In an apartment on the west side of Aleppo, a Syrian general clutches an iPad, its screen showing a Google map depicting every block of the Seif al-Dawla neighborhood.

On a nearby coffee table lie walkie-talkies captured from rebel forces, with which he hopes to listen in on their conversations, and other devices he uses to stay in contact with his officers on the ground.

The Turkish military has launched a major air and ground operation against Kurdish rebels after a spike of deadly attacks in the southeast, local sources said on Thursday.

Thousands of ground troops, police forces and village guards are involved in the operation that started late Wednesday in the mountainous areas of Kato, Lale and Merinos in Sirnak province near the Iraqi border, sources told Agence France Presse.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Western and Arab powers Thursday to reassess their stance on Syria and ensure the security of its current leadership in any power transition process.

"Why should Russia be the only one reassessing its position? Perhaps our negotiating partners should reassess their position," Putin told Russia Today television.

The two kidnapped brothers of a Syrian rebel commander were killed on Thursday, a monitoring group said, as battles raged between rebels and army forces in several districts of Damascus.

The men were kidnapped on Wednesday night at an army checkpoint, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The March 14 forces on Wednesday announced the creation of a permanent consultative body aimed at confronting the threats facing Lebanon, urging President Michel Suleiman and “all the free, loyal Lebanese” to take part in defending the country.

“The conferees agreed that there are four main threats that require political, popular and parliamentary mobilization before it is too late,” said a statement issued after a broad meeting for the March 14 forces in Maarab.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sharply criticized the U.N. Security Council's "paralysis" on Syria on Wednesday, warning it has hurt both the Syrian people and the council's own credibility.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on its responsibility to protect civilian populations from genocide and war crimes, Ban said: "The council's paralysis does the Syrian people harm. It also damages its own credibility."

The United States Wednesday unveiled $21 million in new aid help those caught up in the conflict in Syria, boosting its humanitarian funding to over $100 million.

USAID head Rajiv Shah announced during a visit to Jordan that the new funds would be made available to the U.N. World Food Program to help feed Syrians both inside and outside the country.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council to provide new U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, "the support he requires."

Ashton, who later this week hosts informal talks in Cyprus with foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc, spoke with Brahimi on Tuesday, her office said in a statement.

The Free Syrian Army plans to reform to overcome divisions and address the growing number of militias fighting on its behalf, as well as to rename itself, a rebel general said on Wednesday.

Following discussions due to end in around 10 days, the FSA would go by the name of the Syrian National Army, General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the military council grouping rebel chiefs, told AFP.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday told a meeting of Arab League ministers it was time for the Syrian regime to step down and added that a resolution of the crisis was an Arab responsibility.

"I tell the Syrian regime 'there is still a chance to end the bloodshed'. Now is the time for change... no time to be wasted talking about reform," Morsi told the Cairo meeting.