NEW : Fouad Ajami tells CNN the impasse will devolve into a long civil war . The opposition says it is ready to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad and his regime if he agrees to step down as part of any peace deal. State Department says the effort yields `` some positive signs , but not enough A brigadier general who is the chief of a military engineering college was shot and wounded in Homs . '' Arab League monitors fanned out to trouble spots , including the Damascus area .
NEW : Fouad Ajami tells CNN the impasse will devolve into a long civil war . The opposition says it is ready to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad and his regime if he agrees to step down as part of any peace deal. State Department says the effort yields `` some positive signs , but not enough '' Arab League monitors fanned out to trouble spots , including the Damascus area .