ELEANOR HALL: To Syria now where the latest reports suggest that thousands of government troops backed by tanks have retaken several suburbs of the capital Damascus that had been under rebel military control.

The eastern districts are less than eight kilometres from president Bashar al-Assad's centre of power.

The government launched its offensive a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in the country.

The head of the League is now planning to brief representatives of the UN Security Council to seek support for an Arab peace plan that calls on president Assad to step aside.

Syrian specialist Dr Murhaf Jouejati is professor of Middle East studies at the National Defence University and George Washington University. He spoke to me a short time ago from Washington.

MURHAF JOUEJATI: Very intense fighting. It is not only in one suburb, it is across the eastern Damascus throughout many suburbs, some of them to the north and I understand the Free Syria Army is putting up quite a fight against the security forces of the Assad reign.

ELEANOR HALL: How significant is it that rebel fighters managed to gain a foothold in the capital? Damascus is where the government has its key support base, isn't it?

MURHAF JOUEJATI: It is very significant. Last week the Free Syria Army held for example the town of Zabadani. Recently they held the southern suburb of Damascus of Dumar. This is very significant. It is getting very, very close to the centre of the capital and it's not only the capital Damascus. There is similar agitation and violence in the suburbs of Aleppo.

So I think this suggests to me that the Free Syria Army is getting stronger, it is getting more coordinated and the security forces are beginning somewhat to tire.

ELEANOR HALL: There are reports coming through now though that the government troops have managed to move some of the Syrian fighters out of the capital. What do you make of suggestions coming from human rights groups that the regime is now urgently trying to crush this uprising before a vote in the United Nations?

MURHAF JOUEJATI: This is very credible. As you know the Arab League has stopped the Arab monitors from going there because it is an exercise in futility. The Security Council is going to meet in the next few days to discuss the case of Syria so now is the time for the regime to try to snuff this insurgency out and so as expected the toll, the civilian toll has increased dramatically. I understand today that there have been at least 60 civilians killed. This is a larger number than is usually the case.

ELEANOR HALL: We are hearing that there are 2,000 troops backed by tanks in the capital.

MURHAF JOUEJATI: The regime is determined to crush this insurgency. The regime, and it has said so, is using what they call the security solution. That is to simply go out and shoot to kill in the hope that it is going to deter protesters. But again we are nearing the 11th month of the Syrian uprising and there is very, very little evidence that this security solution is going to work.

I think it is going to make the problem even worse if that is at all possible. It may well be that the army will take over the suburbs and then there will be another reversal and they will assault again. This is a dynamic that will not simply stop tomorrow.

ELEANOR HALL: So what should the international community be doing now?

MURHAF JOUEJATI: The international community should now weigh very much on Russia which has been a major obstacle in its support for the Assad regime. To weigh in on Russia so that the Security Council can pass a resolution condemning the Assad regime and referring him to the International Criminal Court and imposing a global embargo on Syria, including an embargo on the shipment of weapons.

It is for example absolutely stunning that the Russians would recently send a supply of military equipment to a regime that is shooting at its unarmed civilians.

ELEANOR HALL: It does appear that Iran's leaders may be weakening their support for Assad saying that elections need to be held.

MURHAF JOUEJATI: I hope that is the case. Iran has been assisting the Assad regime not only through equipment but also with manpower so if the Iranians begin to take a step back that will be a good thing.

ELEANOR HALL: You say that these resolutions should be pushed through the United Nations but is the suggestion of a unity government headed by president Assad's deputy workable?

MURHAF JOUEJATI: It is workable if Assad accepts. This was one of the very early calls by the opposition for Assad to step aside, for his vice-president to take over for an interim period until such time that political parties can be established and a parliament can be elected. The problem of course is not the opposition; the problem is Assad himself who is of the view that Syria is his family farm and really sees no reason to give power to anybody else.

ELEANOR HALL: When we last spoke only two months into the uprising, you said you were stunned that the opposition had then held out for so long against the Syrian government. We are almost a year in now; how long do you think this deadly situation can continue? How long can Assad hang onto power?

MURHAF JOUEJATI: In the end, in the end I think the Assad regime we are seeing it in the midst of its collapse. If a regime can only come up with a security solution in which that only solution is to kill its civilians, then something is terribly, terribly wrong and so again, while the security forces may regain the upper hand in this or that part of Syria, I think the Assad regime pretty much is over.

ELEANOR HALL: Professor Jouejati, thanks very much for joining us.

MURHAF JOUEJATI: Thank you.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Professor Murhaf Jouejati from the National Defence University in Washington. And you can listen to a longer version of that interview on our website, where Dr Jouejati talking more about how the Assad regime will be brought down.