Western and Arab nations sympathetic to Syria's uprising against President Bashar al Assad have given full political recognition to the opposition, reflecting a hardening consensus the 20-month-old uprising might be nearing a tipping point.
Meeting in the Moroccan city of Marrakech as rebels battled Mr Assad's troops on the outskirts of Damascus, the Friends of Syria group called on the President to step aside and warned him against using chemical weapons.
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