Nightly News   |  June 11, 2012

Syrian regime ‘wobbling’

A civil war is breaking out in Syria between the Sunnis and Shiites with militia groups fighting along sectarian lines. Sources report regular gun battles close to the presidential palace where the Syrian regime is experiencing problems controlling its own armed forces. NBC’s Richard Engel reports.

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>>> now, overseas tonight to the crisis in syria. more silence, morehan 100 dead, more reports of a new massacre in what is really devolving into an all-out civil war . richard engel is with us tonight from the region in cairo with news of what could be a change in assad's grip on power there. richard, good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. a western diplomatic source told me the syrian regime is "wobbling." there are now according to this source, regular gun battles, very close to the presidential palace . in downtown damascus. and that the syrian regime is having command and control problems over its own armed forces . now, does wobbling, brian, mean that assad is about to get on a plane and leave the country? probably not. but it means that he has less s control over what is going on on the ground, cause a civil war is breaking out between u.s. nis and shiites. i was told this is not shaping up to look like libya where there was unifoid opposition fighting an unpopular dictator, but more like baghdad with militia groups .

>> and appalling violence every day. richard engel from cairo. thanks as always.