NATO officials said the Syrian government fired more Scud-type missiles at opposition targets in Syria on Thursday, about a week after their use was first detected.

NATO Secretary Genera Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it was the "act of a desperate regime approaching collapse." NATO and the United States reported that over six Scud missiles were fired last week from Damascus into opposition held areas of northern Syria.

Rasmussen said this further justified the deployment of Patriot missile systems to protect the Turkish border.

Meanwhile, opposition fighters are pushing into Morek, a strategic town on the highway from Damascus to Aleppo in Hama province. Additionally opposition fighters are surrounding al-Tleisia, a town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, as the conflict becomes increasing more sectarian in nature.

According to activists, the Syrian regime has been shelling the town of Halfaya, which was overtaken by opposition forces two days prior. Government forces also continued shelling the Damascus suburb in efforts to stem opposition gains near the capital. Fighting in the Damascus Palestinian camp of Yarmouk began to subside on Thursday, and some of the over 100,000 residents who fled have started to return.