued hours after the summit ended because of last-minute wrangling over the wording, said President Bashar al-Assad's government was most to blame.

"We stress that the primary responsibility is on the Syrian government for the continuation of violence and destruction of property, and we express our deep concern at the deterioration of conditions and the spread of killings that led to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and the Syrian authorities' commission of massacres in cities and villages," it said.

The statement made no mention of Assad but called for talks between the opposition Syrian National Coalition and "representatives of the Syrian government who are committed to the political transformation of Syria and those who have not been involved directly in any form of oppression".

It also urged all other opposition groups to join the SNC.

SNC leader Moaz Alkhatib made a surprise offer last weekend of talks with Assad's ceremonial deputy, Farouq al-Shara, on a transition that would guarantee Assad safe passage into exile.

The presidents of Egypt, Turkey and Iran met on the margins of the summit to discuss ways to support this initiative. Mursi said more details of their plan would be announced within days.

The secretary-general of the OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said the initiative "focuses on the unity of the Syrian lands, comprehensive dialogue between the Syrian factions and responding to any country that wants to join in this dialogue".

Syria was not represented at the summit after it was suspended from the OIC last August, nor was the Syrian opposition present.

Iran is one of Assad's last allies and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, making the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian leader since 1979, reveled in the opportunity to play mediator. The Iranians registered reservations about the communique, OIC officials said.

SYRIA SILENT

There has been no official response from Damascus to Alkhatib's offer, but fighting has intensified on the ground after a relative lull.

It is unclear how much influence Alkhatib and his Cairo-based Syrian National Coalition, some members of which were surprised and angered by his offer, have on the rebels fighting inside Syria.

The rebels battled army units for control of districts of Damascus for a second day on Thursday, part of a rebel offensive which aims to shake Assad's hold on the capital, a rebel captain and opposition activists said.

Units of Assad's elite Republican Guard based on the imposing Qasioun Mountain overlooking the city fired artillery rounds and rockets at the eastern neighborhood of Jobar and at the southern ring road, where rebels have overrun roadblocks and army positions, the sources said.

Assad, has lost control of large parts of the country but his forces, backed by air power, have so far kept rebels on the fringes of the capital.

Many of the Islamic heads of state and government left Cairo on Wednesday after the first day of the summit, leaving their foreign ministers and diplomats to haggle over the communique.

In an interview with the BBC Arabic service, Alkhatib said the Syrian government had until Sunday to release all women detainees, otherwise he would regard his offer for dialogue as having been rejected by Assad.

Alkhatib was quoted as saying that "the initiative would be broken" if the detainees were not released.

He also said the Damascus government was letting Iran make decisions for it and rejecting his proposal for dialogue with Shara, a Sunni Muslim former foreign minister who is not a member of Assad's Alawite-dominated inner circle of power.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Alexander Dziadosz, Shaimaa Fayed and Asma Alsharif; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Russia's Putin sacks Olympic official over Games delays

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin fired a top Russian Olympic official on Thursday after publicly ridiculing him on a visit to half-finished sports complexes planned for a winter Olympics dogged by reports of corruption and construction delays.

The humiliation of Akhmed Bilalov, 42, stamped President Putin's authority over the 2014 Sochi Games and underlined the importance he attaches to a global event he hopes will show how far Russia has come since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

In a vintage performance, reminiscent of an all-powerful tsar sweeping through town in imperial times, Putin became angry when he heard of the rising costs and construction delays at the ski-jump complex Bilalov has been involved in.

Unsmiling and sarcastic, Putin unceremoniously scolded Bilalov in front of television cameras at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday, then sacked him as vice president of Russia's Olympic Committee.

"How is it possible that the vice-president of the Olympic Committee is delaying development?" Putin said after touring Sochi, which has become a huge construction site with the concrete carcasses of unfinished buildings hugging the skyline.

With Bilalov squirming in the background, he added: "Well done. You are really working well."

Bilalov's dismissal overshadowed a day of festivities as Russia unveiled huge diamond-shaped clocks in Moscow, Sochi and six other cities counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the opening of the Games a year from now.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak made clear Bilalov was also likely to lose his job on the board of the Resorts of the North Caucasus, a state firm created to develop luxury resorts.

"People who do not fulfill their obligations on such a scale cannot lead the Olympic movement in our country," Kozak told reporters in Sochi, a popular tourist destination for Russians in summer and winter.

FESTIVITIES OVERSHADOWED

In Sochi, the din of the heavy trucks and diggers did not stop as the day's countdown festivities began. Large areas are fenced off in the city center and many of the roads are closed.

The ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana, which looks down on Sochi, is still a muddle of fences, cranes, trucks and unfinished buildings. There is little snow but plenty of mud.

Putin had warned officials on Wednesday not to let corruption push up the costs of the Games, already expected to reach $50 billion, or five times more than the initial price tag. This would make them the costliest Games so far.

The Olympics are a priority for Putin in his third term as president, a chance to show Russia is a modern democracy capable of organizing global events, 13 years after he rose to power.

"The main thing is that no one steals anything, so there are no unexplained increases in costs," he said on Wednesday as he went rapidly from one venue to another.

Russia has been trying to shed its reputation for corruption, which has long put off foreign investors. But fears of foul play prompted then-President Dmitry Medvedev to order an investigation in 2010 into a senior Kremlin official accused of extorting bribes over Games construction work.

The price of building one less than 50-km (31-mile) stretch of road for the Games has been estimated at $7.5 billion, a figure so high that it fuelled more corruption allegations.

SECURITY THREAT

There is also a security threat from an Islamist insurgency raging nearby, concerns about environmental damage, allegations that some workers have been underpaid and residents are grumbling about the state of the city.

"It's good they are building new roads here, but the benefits of all of that will not be felt soon and people are getting upset," said Vladimir, a taxi driver in his mid-30s.

Approaching a new roundabout, he said: "This roundabout is a good example of how things work here. It's broad and smooth but it's surrounded by narrow roads, so there's no real point in it. There's traffic jams all around it anyway."

Thirteen official sites are being built, including a stadium that can house 40,000 people, plus facilities for ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding and skating. About 120,000 visitors are expected during the Games.

But beneath the slopes, Sochi has palm trees and a sub-tropical climate. The temperature on Thursday was around 13 degrees Celsius (55 Fahrenheit). Some Russians wonder why and how a Winter Olympics can be hosted by such a warm city.

The rising costs have also brought grumbles from wealthy Russian businessmen who have invested in the Games and want the government to provide more help with the funding.

At least half the money for the Games is coming from the state and private Russian businessmen or state-controlled companies are making up the rest, Russian Olympic officials say.

(Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Timothy Heritage; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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Japan says Russia intruded air space; Russia denies charge

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two Russian fighter jets briefly entered Japan's air space near disputed islands and the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday, prompting Japan to scramble combat fighters and lodge a protest, Japan's Foreign Ministry said.

Russia, which is currently holding military maneuvers around the disputed Kurile islands, denied any such intrusion took place.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is expected to visit Moscow later this month to discuss territorial matters.

Thursday was Japan's "Northern Territories Day", when rallies are traditionally held calling for the return of the disputed islands it calls the Northern Territories.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had told a rally he was determined to press ahead with negotiations with Russia for the return of the islands.

"I had telephone talks with President (Vladimir) Putin in December, and told him I would like to work to find a mutually acceptable solution to this last-remaining major problem between Japan and Russia," Abe said.

"The government intends to follow its basic policy of settling the territorial issue and then sign a peace treaty. We will press ahead with negotiations with strong will so that progress will be made towards the conclusive resolution of the territorial problem."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev landed on the remote island chain in July, prompting protests from Tokyo.

Unlike Japan's dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea, which are near potentially vast maritime oil and gas reserves, the feud with Russia has more to do with the legacy of World War Two.

Soviet soldiers seized the islands at the end of the war and the territorial row has weighed on diplomatic relations ever since, precluding a formal peace treaty.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Writing by Nick Macfie)

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Iraqi Kurds press on with oil pipe to Turkey despite U.S. fears

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan will press ahead with building its own oil export pipeline to Turkey, the region's energy minister said on Thursday, despite U.S. objections due to fears the project could lead to the break-up of Iraq.

The autonomous Kurdish region is locked in a turf war with the central government in Baghdad over how to exploit Iraq's hydrocarbon riches and divide up the proceeds.

Baghdad says it alone has the authority to control exports of the world's fourth largest oil reserves, while the Kurds say their right to do so is enshrined in Iraq's federal constitution, drawn up following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

"We want to have an oil pipeline to ourselves," Iraqi Kurdish Minister for Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said at a news conference in the regional capital Arbil. "It is currently in the works and we will continue until it is completed."

Crude from the Kurdistan region used to be shipped to world markets through a Baghdad-controlled pipeline to Turkey, but exports via that channel dried up in December, from a peak of around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to a row over payments with Baghdad.

The United States says the solution lies in a national hydrocarbons law that has been delayed for years by a power struggle between Iraq's Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish factions, which has intensified since U.S. troops withdrew a year ago.

"The Iraqis have been struggling to pass a hydrocarbons law. It is very important that they succeed in that," U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone said in Ankara on Tuesday.

Reluctant to wait, Kurdistan has been looking to resource-hungry Turkey for answers. A broad energy partnership between them ranging from exploration to export has been in the works since last year.

Majority Sunni Turkey's deepening ties with the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq have heightened tensions between Ankara and the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.

"If Turkey and Iraq fail to optimize their economic relations... There could be more violent conflict in Iraq and the forces of disintegration within Iraq could be emboldened," Riccardione said.

Kurdistan is already bypassing the federal pipeline network by trucking small quantities of crude over the Turkish border in exchange for refined oil products.

"The issue is that we are entitled to 17 percent of (Iraq's)refined products, but the central government sends us only 3 percent and our refining capacity is not enough to satisfy domestic demand," Hawrami said.

(Reporting by Isabel Coles in Arbil and Nick Tattersall in Ankara; Editing by Anthony Barker)

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Libya must hand over Gaddafi spy chief: Hague judges

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - International Criminal Court judges ordered Libya on Thursday to hand over Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief and let him see his lawyer, raising the stakes in a dispute over who has the right to try the deposed strongman's top lieutenants.

The statement placed the Hague-based court on a collision course with Libya's new rulers, who say Gaddafi-era leaders in their custody should face local justice over charges of mass killings and other atrocities.

The ICC judges said Libya must extradite Abdullah al-Senussi over his alleged role in orchestrating reprisals against the protesters in the 2011 uprising that overthrew Gaddafi.

"Libya remains under obligation to comply with the surrender request," the judges said in their statement.

They would decide later how to respond if the North African state continues to hold Senussi, the judges added. The court has the power to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council.

"The ICC has ordered an immediate halt to Libya's unseemly rush to drag Mr. Al-Senussi to the gallows before the law has taken its course," said Ben Emmerson, Senussi's lawyer before the ICC.

Judges also ordered Libya to grant Emmerson access to his client.

Libya has become a test case of the effectiveness of the 10-year-old court, which relies on the cooperation of member countries to arrest suspects and enforce its orders.

A court-appointed lawyer for Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was detained in Libya for a month alongside three other court officials when she attempted to visit her jailed client. Since, court officials and defense lawyers have had no contact with either Saif al-Islam or Senussi.

Most recently, allegations have surfaced that Libya paid Mauritania $200 million to ignore the ICC arrest warrant last year, sending Senussi to Tripoli rather than to the ICC's detention center in The Hague.

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Nigeria opposition merge to challenge president's party

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's four main opposition movements announced a merger, posing the sternest threat in years to President Goodluck Jonathan's ruling party ahead of elections in 2015.

Supporters said the new All Progressive Congress (APC) - made up of four regional parties - was the most significant effort to date to form a national opposition group in a country riven by geographic rivalries and an Islamist insurgency.

Past, smaller, attempts at opposition alliances have fallen apart amid infighting and analysts said, judging by past form, the new party might struggle to agree on a single presidential candidate for the vote.

"At no time in our national life has radical change become more urgent," said a statement signed on Wednesday by representatives of the four parties - the ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC.

"(We are) determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions ... and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among our people," they added.

President Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP), which has won every presidential election since Africa's biggest oil producer returned to civilian rule 14 years ago, dismissed the new union.

"They are not a threat at all ... PDP is Messi in that contest," the party's national chairman Bamanga Tukur told reporters, likening his movement to the all-conquering Argentina and Barcelona soccer player Lionel Messi.

The PDP controls around two-thirds of the states and has a healthy majority in both houses of the national assembly.

The four merging parties control almost all the remaining seats and marginally reduced the PDP's majority in both the states and parliament in elections in 2011.

INFIGHTING

Opposition attempts to form an alliance before that vote failed after the parties did not manage to agree on a single presidential candidate.

Analysts said the squabbling was typical of a system were politicians were often accused of putting personal and regional gains ahead of party loyalty and voters' interests.

"Policy and ideology do not feature prominently in a political discourse in Nigeria that is principally about winning or losing - and personal rivalries," said Nigeria analyst Antony Goldman, head of Africa-focused PM Consulting.

"The challenge will be translate such common purpose from principle to practice," Goldman added.

Tightly fought elections in Africa's second biggest economy can often stoke violence. Hundreds were killed in riots in the mostly Muslim north when Christian southerner Jonathan won the presidential vote two years ago.

Jonathan has not said whether he will run again.

The APC merger was brokered this week by 10 opposition state governors, many of whom will end their terms in 2015 and are looking for new roles.

It was not clear whether the merger was backed by all the four parties' state governors and lawmakers.

Official changes of party will have to be agreed with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The INEC spokesman did not respond to calls for comment.

(Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problem between them.

"Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran's air force carried on his official website.

"If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them," he said.

"American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations."

Khamenei made his comments just days after Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. "That offer stands but it must be real and tangible," Biden said in a speech in Munich.

With traditional fiery rhetoric, Khamenei lambasted Biden's offer, saying that since the 1979 revolution the United States had gravely insulted Iran and continued to do so with its threat of military action.

"You take up arms against the nation of Iran and say: 'negotiate or we fire'. But you should know that pressure and negotiations are not compatible and our nation will not be intimidated by these actions," he added.

Relations between Iran and the United States were severed in 1979 after the overthrow of Iran's pro-western monarchy and diplomatic meetings between officials have since been very rare.

ALL OPTIONS STILL "ON THE TABLE"

Currently U.S.-Iran contact is limited to talks between Tehran and a so-called P5+1 group of powers on Iran's disputed nuclear program which are to resume on February 26 in Kazakhstan.

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said he was skeptical the negotiations in Almaty could yield a result, telling Israel Radio that the United States needed to demonstrate to Iran that "all options were still on the table".

Israel, widely recognized to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has warned it could mount a pre-emptive strike on Iranian atomic sites. Israel sees its existence as directly threatened by the prospect of an nuclear-armed Iran, given Tehran's refusal to recognize the existence of the Jewish state.

"The final option, this is the phrasing we have used, should remain in place and be serious," said Meridor.

"The fact that the Iranians have not yet come down from the path they are on means that talks ...are liable to bring about only a stalling for time," he said.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is entirely peaceful but Western powers are concerned it is intent on developing a weapons program.

Many believe a deal on settling the nuclear issue is impossible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw. But any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Moreover, although his re-election last November may give President Barack Obama a freer hand to pursue direct negotiations, analysts say Iran's own presidential election in June may prove an additional obstacle to progress being made.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by William Maclean and Jon Boyle)

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Tunisian Islamists disown PM over move to defuse crisis

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's governing Islamists rebuffed on Thursday a plan by their party chief and prime minister to replace the government after unrest erupted over the killing of an opposition leader, deepening the worst crisis since the country's 2011 revolution.

Turmoil in the North African state that spawned the Arab Spring uprisings flared anew, with protesters setting ablaze the local headquarters of the main Islamist Ennahda party and a police station in the provincial town of Kelibia.

Police fired teargas to scatter protesters near the interior ministry in Tunis and stone-throwing youths in the southern mining town of Gafsa, where at least seven were injured. Crowds ransacked electronics shops in Sfax.

Further disturbances loomed on Friday when labor unions planned a general strike in protest at the assassination of secular politician Chokri Belaid, and his politically charged funeral expected to be held as well.

An aide to Hussein Abassi, leader of the UGTT union, Tunisia's biggest, said he had received a death threat after announcing the country's first general strike in 34 years.

Wary of further violence, many shops in Tunis closed at 2 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) while France, the old colonial power in Tunisia, said it would shut its schools in Tunis on Friday and Saturday.

Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali of Ennahda announced late on Wednesday he would dismiss the government led by his moderate Islamist party in favor of a non-partisan cabinet until elections could be held soon. But the idea met swift resistance.

A senior Ennahda official said Jebali had not sought approval from his party, suggesting the Islamist group was split over the move to supplant the governing coalition.

"The prime minister did not ask the opinion of his party," said Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ennahda's vice-president. "We in Ennahda believe Tunisia needs a political government now. We will continue discussions with other parties about forming a coalition government."

Ennahda's two secular coalition partners as well as the main opposition parties also rejected any move to a government of technocrats, demanding as well that they be consulted before any new cabinet is formed.

Political analysts said protracted deadlock could aggravate the unrest, which has underscored the chasm between Islamists and secular groups who fear that freedoms of expression, cultural liberty and women's rights are in jeopardy just two years after the Western-backed dictatorship crumbled.

Belaid was shot as he left home for work on Wednesday by a gunman who fled on the back of a motorcycle. That sent thousands of protesters into the streets nationwide hurling rocks and fighting police, similar to disturbances in Egypt last month.

No one claimed responsibility for the killing, and the head of Ennahda said the party had nothing to do with it.

But a crowd set fire to the Tunis headquarters of Ennahda, which won the most seats in a free election 16 months ago. Protests also hit Sidi Bouzid, fount of the Jasmine Revolution that ousted dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

While Belaid had only a modest political following, his sharp criticism of Ennahda policies spoke for many Tunisians who fear religious radicals are bent on snuffing out freedoms won in the first of the revolts that rippled through the Arab world.

PARLIAMENT TO WEIGH NEW CABINET

Pressured by Wednesday's explosion of unrest, Jebali declared that weeks of talks on reshaping the government had failed amid infighting within his coalition. One secular party threatened to bolt unless some Ennahda ministers were sacked.

Mehrzia Abidi, vice-president of the interim parliament that has been struggling for months to draft a new constitution, said it would discuss Jebali's proposal for a temporary government of experts on Thursday, but this had not happened by nightfall.

Sadok Belaid, a constitutional law expert, said the assembly would have to approve the cabinet overhaul. But the assembly's dysfunctional record raised the threat of drawn-out paralysis.

Political analyst Salem Labyed said the opposition appeared to want to leverage the crisis to its own advantage.

"It seems that the opposition wants to secure the maximum possible political gains but the fear is that the ... crisis will deepen if things remain unclear at the political level. That could increase the anger of supporters of the secular opposition, which may go back to the streets again," he said.

Many Tunisians complain that radical Salafi Islamists could hijack their democratic revolution, fearing Ennahda is coming increasingly under their sway.

Nervous about the extent of hardline Islamist influence and the volatility of the political impasse, global powers urged Tunisians to see through a non-violent shift to democracy.

"The revolution at the beginning was a fight for dignity and freedom, but violence is taking over," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "I want to offer France's support to those who want to end the violence. We cannot let closed-mindedness and violence take over," he said on BFM-TV.

But discontent has festered for some time, not only over secularist-Islamist issues but also over the lack of progress towards better living standards expected after Ben Ali's exit.

"We are already suffering from recession since the revolution. We rarely see tourists now, and this violence will deprive us even of our Tunisian customers," said Fethi Ben Saleh as he closed his Tunis gift shop early on Thursday afternoon.

"I do not care about this conflict between Islamists and secularists. I hate them all," the frustrated merchant said.

In a reflection of investor fears about the crisis, the cost of insuring Tunisian government bonds against default rose to their highest level in more than four years on Thursday.

Shortly before his death, Belaid said tolerance shown by Ennahda and its two, smaller secularist allies toward Salafists had allowed the spread of groups hostile to modern culture in what has been one of the most broadly secular Arab states.

As in Egypt, secular leaders have accused Islamists of trying to cement narrow religiosity in the new state. This dispute has held up a deal on a constitution setting the stage for a parliamentary election, which had been expected by June.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Gaunt in London, John Irish in Paris; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Russia's Pussy Riot appeal to European rights court

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights over their jail sentences for a protest against President Vladimir Putin's links to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Convicted for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred", Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are almost halfway through two-year terms. Yekaterina Samutsevich was released on appeal with a suspended sentence.

Lawyer Pavel Chikov said Russia had violated their right to freedom of speech, a fair trial and liberty. They were also treated in an inhumane way in custody by being deprived of sleep and enough food on days when they attended court, he added.

Pussy Riot's "punk prayer", which came at the height of the largest wave of protests yet against Putin's 13-year rule over Russia, was a political one and it was wrongly qualified as being aimed at inciting religious strife, Chikov said.

"I think they will be released from prison before the tribunal ruling," Chikov said on Thursday, the day after the appeal was sent to Strasbourg.

"But the European Court is not the key mechanism to seek their prompt release. It is important to bring in justice, declare them not guilty and, eventually, acquit them."

Their sentences expire in March 2014 and it is unclear whether the tribunal will announce its ruling before then.

Last February, the three stormed the altar of Russia's main Orthodox cathedral in Moscow to perform a noisy protest song calling on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.

Pussy Riot band members were allowed to have only very limited contact with their defense lawyers, whose actions were often restricted, and they should not have been kept for more than five months in pre-trial detention, Chikov said.

Any ruling by the tribunal in favor of Pussy Riot could mean the three women would be eligible for compensation or even that their verdicts would have to be reconsidered.

Pussy Riot's profanity-laced protest offended many in mainly Orthodox Russia and was condemned by the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Putin is accused by critics of cracking down on dissent since his May return to the presidency for a third term and has increasingly leaned on the resurgent Orthodox Church for support among conservative constituencies.

Opposition activists say the Pussy Riot trial was a political one meant as a warning to other active critics of Putin.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Robert Woodward)

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Syrian rebels battle army for control of Damascus districts

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled army units for control of districts of Damascus for a second day on Thursday, part of a rebel offensive which aims to shake President Bashar al-Assad's hold on the capital, a rebel captain and opposition activists said.

Units of Assad's elite Republican Guard based on the imposing Qasioun Mountain overlooking the city fired artillery rounds and rockets at the eastern neighborhood of Jobar and at the southern ring road, where rebels have overrun roadblocks and army positions, the sources said.

Assad, battling to crush a 22-month-old uprising in which 60,000 people have died, has lost control of large parts of the country but his forces, backed by air power, have so far kept rebels on the fringes of the capital.

Syrian state media said six people, including a woman and three children, were killed by rebel mortar fire on a bus station in the north-eastern district of Qaboun on Thursday, with several other people seriously wounded.

Activists put the overnight death toll in the city at 30 people, mostly from heavy army bombardment on the contested neighborhoods of Jobar, Zamalka and Hajar al-Aswad.

Damascus residents, long accustomed to the sounds of war, said Wednesday's barrage some of the heaviest they had heard.

"They've gone insane. All of them. They're insane," one central Damascus resident said by telephone.

Jobar and Zamalka are situated near security compounds housing forces from Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated power in Syria since the 1960s. Hajar al-Aswad is close to the southern entrance of the capital and the main highway to the city of Deraa and the Jordanian border.

"Jobar is the most contested district and the regime is bombarding it heavily," said Captain Islam Alloush of the Liwa al-Islam rebel unit. He said the army was massing forces to take back a major junction on the ring road.

Despite the sustained rebel challenge, and an Israeli air strike near Damascus last week, Assad has remained defiant, telling a visiting senior Iranian official on Sunday that Syria can confront "current threats... and aggression".

"SHELLS HITTING CIVILIANS"

State media said the army had pushed back rebels from Jobar and other eastern districts. Authorities have banned most independent media from the country, making it difficult to verify events on the ground.

A retired military officer in Damascus said the shelling of rebel areas was hitting civilians and fighters indiscriminately. The army "stand hundreds of meters away and fire shells. And the shells fall on anyone. Women and families and anybody. Where is the courage in that?"

Neither side has gained a clear military advantage in the civil war pitting mostly Sunni Muslim rebels against security forces dominated by Assad's minority Alawite sect.

Alloush said the aim of the latest rebel offensive was not to take central Damascus. That would not be attempted while Assad's forces controlled major bases to the rear of the rebel forces, in Muleiha district and in the town of Adra, he said.

"The objective is to take out the sniper positions and fortifications that form part of the regime's defense line on Damascus, not to advance too quickly without having the proper support," he said.

The opposition activist in Damascus said the offensive was being led by Sunni officers who had defected from the army, and aimed to cut Assad's command and control lines from the center of the city to its outskirts.

The rebels are using anti-aircraft guns, mortar rounds and armored vehicles captured from Assad's forces over the past few months, according to opposition sources.

Many parents took their children out of school early on Wednesday and the acrid, stinging smell of explosives hung in the air, forcing some people to keep their windows closed.

(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom; Editing by Pravin Char)

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