Syria: Violence rages around Damascus
- Turkey: "No regime fighting its own people can survive long"
- More than 3,700 people are reportedly killed in August alone
- Opposition: A regime warplane fires on neighborhoods in Aleppo
- Syrian government: Armed forces "continue pursuing terrorists in Aleppo"
(CNN) -- With one week left to go, August is already the deadliest month in Syria's 17-month crisis. Opposition activists report more than 3,700 people killed -- mostly civilians -- in just the past few weeks. Here are some of the other key developments on the crisis that spirals out of control:
On the ground: A war of words from Aleppo
The Syrian military's frontal assault on the opposition appears to be ratcheting up, with indiscriminate bombings from jets and rockets fired into civilian areas.
More than 10 missiles landed in Idlib province as planes opened fire with machine guns, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
Meanwhile, residents in Aleppo endured "intense aerial shelling" by a regime warplane Saturday, the LCC said.
President Bashar al-Assad's government had a different take on the situation in Aleppo, the commercial and cultural heart of Syria:
"Armed forces continue pursuing terrorists in Aleppo and its countryside," state-run media proclaimed. "Armed forces destroy seven cars equipped with machine guns, kill terrorists and seize their weapons in Aleppo city."
Across the country, at least 13 people were killed Saturday, the LCC said.
Video of slain journalist's final hours The region: Turkey says al-Assad's regime might only have weeks left
Turkey's foreign minister rejected claims that his country was shipping weapons to Syrian rebels in their quest to oust al-Assad, the Turkish Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.
"These are the arguments which authoritarian regimes had always used to conceal their internal problems," Ahmet Davutoglu told the NTV news channel, according to Anadolu.
"We didn't tell anyone to take up arms and revolt. But we cannot remain silent about the Syrian people who had stood up and fought in the name of values which Turkey also cherishes."
Davutoglu added, "No regime fighting its own people can survive long. (The al-Assad regime) has months, and maybe even weeks -- not years."
Diplomatic front: Brahimi says the Syrian people are "our first masters"
Lakhdar Brahimi is the new U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria, but he said the Syrian people will be "our first masters."
"We will consider their interests above and before anyone else," the Algerian and longtime U.N. diplomat said Friday.
Brahimi, who is replacing Kofi Annan after months of fizzled attempts to broker peace in Syria, told U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon of his anxiety about the new post:
"Secretary-general, when you called me, I told you that I was honored, flattered, humbled and scared, and still in that frame of mind. I will definitely give this my very, very best," he said.
The Syrian crisis broke out in March 2011 after protesters, inspired by the success of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, took to the streets demanding political reform and an end to four decades of al-Assad family rule.
The movement devolved into an armed conflict after a brutal crackdown by al-Assad's forces. Opposition forces say more than 21,000 people have died.
Syria 101: A crash course on the conflict
CNN's Saad Abedine, Holly Yan and Jim Clancy contributed to this report.
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