Syria warns West against intervention

21 July 2012 Last updated at 13:44 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

There have been heavy clashes between security forces and rebels in Syria's second city of Aleppo, activists say.

The fighting was centred on the Salah al-Din district, but had also spread to Sakhur and Haydariya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Aleppo has so far been spared the daily bloodshed seen in other cities since the uprising began in March 2011.

The violence came a day after the UN Security Council voted to extend the UN observer mission for a "final" 30 days.

A resolution stated that after that period the monitors would leave if they were unable to carry out their job of verifying the peace plan brokered by the UN and Arab League's special envoy, Kofi Annan.

Their mandate may be renewed if the use of heavy weapons ends.

The observers' work has been mostly suspended since June because of the escalating violence, which reportedly left more than 300 people dead on Thursday and another 200 on Friday.

On Saturday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to forge a united way forward and exercise its collective responsibility.

Mr Ban also said he would send his Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladsous, to Syria and had asked his top military adviser to take charge of the observer mission.

Activists said the clashes in Aleppo between troops and members of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) began in Salah al-Din on Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, they had spread into Sakhur and Haydariya.

Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said the fighting continued throughout the night until Saturday morning, most of it in Salah al-Din.

"Last night was very bad," he told the Associated Press. "There were huge explosions and the gunfire didn't stop for several hours."

"The uprising has finally reached Aleppo," he added.

Mr Saeed said dozens of FSA fighters had entered from the countryside. Aleppo is not far from Turkey, where the FSA commanders are based.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist network, said there had been an "exodus" of Salah al-Din residents "because of fear of a regime bombardment and offensive".

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says fighting in Aleppo is ominous for President Bashar al-Assad's government, since the city has so far stayed out of the uprising.

The governor of Damascus has said all resistance will be cleared up within five days
So too had the capital, Damascus, but those days are now over, our correspondent adds.

Government forces hit back hard on Friday, using all their firepower to retake the southern district of Midan, causing massive damage. Sporadic gunfire and explosions were heard by residents of the city throughout the night.

The governor of Damascus has said all resistance will be cleared up within five days, but not far south of Midan, at Yarmouk, video published online by activists appeared to show the local police station overrun by rebels.

On the other side of the city, in the northern suburb of al-Tal, another video purportedly showed the head of the local Political Security Directorate (PSD) branch and all his staff surrendering to FSA fighters.

There was also a violent and prolonged battle in the rebel-held town of Talbasiya, north of the city of Homs in central Syria. Activists said government forces tried to storm the town then bombarded it heavily.

AfricaAsiaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & Canada22 July 2012 Last updated at 08:46 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page


There has been a third day of fighting in Syria's second city of Aleppo, activists say, the latest focus of the uprising against President Assad.

Thousands of residents are reported to have fled the city, until recently considered a relatively secure government stronghold.

Activists said there had also been clashes in Hama and Deir al-Zour.

In the capital, Damascus, troops recaptured some quarters where rebels had gained a foothold last week.

The rebels also seized border crossings and said they had carried out the bomb attack that killed four top security officials, including the defence minister and Mr Assad's brother-in-law.

Explosions

Although the momentum appeared to be shifting in Damascus, reports from activists in Aleppo said there had been more clashes during the night and early on Sunday between the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and security forces.

They said a building in the Seif al-Dawla district collapsed under tank fire.

Activists said a building in the Seif al-Dawla district collapsed under tank fire
The towns of Atareb, Kafr Karmeen and Abazmo, which lie between Aleppo and the Turkish border to the west, had also been bombarded, they added.

On Saturday, activists said there had been fierce fighting in the Salah al-Din district, and that there had been large explosions and persistent gunfire.

FSA fighters were reported to have stormed all government buildings in the area and raised the rebel Syrian flag above them.

Activists said residents feared troops were massing for an assault on Salah al-Din, a dense, heavily-populated district with many entrances.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist network, said 18 people were killed in Aleppo on Saturday. It put the nationwide death toll at 130, including 34 in Homs province and 28 in Damascus and its suburbs.

'Tactical withdrawal'

Meanwhile, state television showed on Sunday pictures of soldiers on the streets of the north-eastern Damascus suburb of Qaboun, after an attack involving heavy artillery, tanks and helicopters.

The streets were largely deserted and strewn with debris and rubble.

State television carried gruesome pictures of many bodies of what it called "terrorists", and showed quantities of arms and ammunition it said were seized, reports the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

"The regime is cutting Qaboun into sectors by deploying tanks on the main roads and crossings to prevent any fighters from moving freely," a rebel fighter told the New York Times.

Government forces have yet to restore their control over the whole city, our correspondent adds.

But activists said the army had distributed leaflets warning people to get out of quarters in the north and south of the capital because of impending bombardments.

At Rukn al-Din, in the north, FSA fighters had carried out a "tactical withdrawal", they added.

Syria: Renewed Fighting As Rebels Battle TroopsGovernment helicopter gunships are reported to be attacking rebels in two areas of Syria as the violence intensifies.4:23pm UK, Sunday 22 July 2012 Video: Sky's Emma Hurd reporting from Beirut
Enlarge Mr Assad meets his new army chief of staff
EmailSyrian rebels are battling President Bashar al Assad's forces near the government's main intelligence headquarters in Aleppo, according to reports.

Government helicopter gunships have also bombarded the northern Damascus district of Barzeh with rockets, say residents and rebel activists.

In the west of the city, Syrian rebels are reported to have withdrawn from the district of Mezze after coming under heavy aerial and ground bombardment from regime forces.

The rebels are also claiming they have captured the Bab al-Salam border post with Turkey.

There have also been reports of government fighting in the eastern area of Deir al-Zor where witnesses are claiming government forces are attacking rebels with artillery, rockets and helicopter gunships.

One witness counted 200 shells hitting the Ordi and Old Airport districts of the city, which lies 270 miles northeast of the capital Damascus.


The fighting has been reported in Aleppo and Damascus

It was the heaviest reported bombardment since the army stormed Deir al-Zor a year ago to crush street protests against Mr Assad.

The attacks come as thousands of Syrians flee to Lebanon to escape the fighting.

The UN says at least 30,000 people have crossed over the main border point at Al Masna - just an hour's drive from the Syrian capital - in the past few days.

The latest round of fighting comes after rebel attacks on the national security building injured Mr Assad's brother-in-law and killed the defence minister.

Mr Assad appeared on state TV on Sunday receiving General Ali Ayyoub, his new army chief of staff, whose predecessor replaced the killed defence minister.

It was only the president's second appearance since the attack that killed four senior regime officials last Wednesday.
Video:
Damascus 'Bombed By Assad Forces'
Amateur video reportedly showing the shelling of Damascus.
Enlarge Article:
Syrians Flee To Lebanese Safety Syrians Flee Civil War For Lebanese Safety
Updated: 6:52am UK, Sunday 22 July 2012

By Emma Hurd, Middle East correspondent, on the Lebanon-Syria border

Thousands of Syrians are fleeing to Lebanon as the violence intensifies in Damascus and across the country.

The UN says at least 30,000 people have crossed over the main border point at Al Masna - just an hour's drive from the Syrian capital - in the past few days.

Thousands still seem to be coming, with a queue of Syrian plated vehicles stretching back from the crossing, many of them with suitcases strapped precariously to the roof.

Some of the cars appear to be carrying whole families - the parents, grandparents and the children crammed inside.

Flagged down just after the crossing, some did not want to speak about whey they were leaving - even now, outside the country, many Syrians seem afraid of criticising the regime.

But Nadra, a grandmother who had travelled with her daughter from the suburb of Barzeh in the capital, described how the war arrived on her doorstep two days ago.

"From my home, I could see the helicopters bombing and I could see the tanks firing the missiles that were killing the people and destroying our houses," she said.

She managed to escape to another neighbourhood to stay with friends before heading across the border into Lebanon.

Many Syrians have relatives in Lebanon and some have second homes here, while a few can afford to book hotels in Beirut.

But others are being put up in "safe-houses" set up by local activists who support the opposition. A few miles from the border one small, two roomed house is now home to three families who have just arrived from Damascus.

"The snipers were everywhere when we left," one woman said, clutching her eight-month-old daughter, the youngest of her six children.

"We had to leave or be dead. We saw people lying in the streets, some of our neighbours were killed," she said.

The Lebanese government has not yet resorted to setting up tented refugee camps, but it is opening up some of the public schools as temporary accommodation for those who have nowhere else to go.

One man, who did not want to give his name, is living with four other families at a school a short drive from the border crossing.

They sleep on thin foam mattresses on the floor of the classrooms and set up stoves in the playground to cook.

He said most of the refugees are women because many of the men have either stayed behind to fight or have been killed.

"If you ask anyone here, they will have lost a father, a son or a brother" he said.

Then he brought forward a nine-year-old girl. "Tell them where your father is," he said to her.

"He is dead," she said. "He was killed by the soldiers because he went outside the house to try to get fuel."

Related stories
Generals Defect As Violence Spreads
More Military Officers Desert Assad Regime
Syria Rebels Take Over Border Crossings
Syria Bomb Targets Assad Inner Circle
Syria 'Moves Chemical Weapons Into Homs'
Enlarge Article:
The Geography Of Syria's Civil War The Geography Of Syria's Civil War
Updated: 12:57pm UK, Friday 20 July 2012

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

The capture of Syrian border posts by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is another clear sign that the Assad government is losing control of the country.

Four border posts fell, two on the crossings into Turkey, two going into Iraq. These symbols of power may change hands again over the next few days but the trajectory of the Syrian conflict is clear.

The attacks in Damascus, the bombing in the capital, and now the situation on the borders all tell us that President Assad’s authority is crumbling, as is the ability of his forces to hold or even safeguard strategic positions.

Strategically, the permanent loss of the customs posts on the Turkish border would most worry the Government. If the FSA militias can hold a border crossing, they can begin to create a safe zone, probably in the Idlib province. That would give it a supply route, a training ground, and a space from which to launch an advance south.

There does appear to be such a plan and the fighting in the capital has stretched the Government forces to such an extent that it appears the opposition has the momentum to increase its recent gains.

The FSA holds small areas in the countryside around the cities of Idlib and Aleppo in the north and to the west of the coastal region around Latakia, an Alawite stronghold (the Assad family are from the minority Alawite sect of Islam). Heading further south the FSA has the ability to cut the main highway towards the capital, and is in control of some districts in the cities of Hama and Homs.

It seems unlikely that in the shorter term the FSA can hold its gains in the capital, but it does have a tenuous grip on some outer suburbs.

Further south from the capital is a hilly region dominated by the Druze, another Syrian minority group. The fighting has largely bypassed the Druze areas as the bulk of fighters in the various militia which make up the FSA are from the Sunni majority.

On the southern border is the town of Deraa which is a hot bed of activism. Parts of the town have FSA units as does the countryside.

Over to the east, and the Iraq border, there is FSA activity, but not in the Kurdish areas. The majority of Kurds, like the Druze are watching to see how the civil war pans out and hoping they do not need to get involved.

Unless there is some sort of "clean", albeit violent, end to the current situation the Kurds and Druze may get dragged in.

The leaders of both communities have mixed feelings about the uprising. Neither groups were ardent supporters of the Assad government but many people in Syria’s minority groups feel that the secular government which has dominated the country for decades did safeguard their rights.

If a pluralistic open democracy emerges from the wreckage of Syria, they have little to fear, if a Sunni Islamist government rises, the minorities would fear for their long-term futures.

In neighbouring Lebanon, Druze and Christian militia were among those who fought the civil war. Those militias still exist in case they need to be activated, the Syrian minority groups will also have contingency plans.

SKY NEWS SHOWS 7 TANKS DESTROYED IN ALEPPO,FSA CLAIMS TO HAVE DESTROTED 17? TANKS.

Most of the refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict are children
42,600 refugees are in camps in Turkey
34,700 refugees are in Jordan where a refugee camp for 110,000 is being set up by the UN
29,900 refugees are in Lebanon
7,500 refugees are in Iraq, where PM Nuri al-Maliki has announced that the borders should be opened for people fleeing from Syria
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has announced another 20m euros for medical care, shelter, food and water
Cypriot and EU officials have drafted plans for a large-scale evacuation of EU nationals from Syria as a "worst-case scenario"
On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 19,106 people had been killed since March 2011. The UN said in May that at least 10,000 people had been killed.

Syria blames the violence on foreign-backed "armed terrorist gangs".

In June, the Syrian government reported that 6,947 Syrians had died, including at least 3,211 civilians and 2,566 security forces personnel

Jul 24, 11:31 AM EDT


Syria unleashes helicopters on rebels in Aleppo

By PAUL SCHEMM
Associated Press





















BEIRUT (AP) -- With warplanes circling overhead, Syrian attack helicopters pounded rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo on Tuesday in an escalation of the battle for the country's commercial capital and largest city, residents and activists said.

Following a pair of rebel assaults on the country's two main cities and a bombing that wiped out some of his top security last week advisors, President Bashar Assad on Tuesday reshuffled his top intelligence posts, dismissing one general and appointing a new national security council chief to replace the one killed in the blast.

The Syrian regime, deeply shaken after last week's stunning attack on Assad's inner circle and rebel advances, has turned to heavy weapons like artillery and helicopter gunships to uproot the opposition fighters in Damascus and now in Aleppo, Syria's largest city at around 3 million.

"It's like a real war zone over here, there are street battles over large parts of the city," said Aleppo-based opposition activist Mohammed Saeed by telephone as the sound of gunfire and explosions could be heard in the background. "Aleppo has joined Homs and Hama and other revolutionary cities."

Four days into the rebel attack on Aleppo, Saeed estimated that the opposition fighters were holding large chunks of the city.

Facing a resilient opponent, the government responded Tuesday with attack helicopters to pound rebellious neighborhoods, and fighter jets circling overhead periodically roared down and broke the sound barrier in an apparent attempt to cow the rebels.

"It's the worst day of fighting in Aleppo so far, but I can't tell what's happening on the ground or who's in control," said a local writer in the Zahra neighborhood, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from some of the heaviest clashes.

"This is bad because in the end it's the civilians who will pay the price of this street fighting," he added on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

For the time being, Syria's rebels, outmanned and outgunned by the regime's professional army, appear to be holding out in Aleppo. The battle has spread from neighborhoods in the northeast and southwest of the city to previously untouched areas like Firdous in the south and Arkoub closer to the center, local activists and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On Sunday, a newly formed alliance of rebel groups called the Brigade for Unification announced an operation to take the city. While the rebels have not shown themselves able to hold neighborhoods for any significant period of time, the continued fighting highlights the government's inability to definitely defeat the lightly armed opposition forces.

Prisoners in Aleppo's jail also rioted overnight and activists said at least eight have been killed by government forces. Another prison riot in the city of Homs was quelled with tear gas and live ammunition.

The worsening situation in Syria, where activists estimate more than 19,000 people have died since March 2011, has prompted increasing concern and veiled threats from Syria's neighbors.

Monday night, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan told a party rally that "we believe that the people of Syria are ever closer to victory," while in Saudi Arabia, a country that has openly pledged to fund rebels, state television announced the country had collected $32 million in donations for "our brothers in Syria."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend expressed fears that Syria's chemical weapons could fall into the hands of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and hinted at intervention, though on Tuesday, senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad asserted that Syria had "complete control" over its unconventional weapons.

Iran then waded into the fight Tuesday with a warning by the commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Masoud Jayazeri, to retaliate if any Arab countries intervened against Syria.

For its part, Syria warned the international community Monday that it had chemical weapons and would use them in the case of any foreign aggression.

In a speech before a veterans' association in Reno, Nevada, President Barack Obama cautioned Syria against unleashing its non-conventional arsenal.

"Given the regime's stockpiles of chemical weapons, we will continue to make it clear to Assad and those around him that the world is watching, and that they will be held accountable by the international community and the United States, should they make the tragic mistake of using those weapons," he said.

Assad on Tuesday reshuffled the generals at the core of his regime's highly secretive security apparatus. A government official said that Assad appointed Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, the former head of General Intelligence, to the key post of head of the National Security Council. His predecessor, Maj. Gen. Hisham Ikhtiyar, died of wounds sustained in last week's bombing.

Maj. Gen. Abdel Fattah Qudsiyeh, the former head of Military Intelligence, was named the council's deputy chief, replacing a general who was apparently fired. The EU has imposed sanctions on Qudsiyeh for his role in the crackdown on the uprising. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss security matters.

---

Associated Press Writer Zeina Karam in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

© 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Thousands of Syrian troops have pulled out of a strategic plateau in the north western province of Idlib and headed for Aleppo, as opposition fighters attempt to seize the city, according to activists.

It is claimed government fighter jets are also targeting the country's second city and commercial hub.

Residents and local activists say Syrian troops and President Bashar al Assad's intelligence services are battling opposition fighters around Aleppo's Old City.

"The rebels have moved to try and liberate downtown after taking over the neighbourhoods of al Sakhour, Masaken Hanano, Tariq al Bab, al Sheikh Najajr and al Ard al Hamra in the east and Saladin in the west," an opposition activist in Majed al Nour said.

Opposition activist Mohammed Saeed estimated the rebels hold large chunks of the city and the government has responded with attack helicopters - key to its retaking of Damascus over the last few days.

Circling fighter jets have also been breaking the sound barrier overhead in an apparent attempt to cow the fighters.

"It's like a real war zone over here, there are street battles over large parts of the city," Saeed told reporters.

"Aleppo has joined Homs and Hama and other revolutionary cities."

In a village north west of Hama, Syrian troops killed up to 30 worshippers as they entered a mosque to attend Ramadan evening prayers, according to opposition activists.

"Troops and Shabiha (militia loyal to Mr Assad) left the roadblock on the edge of Shariaa and crossed the main road and began firing automatic rifles at the worshippers as they were entering the mosque," said activist Jamil al Hamwi.

And helicopter gunships have apparently targeted fighters in northern parts of the capital Damascus, while tanks moved in to force rebels out of parts of the city they had claimed last week.

There has also been fresh violence in Homs where shelling has been reported in parts of the city.

Sky News Middle East Correspondent Emma Hurd said earlier: "The fighting is continuing around Aleppo where we have these reports now that fighter planes are in the skies and reports that they have been used to drop bombs around that area.

"Now we cannot confirm this but we certainly have seen helicopter gunships in some of the videos posted online in use around Aleppo and in use around Damascus.

Meanwhile, defected brigadier general Manaf Tlas has called for the Syrian military to denounce what he describes as crimes committed by Mr Assad's forces.

Reading a prepared statement on Saudi-based al Arabiya television, he said: "I address you... as one of the Syrian Arab Army's sons who reject the criminal behaviour of this corrupt regime.

"The honourable people in the military would not accept these crimes."

Jul 25, 2:44 PM EDT


Syria rushes reinforcements to its largest city

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY
Associated Press







BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian troops rushed dozens of tanks and reinforcements Wednesday toward Aleppo, the country's strategically vital commercial capital, in a bid to crush a rebel advance that has spread to wide swaths of the sprawling city.

As five days of fighting in Aleppo intensified, and with rumors swirling of a final showdown in that city, neighboring Turkey tightened its borders but said refugees will be allowed through.

"We are expecting a big attack on Aleppo," Mohammed Saeed, an activist based in Aleppo, told The Associated Press. "People are worried they might face random shelling while fleeing."

The rebels have made stunning advances over the past week, but the battle for control of Syria, a geographic and political linchpin at the heart of the Middle East, is far from over. And the potential for wider, regional unrest is great.

Israel's foreign minister warned that his country will act immediately if it discovers Islamic militants such as Lebanon's Hezbollah are raiding Syria's chemical or biological weapons stocks.

"For us, that's a casus belli, a red line," Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Israeli officials have reported a run on gas masks. Demand has almost doubled in the past few days, to 4,200 requests on Tuesday from a years-old average of about 2,200, said Merav Lapidot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli postal service, which distributes the masks.

On Monday, Syria threatened to unleash its chemical and biological weapons if it faces a foreign attack.

The White House said Wednesday that the Syrian government's assault on Aleppo with tanks and fixed-wing aircraft illustrates what it called "the depth of depravity" by Assad's regime.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration has seen "credible" reports about the regime's use of military hardware in Aleppo. Carney said Assad was using its forces to "perpetrate heinous violence" against the city's civilian population.

Carney also pointed to defections by two Syrian ambassadors as an indication that officials in Assad's circle are "fleeing government because of the heinous actions taken by Assad."

Still, after 17 months of fighting and a death toll that activists say has reached 19,000 people, the government remains far better armed than the rebels and willing to launch attacks from the sky, strafing neighborhoods with helicopter gunships. In Aleppo, witnesses also have reported warplanes unleashing sonic booms.

The rebels are disorganized and disparate, unable to communicate on a national level or hold territory for long. After a rebel rush on the capital, Damascus, last week - including a brazen bombing that killed four regime insiders - the government routed the fighters by calling in attack helicopters and heavy weapons that devastated entire neighborhoods.

Regime forces followed up the shelling with door-to-door searches in Damascus that were still going on Wednesday to flush out remaining rebel sympathizers.

The escalating bloodshed prompted two more defections by Syrian diplomats Wednesday - the envoy to Cyprus and her husband, the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, according to the opposition Syrian National Council. The announcement follows the televised appearance late Tuesday by Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, who confirmed his defection and said Syrians must work together to build a new country.

It was his first public appearance since he left Syria earlier this month. French officials later confirmed that he was in France. Tlass is the son of a former Syrian defense minister.

Turkey's decision to seal its border to trucks Wednesday comes as fears mount that the 17-month-old crisis in Syria will spread. Syria's close ties to Iran and Hezbollah mean that the conflict has the potential to draw in the country's neighbors.

Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said there are no Iranian troops in Syria and that the Syrian government is capable of confronting terrorists - the regime's term for its opponents - the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Wednesday. Vahidi was reacting to reports that accuse Iran of deploying troops in Syria to help quell the armed uprising against Assad's government.

Turkey was a Syrian ally before the uprising began in March 2011, but Ankara is now among the harshest critics of Damascus. Turkish territory along the countries' 566-mile (911-kilometer) border is used as a staging ground for rebel fighters as well as a haven for thousands of refugees. Before the uprising began, the border was the transit point for food and construction materials that Turkey exported to the entire Middle East.

"We have serious concerns over the safety of Turkish trucks regarding their entry and return from Syria," Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said, adding that three border crossings were in rebel hands. Syrians seeking refuge or to resupply would still be allowed in.

The battle in Aleppo is just 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the Turkish border. Aleppo is Syria's largest city, with a population of about 3 million.

On Wednesday, Saeed, the Aleppo activist, described fierce battles in neighborhoods all over the city, including some near the center.

Aleppo's historic old city at the center is a U.N. world heritage site.

"Shooting and clashes are going on nonstop," Saeed said.

There are no immediate prospects for international action in Syria or the kind of NATO air campaign that tipped the scales against Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. NATO and the U.N. have all but ruled out foreign military intervention, in part out of fears that it would only make the country's problems worse. The U.S. and its allies have shown little appetite for getting involved in another Arab nation in turmoil.

Russia, Syria's longtime ally and a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, has ensured that the kind of U.N. resolutions that allowed Western military action in Libya would not be repeated in Syria. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized new European efforts to enforce an arms embargo as "unilateral sanctions" and a "blockade."

The new commander of the U.N. observer force, Lt. Gen. Babacar Gaye, and the U.N. official for peacekeeping operations, Hervé Ladsous, were in Damascus on Wednesday to assess the prospects for a U.N. peace plan that is being widely ignored.

Half of the 300-member U.N. observer force, meant to monitor the nonexistent cease-fire, has left the country.

"I think diplomats have to be optimistic and that's no joke, I think we have to hope," Ladsous told reporters. "We have to hope that the whole process gains traction, that the vicious circle of violence can cease, and that some political solution and first and foremost some political dialogue can get started."

---

Published: July 25, 2012






AMMAN, Jordan — Fearing the fallout and the spread of the uprising in Syria, Jordanian officials have recently moved more forcefully to restrain opponents of the Syrian government who have fled to Jordan, activists here say.







The Times is tracking the human toll in Syria through an examination of the pictures and video, mostly by amateurs, that document the violence.
Times Topic: Syria
.


A Syrian opposition leader from Dara’a said that intelligence agents tried to dissuade him from returning after a recent trip outside the country. Jordanian airline officials demanded he buy a ticket to go on to Damascus before he boarded the plane. In another case, an artist once imprisoned in Syria said that since arriving in Jordan in March, he had been interrogated four times by intelligence agents who warned that he would be sent back to Syria if he engaged in conspicuous activism against the Syrian government.

The episodes reflected Jordan’s perennially anxious state, battered by cycles of crises in the region, fearful of stronger neighbors and dependent on others for financial and military support. In recent weeks, Jordanian officials and commentators have made dire predictions that refugees could overwhelm the country as the war worsens, strangling Jordan’s fragile economy and straining its resources.

But officials are especially concerned that the uprising could unsettle the country’s already turbulent politics. Small but persistent demonstrations over the past year have focused on government corruption, and have resulted in increasingly bold expressions of anger directed at the country’s monarch, King Abdullah II.

The king has tried to manage the call for change with a limited reform program that his critics say hardly diminishes his grip on power. The Syrian conflict could worsen one of Jordan’s deep domestic schisms, between citizens of Palestinian descent and so-called East Bank Jordanians.

The government seems set on not letting more Palestinians enter.

Jordanian officials strongly deny that they turn back Palestinian refugees. In a report this month, an Interior Ministry official told Human Rights Watch that Jordan had not “sent any Palestinians back, period.” Near the border, though, refugees said they had seen it happen.

A Kurdish woman from Damascus said that when she and her family reached the border a few days ago, they met a Palestinian man and his two children going the other way. The father said Jordanian officers patrolling the frontier had told him he could not enter.

Violence has already crossed the border. Residents near the frontier with Syria said they had seen at least one clash between Syrian Army troops and Jordanian border patrol officers who were trying to help refugees cross. On Monday, Jordanian police officers fired tear gas to break up a fight between Syrian refugees and local residents outside a refugee camp near the border.

The confluence of fears has led the country’s leaders to watch their words. King Abdullah, who previously called for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, to step down, was more circumspect in an interview last week, mentioning worries that Qaeda-linked fighters had joined the opposition. “If Bashar leaving the scene and exiting Syria brings a stop to violence and creates a political transition, that’s the lesser of evils,” he said on CNN. “But have we gotten past that stage? That’s a question I can’t answer.”

The Jordanian government has won praise for accepting 140,000 refugees. Many Syrians who have fled said that Jordanian officers rescued them on the border, in some cases as the Syrian Army pursued them.

The Kurdish woman said she left after her house collapsed under government shelling, killing her mother. Though she had no identity papers, the Jordanian authorities let her and her family enter; now they are searching for a Jordanian sponsor so they can leave the camp.

But Palestinians who have made it to Jordan cannot leave their camp, not even if they have family living elsewhere in Jordan.

Signs of Jordan’s uneasy relationship with the exiles are evident. In the border town of Ramtha, filled with Syrian refugees, there is no sign of the flags that opponents of Mr. Assad keep as the ever-present totem of their dissent. There are only portraits of King Abdullah and his eldest son, which hang everywhere.

The government seems just as troubled by the Syrian activists. Last week there were reports that one of them, Omar al-Hariri, was deported to Syria after landing here in Amman from Cairo.

Opposition figures in Amman said they were not sure what had happened to Mr. Hariri, saying it was possible he had voluntarily returned to Syria. A government spokesman, Sameeh al-Maitah, did not respond directly to a question about the details of the case, but said in an e-mail that “there are some cases where concerned authorities see that they should prevent the entry of certain people into Jordan.”

Wessam Salama, another activist who has lived in Jordan for several years, said he had been able to provide charitable services to Syrian refugees, with little harassment from the state.

The government seemed most concerned with anyone trying to provide weapons to the Syrian rebels, he said. “Anything with guns, anything that creates chaos, they will have no hesitation in delivering us to Bashar,” he said.

Recently, though the Jordanian authorities deported his sister-in-law after she returned from a trip to the Persian Gulf, reflecting a pattern that Mr. Salama said was increasingly common: Syrians who try to come to Jordan legally, through the airport or a border crossing, seem to face more difficulties than those who sneak across.

Nizar al-Hrakiy, an opposition activist from Dara’a, said he had received threats from people he believed represented the Syrian government since he arrived in Jordan, causing him to twice change where he was staying. At the same time, he had to contend with warnings from the Jordanian authorities. “They put pressure. They do not want us to talk to the media, or to work on any military issue,” he said.

“They are focusing on their security,” he said, adding: “They don’t want the contagion of the revolution.”

America has confirmed the defections of two more senior Syrian diplomats, saying it was further evidence that President Bashar al Assad's days are "numbered".

"We can confirm the defections of Syrian ambassadors to both the UAE and Cyprus," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Mr Carney said the move showed "senior officials around the Assad inner circle are fleeing the government because of the heinous actions taken by Assad against his own people, and the recognition that Assad's days are numbered".

Earlier, a high-level source told reporters that Syria's charge d'affaires in Cyprus, Lamia Hariri, had defected from the regime.

An opposition activist in the country confirmed that Ms Hariri's husband, Syria's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Abdel Latif al Dabbagh, had also defected.

Qatar-based al Jazeera television said Mr Dabbagh had defected, though it did not say where he was.

But a senior State Department official confirmed that "Dabbagh has defected to Qatar".

Nawaf Fares, Syria's ambassador to Iraq, left for Qatar this month after publicly renouncing his post.

Two Syrian brigadier generals also entered Turkey on Tuesday, bringing to 27 the number of generals who have defected, a foreign ministry official told reporters.

On Wednesday, the Syrian army and rebels sent reinforcements to Aleppo to join the intensifying battle for the country's second city.

Helicopter gunships attacked several neighbourhoods of the commercial capital, causing deaths and injuries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based observatory also reported fighting in the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad district of Damascus, one of the last remaining rebel bastions after 10 days of violence in the capital.

Helicopter gunships and heavy machinegun fire pounded the embattled southern neighbourhood, the observatory said.

Nationwide at least 87 people were killed on Wednesday, most of them civilians, after 158 people died on Tuesday, the organisation said.

In Hama province, in central Syria, a couple and their two children were reportedly killed as they tried to flee shelling. A video distributed by the observatory showed footage of the bodies.

Morning Panda, thanks for all the updates. Much appreciated.
I don't commemt but read everyday.

wjk wrote:Morning Panda, thanks for all the updates. Much appreciated.
I don't commemt but read everyday.

Morning wjk. it really is horrendous what is happening in Syria, all the thousands of refugees in various Countries probably have no home to go back to.

Russia and China could have helped but they have vested interests because they trade with Syria.Libya and Afghanistan are in crisis again so military
intervention made matters worse

Syrian government troops are reportedly massing around the city of Aleppo, with the US claiming they could be "lining up" for a massacre.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad are said to be keeping up the attack on rebel-held positions in Syria's second city from the ground and in the air.

Fierce clashes in Aleppo yesterday killed more than 100 people, according to unconfirmed reports.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "Aleppo has again been bombarded by Syrian fighter jets in the latest desperate effort by the Assad regime to hold onto control and there are credible reports of columns of tanks to attack the city.

The State Department said that troop movements on Aleppo along with air strikes by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft represented a "serious escalation" of the government's efforts to crush an armed rebellion.

"This is the concern: that we will see a massacre in Aleppo and that's what the regime appears to be lining up for," Ms Nuland added.

"Our hearts are with the people of Aleppo, and again this is another desperate attempt by a regime that is going down to maintain control, and we are greatly concerned about what they are capable of in Aleppo."

But Ms Nuland said the US did not foresee military intervention in the conflict without a mandate from the UN Security Council, where Russia has blocked US-led efforts to rally a stronger response.


Rebel fighters in Syria's second city

Rebels also said a regime assault appeared imminent.

"The army's reinforcements have arrived in Aleppo," Colonel Abdel Jabbar al Okaidi, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army, was reported as saying.

"We expect a major offensive at any time, specifically on areas across the southern belt, from east to west."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Foreign Secretary William Hague will meet in London today, with the crisis top of their agenda.

Mr Hague and Mr Ban are expected to discuss last week's failure to agree a Security Council resolution at the UN, after Russia and China vetoed moves to ramp up the pressure on Mr Assad.

Their meeting comes after Syria's most prominent defector, Republican Guard commander Brigadier Gen Manaf Tlass, who fled Syria earlier this month, put himself forward as someone to unite the fractured opposition groups trying to topple Mr Assad.

The factions met in Qatar yesterday to thrash out a deal over a transitional leadership.

Activists say 19,000 people have been killed since the uprising began last February as the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings swept the Middle East and North Africa.

.


Report: Israel -

Article published the Tuesday 24 July 2012 - Latest update : Tuesday 24 July 2012


Amnesty International condemns Barak’s rejection of Syrian refugees





Syrian refugees flee from a refugee camp named "Container City" on the Turkish-Syrian border in Oncupinar, 22 July, 2012
Reuters/Umit Bektas


By Ruth Michaelson in Ramallah

The international human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak’s statements that Israel will act to prevent a “flood” of refugees into the Golan Heights.




Amnesty International Dublin contacted Barak to say that his comments were alarming in light of the recent escalation in violence across Syria, particularly in Damascus.

They urged Israel to afford protection to refugees entering the occupied Golan Heights and to prevent their forced return.


















Barak’s comments came during a visit to the area where he stated that it was possible to view the shelling of towns approaching the “dead zone” between the occupied Golan Heights and official Syrian territory.

He claimed that Israel will reject “waves” of refugees on the basis that such a presence in the Golan could be used to launch an attack on Israel.

Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War, in a move that has never been recognised internationally.

FIERCE FIGHTING IS STILL GOING ON IN/AROUND ALEPPO,I BELIEVE

Refugee pressures grow

The international community has stepped up pressure on the Syrian government to end its assault on the country's biggest city, Aleppo.

Western nations have warned of a potential massacre as military forces press home their attack.

The pro-government al-Watan newspaper warned that the "mother of all battles" was about to start.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was not possible "to remain a spectator" to events in Aleppo.

Activists said people were already dying in military assaults, as forces continued to build up around the city.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian government to halt its offensive. He also demanded a clear statement that it would not use chemical weapons under any circumstances

"The violence from both sides must stop for the sake of the suffering civilians of Syria," he said in London.

Syria has confirmed it has chemical weapons but said it would not use them against its own people, only against foreign invaders.

Continue reading the main story
In pictures: Syria in turmoil

Mr Erdogan, speaking after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, urged the international community to "make progress" in its efforts to stop the violence.

"There is a regime there that kills and massacres its own people," he said.

"There is a build up in Aleppo, and recent statements with respect to the use of weapons of mass destruction are actions that we cannot remain an observer or spectator to."

Mr Cameron said he and Mr Erdogan had discussed concerns that the Syrian regime "is about to carry out some truly appalling acts around and in the city of Aleppo".

"This regime needs to realise it is illegitimate, it is wrong and it needs to stop what it is doing," he said.

"The international pressure against this regime and against [President] Assad is only going to build until he finally goes."

Separately, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay appealed to both sides to spare civilians, citing concerns of "the likelihood of an imminent major confrontation".

The BBC's Wyre Davies, on the Syria-Turkey border, says conditions in Aleppo are reported to be dire.

Thousands of government troops have been drafted in from other areas and are encircling the city, he says.

Operations suspended

An activist based in Fardos in the city told the BBC at least 15 people had died on Friday morning during the military's bombardment of a building.

"The people of Aleppo are not coping with this crisis," said the activist, identified only as Ramy.

"They are dying. It is a massacre. People can leave their homes and move around the city but who would really want to take the risk of being shot or bombed?"

The BBC has been unable to independently verify Ramy's comments.

The Red Crescent has suspended some of its operations in Aleppo because of the heavy fighting.

Rebels have been stockpiling ammunition and medical supplies in preparation for the expected assault.

Earlier, the former head of the UN observer mission in Syria said it was "only a matter of time" until President Bashar al-Assad's government fell.

"It's impossible to imagine a future in Syria where the current people in power remain in power," Maj Gen Robert Mood told a news conference in Oslo.

"So in that view, it's just a matter of time before this regime collapses. And that is how it's supposed to be."

ITS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT ASSAD'S REGIME ARMY IS RUNNING LOW ON FUEL AND FOOD ETC.

Badboy wrote:ITS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT ASSAD'S REGIME ARMY IS RUNNING LOW ON FUEL AND FOOD ETC.

I very much doubt it Badboy, they can just take what they want, maybe even being supplied fuel by their Russian friends . The UN has proved
completely useless, as they always have and it's possible NATO troops will eventually be deployed, excluding Britain and the U.S. who have done their bit in the Middle East and suffered heavy losses, still in Afghanistan.

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Their war for freedom in Libya may be over, but almost a year after they won the battle for the Libyan capital, a group of fighters have a new battlefield: Syria.

Under the command of one of Libya's most well known rebel commanders, Al-Mahdi al-Harati, more than 30 Libyan fighters have made their way into Syria to support the Free Syrian Army rebels in their war against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Al-Harati, who commanded the Tripoli Revolutionary brigade -- which was the first group of rebels to enter the Libyan capital last August -- has been in Syria for months leading some of his former men and Syrian military defectors who have joined his "Liwaa al-Umma" or "The Banner of the Nation" brigade.

Recent YouTube videos show at least two different Syrian rebel factions announcing that they are part of the Liwa al-Umma.

Heavy fighting in Syrian city of Aleppo

Al-Harati, who has dual Libyan and Irish citizenship, first visited Syria last year on what he calls a "fact finding mission" to see the situation on the ground and find out what Syrian rebels needed.

"After many Syrians approached me asking for my help, I felt it was time to do more and due to the great success of the Tripoli Brigade we felt it was time to act and that meant the formation of the Banner of the Nation," Al-Harati told CNN in Skype messages this week.

Al-Harati said: "With the prior success in Libya I decided to leave nationality aside and, just like world organizations helped Libya in its time of need, I decided to pass my experience to others to benefit."


Mohammed, who fought with Libyans rebels, is now heading to Syria to join opposition forces.In the past week, at least three more former members of the Tripoli Revolutionary Brigade traveled from the Libyan capital to join their former commander in Syria, two former members of the TRB says.

Al-Harati, who describes himself as a "commander and facilitator" says there were no active efforts to recruit Libyans.

"These are grown men with their own minds and do not need convincing about this cause," Al-Harati said.

Mohammed, 23, fought in some of the fiercest battles against Moammar Gadhafi's troops in Libya's Western Mountains.

One year on, he dreams of fighting al-Assad's troops. He does not want his last name disclosed because he does not want his family to know he wants to go to Syria.

"What Bashar al-Assad is doing is unacceptable in Islam ... He is killing children and wiping out entire cities ... The Syrians need people to fight with them, this is Jihad, it does not have to be my (personal) cause ... As a Muslim I have to go and help them," he said.

Mohammed smiles as he recalls the fighting in Libya last year, like now he says, it was during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Syrian rebels appear more capable, yet still outgunned


Syrian rebels show off weapons
Rastan: Shattered city in Syria
Troops converge on Aleppo "There is nothing better than Jihad during Ramadan ... There are some people who look at us and say we are Jihadist extremists, we are not. In Libya we experienced Jihad, tasted the beauty of Jihad. We are not going to Jihad like al-Qaeda and others. We are going to support our brothers in Syria," he said.

Another fighter is Housam Najjair. He is 33, al-Harati's brother-in-law, and had never used a weapon until he fought in Libya last year.

He said: "When I watch TV reports ... you hear the cries of an old woman or a mother of a child who has been killed, or some of the brutal pictures that we have seen of children being killed ... I can not sit back and watch that," Najjair told CNN in a Skype interview from one of Turkey's borders with Syria hours before making the dangerous journey into Syria.

"I have to do whatever I can to make that journey. Because I feel guilty putting my head down at nighttime knowing that last year I was given an amazing opportunity to learn how to use weapons, for good, all for good, learn how to use weapons, how to maneuver, how to travel, how to attack, how to defend, all these things," Najjair said, adding that his aim is to share these experiences with Syrian rebels.

During the interview, Najjair got the phone call he had been waiting for, his group of fighters is mobilizing to go into Syria.

"It is a rollercoaster of different kinds of emotions, you get excited, you get adrenalin, fear, anticipation, all these feelings come into it, fear is not the main factor and in my mind will never be ... it will impair your judgment ... Libya was a walk in the park compared to Syria, I know this going in there," Najjair said as he prepared to leave.

Najjair says the no-fly zone enforced in Libya last year helped rebel fighters and allowed them to make great advances. Without that in Syria, operating will be much harder.

He says they do not have a military base, there are makeshift barracks; they are constantly on the move and cannot spend more than a day in one location. Fighters, he says, are scattered across different areas.

A Syrian town's 'Street of Death'

Last month, a senior Libyan security official told CNN the government was aware of Libyans fighting in Syria, but they were individuals and not government sponsored.

Earlier this year, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, accused Libya of hosting and training Syrian rebels. A claim denied by the Libyan prime minister.

But Libya's government and people have been vocal in their support for the Syrian opposition.

Libya was one of the first countries to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people and in February, Tripoli expelled Assad's diplomats and closed down their embassy.

Many in Libya say they relate to Syrians who want to overthrow the regime. It was not too long ago that they lived a similar experience.

But not everyone chooses to express support militarily.

Some show solidarity by hanging the Syrian opposition flag outside their shops in Tripoli, flying alongside the Free Libya flag.

In a YouTube video posted on July 4, a group of six Libyan doctors is seen being greeted by Free Syrian Army troops as they enter Syria.

"We are coming for you Bashar," says one of the doctors as they shake hands with the heavily armed Syrian fighters.

There are no official figures on how many Libyans are currently in Syria. In February, reports of at least four Libyan fighters killed in Syria circulated, but there has been no government confirmation.

For fighters like Najjair, the risk of death is a matter of faith.

He said: "You have to have faith and you have to say to yourself, "if it's my time, I will be gone. If it's not my time it will be another amazing journey another amazing victory.""

Faces of the Free Syrian Army

30 July 2012 Last updated at 05:35 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page


US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's assault on the city of Aleppo will be "a nail in his coffin".

Mr Panetta was speaking at the start of a five-day Middle East tour.

Heavy fighting is continuing in Syria's largest city where government forces are trying to oust rebel fighters.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said 200,000 people had fled the fighting in Aleppo and that an unknown number were trapped.

She said that the city urgently needed supplies including food and water.

Mr Panetta said the Syrian crisis was deepening and that President Assad was hastening his own demise.

"If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people... I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad's coffin," he told reporters.

"What Assad has been doing to his own people and what he continues to do to his own people makes clear that his regime is coming to an end. It's lost all legitimacy."

He added: "It's no longer a question of whether he's coming to an end, it's when."

Mr Panetta's tour will include talks in Tunisia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

He said he aimed to reinforce an international consensus that Mr Assad must step down and allow a peaceful transition to democracy.

The defence secretary said he would also continue efforts to ensure that Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons did not fall into the wrong hands.

Baroness Amos, speaking in New York, said that the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimated that 200,000 people have fled Aleppo and surrounding areas in the past two days.

Leon Panetta wants to increase consensus across the Middle East for a Syrian transition
"It is not known how many people remain trapped in places where fighting continues today," she said.

"I call on all parties to the fighting to ensure that they do not target civilians and that they allow humanitarian organisations safe access."

UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the situation in Aleppo as "a full-scale street war".

The BBC's Ian Pannell, who was in Aleppo on Saturday, said government troops were trying to push into rebel-held neighbourhoods and there was fierce fighting.

Civilians are facing power cuts and food shortages, he says.

Late on Sunday, Syrian troops said they had recaptured the south-west district of Salah al-Din from the rebels.

"Complete control of Salah al-Din has been (won back) from those mercenary gunmen," a military officer told Syrian state TV.

"In a few days safety and security will return to the city of Aleppo."

Despite the army's statement, activists said fighting was continuing in Salah al-Din on Sunday night.

Aleppo activist Abo Aref al-Halabi told the BBC's Newsday programme on Monday that it had been a "terrible night" in the city.

"Nobody can sleep. Everywhere you can hear [the sound of] bombs," he said.

"The Assad armies are using mortars, they are using tanks, bombs, they are using helicopters, missiles coming from helicopters, to the Salah al-Din area."

He said some buildings were on fire and others had collapsed.

Battle-hardened

Our correspondent says that although the rebels are outgunned, they are fighting an effective guerrilla war in the streets of the city.

Many are more battle-hardened than their adversaries and they are making their own improvised explosive devices, he adds.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem, on a visit to Iran, said that the government was winning its war against the rebels.

"Today I tell you, Syria is stronger," he said.

"In less than a week they were defeated (in Damascus) and the battle failed. So they moved on to Aleppo and I assure you, their plots will fail."

===================================================

Refugees are streaming into Jordan ,apparently Assad has been striking from the Air and tanks and Aleppo is being destroyed as a major City and home
to many thousands. How can Russia and China ignore this massacre.?

Emma Hurd

Middle East Correspondent



Fighting in Syria is spilling into Lebanon as the regime's forces launch attacks against rebels hiding out over the border.

The village of Wadi Khaled, on the northern tip of Lebanese territory, has been hit several times by rocket fire and bullets from the Syrian side, prompting hundreds of residents to flee.

"We've sent our children to go and stay with their grandparents, it's too dangerous for them here," Ahmed al Waraidi said, pointing to the hole where a bullet hit one of the walls of his house.

The building next door - his new home under construction - was damaged by a rocket fired from a Syrian tank which smashed down part of the second floor.

"Everyone is too afraid to go out at night," another resident said. "We don't just hide in our homes we hide underneath our homes."

The dusty, main street in Wadi Khaled comes to a sudden end just after the last house in the village, where it is blocked with concrete slabs.


A Syrian government tank can be seen at the border

Beyond the barricade is Syria, where the conflict is raging in villages close to the border - not just within ear shot, but within sight.

"We can see everything happening very close to us and people are very frightened," resident Abu Fadi said.

The nearest Syrian houses are a short walk away across a stream, and above them on a hillside a Syrian government tank could be seen.

The regime's forces have fired over the border to try to target rebels from the Free Syrian Army who are using Lebanese territory to re-group and re-arm.

In one derelict building nearby, a small group of young fighters were slumped on mattresses on the floor.

"Last night we were fighting in Syria and one of my friends was wounded, we tried to get him back over the border but he died," one of them said.


Free Syrian Army rebels on Lebanese territory

A 21-year-old said he had seen at least 20 of his friends die in battle in the past few months.

Their commander, still limping from a bullet wound in his leg, claimed to have hundreds of fighters operating from Lebanon but called for the world to send money so they could buy more weapons.

"We have just a few guns and not enough ammunition, and the grenades cost $55 each,” he said pointing to the only grenade they seemed to possess, its pin taped down for safety.

The rebels say they are being supported by some of the local residents in Lebanon, despite their presence triggering Syrian government attacks.

The Lebanese government has officially complained about the cross border assaults, but has kept its own forces well away from the northern dividing line and has not attempted to chase down the rebels.

Lebanon, officially still a supporter of the regime, is desperate to stay out of the conflict, fearing it could re-ignite ethnic and religious tensions at home.

.

The United Nations says 200,000 civilians have fled Syria's second city, which is its commercial capital, after the regime deployed tanks and helicopter gunships to try to claw back territory lost to rebel fighters.

Many more are believed to be trapped as fierce fighting contnues between forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad and his opponents.

Speaking at the start of a week-long trip to the Middle East and North Africa, Mr Panetta said the overwhelming force being used by the regime would be its downfall.

"It's pretty clear that Aleppo is another tragic example of the kind of indiscriminate violence that the Assad regime has committed against its own people," he said.

"And in many ways, if they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people in Aleppo, I think ultimately it will be a nail in Assad's coffin.

"He's just assuring that the Assad regime will come to an end by virtue of the kind of violence they're committing against their own people."


A burnt-out bus on the streets of Aleppo

Mr Panetta said Mr Assad had "lost all legitimacy, and the more violence he engages in, the more he makes the case that the regime is coming to an end."

He proclaimed: "It's no longer a question of whether the regime will fall, it's when."

Fighting for the past several days has centred on the Salaheddine district in southwest Aleppo, where government troops have been backed by attack helicopters.

Syrian troops on Monday said they had recaptured the area, but opposition fighters insisted they were holding off President Assad's forces.

Colonel Abdel Jabbar al Oqaidi, head of the Free Syrian Army military council of Aleppo, insisted government troops had "not progressed one metre".

"We launched a new assault from Salaheddin during the night, and we destroyed four tanks," he said.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) accused the government of preparing to carry out "massacres" in the northern city and pleaded for heavy weapons to enable rebels to meet the regime onslaught.

The SNC also urged the UN to hold an emergency session to discuss ways to protect civilians caught up in the conflict.

More than 20,000 people have been killed, including 14,000 civilians, since the uprising against President Assad's rule erupted in March 2011, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The United States and the international community have made very clear that this is intolerable, and have brought diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria to stop this kind of violence, to have Assad step down and to transition to a democratic form of government," Mr Panetta added.


A damaged building in Aleppo

Sky's Alex Rossi on the Turkey-Syrian border, said: "Some people have fled the city to the northern parts and relative safety, others have fled into the countryside and the villages and smaller towns which are relatively safe and not under army attack.

"People who have transport are heading to Turkey, crossing the border. There are a number of refugee camps here where they can remain safe - but the journey itself is fairly dangerous."

Valerie Amos, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said the violence across Syria was making it difficult for relief agencies to reach those trapped by the conflict.

She said she was "extremely concerned by the impact of shelling and use of tanks and other heavy weapons" on civilians in Aleppo, Damascus and other locations.

"Many people have sought temporary shelter in schools and other public buildings in safer areas. They urgently need food, mattresses and blankets, hygiene supplies and drinking water," she said.

Peace envoy Kofi Annan urged both sides to hold back, saying only a political solution could bring an end to the conflict.

"The escalation of the military build-up in Aleppo and the surrounding area is further evidence of the need for the international community to come together to persuade the parties that only a political transition, leading to a political settlement, will resolve this crisis," he said.

i




























Syria Crisis: Aleppo Shelling Comes After Army Claims To Recapture Rebel Stronghold


Reuters | Posted: 07/30/2012 6:36 am Updated: 07/30/2012 7:07 am





















Bashar Assad, Syria, Bashar Al Assad, Syria Opposition, Syria Rebels, Aleppo, Aleppo Battle, Aleppo Clashes, Aleppo Shelling, Reuters, Syria Conflict, Syria Crisis, Syria Uprising, World News












By Erika Solomon

ALEPPO, Syria, July 30 (Reuters) - Artillery and mortar fire reverberated across Aleppo early on Monday and a military helicopter clattered towards a district that the Syrian army said it had recaptured from rebels in battles for control of Syria's biggest city.

Hospitals and makeshift clinics in rebel-held areas in the east of the city were filling up with casualties from a week of fighting in Aleppo, an commercial hub that had previously stayed out of a 16-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.


"Some days we get around 30, 40 people, not including the bodies," said a young medic in one clinic. "A few days ago we got 30 injured and maybe 20 corpses, but half of those bodies were ripped to pieces. We can't figure out who they are."

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 18 people were killed in the Aleppo area on Sunday out of more than 150 people, two thirds of them civilians, slain across Syria.

Outgunned rebel fighters, patrolling in flat-bed trucks flying green-white-and-black "independence" flags, said they were holding out in the Salaheddine quarter despite a battering by the army's heavy weapons and helicopter gunships.


However, the government said it had pushed them out of Salaheddine, the focus of fighting in the southwest of the city.

"Complete control of Salaheddine has been (won back) from those mercenary gunmen," an unidentified military officer told Syrian state television late on Sunday. "In a few days safety and security will return to the city of Aleppo."


EMPTY STREETS

The army's assault on Salaheddine echoed its tactics in Damascus earlier this month when it used its overwhelming firepower to mop up rebel fighters district by district.

Assad's forces are determined not to let go of Aleppo, where defeat would be a serious strategic and psychological blow. But military experts believe the rebels are too lightly armed and poorly commanded to overcome the army, whose artillery pounds the city at will and whose gunships control the skies.

Reuters journalists in Aleppo were not able to approach Salaheddine after nightfall on Sunday to verify who controlled it. The Syrian Observatory said fighting was still in progress.

Warfare has stilled the usual commercial bustle in this city of 2.5 million. Vegetable markets are open but few people are buying. Instead, crowds of sweating men and women wait nearly three hours to buy limited amounts of heavily subsidised bread.

Rebel fighters, many of them from rural areas near Aleppo, still remain in control of swathes of the city, moving around those areas armed with assault rifles and dressed in items of camouflage clothing in an edgy show of confidence.

They were emboldened to strike at Aleppo and Damascus after a July 18 explosion that killed four of Assad's top security officials in a damaging blow at the president's inner circle.

Government forces have reimposed their grip on the capital and are eager not to allow Aleppo to slip into the hands of the rebel Free Syrian Army, whose checkpoints in some districts fly the black and white banners of Islamist militants.

With big powers divided, the outside world has been unable to restrain Syria's slide into civil war.

France said it would ask for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council to try and break the diplomatic deadlock on Syria, but gave no indication that Russia and China would end their longstanding policy of blocking measures against Assad.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday attacks on Aleppo were putting the nail in the coffin of Assad's government, showing he lacks the legitimacy to rule.

"If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people in Aleppo, I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad's own coffin," Panetta told reporters.

The deputy police chief of Syria's western Latakia city defected and fled to Turkey overnight with 11 other Syrian officers, a Turkish official said on Monday, adding that another 600 Syrians had arrived in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of Syrian refugees in Turkey to around 43,500.


AFTERMATH OF BATTLE

The United Nations humanitarian chief said 200,000 people had fled Aleppo, only 50 km (30 miles) from the Turkish border, in two days. It was not clear how this estimate had been reached given the difficulties of assessing relief needs in war zones.

"Many people have sought temporary shelter in schools and other public buildings in safer areas. They urgently need food, mattresses and blankets, hygiene supplies and drinking water," said Valerie Amos, the U.N. official.

Cars entering one Aleppo district came under fire from snipers on Sunday and a Reuters photographer saw three bodies lying in the street. Unable to move them to hospital for fear of shelling, residents had placed frozen water bottles on two of the corpses to slow their decomposition in the baking heat.

A charred tank lay in the street. Another had been captured and covered in tarpaulin. Burnt cars could be seen elsewhere, some marked "shabbiha" - a reference to pro-Assad militiamen.

Near the centre, most shops were closed, some with "Strike" painted on the shutters. Only a bakery selling subsidised bread was open, with a queue stretching around the block.

Syria's foreign minister also declared victory on Sunday in the battle for Damascus.

"Today I tell you, Syria is stronger ... In less than a week they were defeated (in Damascus) and the battle failed," Walid Moualem said on a visit to Iran, Assad's closest ally. "So they moved on to Aleppo and I assure you, their plots will fail."

Assad's ruling system is dominated by his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, while his opponents are mostly from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority.

The sectarian element in the conflict has raised fears that it could inflame Sunni-Shi'ite tensions elsewhere, particularly in Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.







5:43 PM – Today
Al Jazeera Correspondent Injured

Jul 30, 1:04 PM EDT


Syrian envoy to London defects amid Aleppo fight

By PAUL SCHEMM
Associated Press







Documents
Indictment of Monzer al-Kassar


Latest Syria News
Syrian envoy to London defects amid Aleppo fight
Jordan: Syrian war closes export route to Europe

Israel's Barak sees no threat of chemical attack

Jordan opens first tent camp for Syrian refugees

Assad has many generals to fight Syrian rebels




Buy AP Photo Reprints







LONDON (AP) -- Syria's top diplomat in London said he could no longer represent the regime and defected Monday, as civilians fled the commercial hub of Aleppo in droves amid 10 days of fierce battles between rebels and government forces.

Britain's Foreign Office said that Khaled al-Ayoubi, the charge d'affaires, told officials that he wasn't willing to represent the regime any longer, the latest high-profile defection of a diplomat from Syria over the bloody crackdown on the opposition since March 2011.

Fighting is heating up in Aleppo, Syria's largest city with 3 million people. The U.N. said 200,000 Syrians have left over the past 10 days as the government trains its mortars, tank and helicopter gunships on the neighborhoods seized by the rebels.

"I am extremely concerned by the impact of shelling and use of tanks and other heavy weapons on people in Aleppo," Valerie Amos, the top U.N. official for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement late Sunday. "Many people have sought temporary shelter in schools and other public buildings in safer areas," she added. "They urgently need food, mattresses and blankets, hygiene supplies and drinking water."

Amos said U.N. agencies and the Syrian Red Crescent are working together on supplying those affected by the fighting with blankets and humanitarian supplies, but many remain out of their reach because of the violence.

"It is not known how many people remain trapped in places where fighting continues today," she warned. Aleppo is Syria's largest city and commercial hub with about 3 million inhabitants.

Aleppo is some 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from the Turkish border and some of those fleeing the city are headed for Turkey, where tens of thousands of Syrians have already found refuge during the 17-month uprising against authoritarian President Bashar Assad's rule.

Turkey is deploying more troops to the border, sending tanks, armored combat vehicles, more missile launchers and infantry troops, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.

Greece has responded by quadrupling the number of guards on its borders with Turkey out of fear of a potential influx of Syrian refugees.

Those fleeing Aleppo have described to The Associated Press incessant shelling, shortages of food and gasoline and soaring black market prices for everyday staples. In online videos they can be seen scurrying through streets against a backdrop of gunfire and climbing onto any form of transportation available to escape, including trucks, cars and even heavily laden motorcycles.

"Dozens of families are packing their belongings and leaving in cars and trucks," said an activist in a village near Aleppo, who declined to give his name for security reasons. "They are only taking light possessions that they can carry, like a few clothes, some valuables and that's it."

"I saw cars with eight, nine people packed in them fleeing the bombing," he added. He said rebels had seized a nearby checkpoint early in the morning and captured several tanks. The regime responded by shelling the rural area just northwest of the city. "Entire families are leaving."

Videos of the attack on the checkpoint posted Monday in the Internet show fierce exchanges of fire in the early morning and then later, victorious rebels hauling out boxes of ammunition and taking heavy machine guns for the fight in Aleppo.

The activist said refugees have fled to nearby villages where they stay with relatives or find shelter in local schools. Some however, are making the trip to the Turkish border.

Syrian state media had reported the army had "purged" Aleppo's southwestern neighborhood of Salaheddine and inflicted "great losses" upon the rebels in one of the first districts they took control of in their bid to seize the city.

Activists, however, disputed these claims and just described another day of fierce shelling of certain areas, backed up by the occasional foray on the ground. The assault has knocked down power lines and the neighborhood has been without electricity since the morning.

Gen. Babacar Gaye, the head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Syria expressed concerned over the ongoing violence in Aleppo, noting that "helicopters, tanks and artillery are being used."

Gaye visited the town of Rastan, just outside the city of Homs in central Syria, which has witnessed heavy fighting. Footage from his trip showed a devastated town with burnt out tanks by the side of the road and many destroyed buildings.

"We will be monitoring the level of violence and the use of heavy weapons in Syria. We will also be assessing if there is readiness and, if possible, progress for local confidence-building measures and national dialogue," said Gaye, whose mission is to monitor a cease-fire that has never been observed by either side.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said late Sunday that the use of heavy weapons, particularly helicopters, is just another nail in President Bashar Assad's coffin. He spoke during a stopover in Tunisia as he kicked off a Mideast tour expected to focus heavily on the unfolding crisis in Syria.

Al-Ayoubi, the Syrian diplomat in London, is the fourth high ranking envoy to defect. He was preceded by the charge d'affaires in Cyprus, her husband, a diplomat in the UAE, and by the ambassador to Iraq.

A Foreign Office spokesman said al-Ayoubi was staying in a safe location in the United Kingdom and was in contact with British officials. His departure leaves five staff at the embassy and there has been no indication that they would be leaving their posts as well.

Turkey also reported that the deputy head of security for Syria's Latakia region, a regime stronghold, had defected as well.

The brigadier general was among a group of 12 Syrian officers who crossed into Turkey late Sunday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. His defection raised to 28 the number of generals who have left for Turkey since the start of the 17-month-old uprising.

Syria's army remains mostly intact, however, and still vastly outguns the rebel forces, who are armed for the most part with assault rifles and machine guns and don't have the heavy weapons necessary to effectively oppose tanks and helicopter gunships.

--------

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser from Ankara, Turkey, Zeina Karam from Beirut, and Paisley Dodd from London contributed to this report.

© 2012

THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS RUN FOR THEIR LIVES

Some military analysts and human rights groups say that the Syrian civil war may soon be over – but that reassurance isn’t enough to prevent the country’s Christians from fleeing from the violence.

Dutch journalist and human rights analyst Martin Janssen reports from Jordan that Christians are fleeing Syria in record numbers. Janssen says the Christian refugees first fled because of an ultimatum.

“An exodus of Christians is taking place in Western Syria,” Janssen said. “The Christian population has fled the city of Qusayr, near Homs, following an ultimatum issued by the military chief of the armed opposition, Abdel Salam Harba.

“This is what local sources told Vatican news agency Fides, pointing out that since the conflict broke out, only a thousand of the city’s 10,000 faithful, were left, and they are now being forced to flee immediately,” Janssen said.

Janssen says the city’s mosques have reissued the ultimatum for the Christians to leave.

“Some of the city’s mosques have issued the message again, announcing from the minarets: ‘Christians must leave Qusayr within six days, ending Friday,’” Janssen said. “The ultimatum therefore expired on June 8 and spread fear among the Christian population.”

Open Doors USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra confirms the Christians’ desire to flee the violence but says there are few places to which they can go.

“Although Christians in Syria and leaders do not desire or want to leave, yet the question still prevails, ‘What is the free world doing to prepare for that exodus?’ a Christian from Syria asks,” Dykstra said.

“Who is going to welcome the Syrian Christians?” Dykstra asked. “One Syrian source says that the churches in Syria know very well what happened to the Iraqi Christians.

“They were in many countries not really welcome, so we are afraid that the same will happen to Syrian refugees, and that would be a disaster,’” Dykstra said, quoting the Syrian source.

Dykstra says the pressure to flee comes in many forms.

“Protests, assaults, bombings, thefts [and] kidnappings are all part of daily life in Syria,” Dykstra said. “The almost 10 percent Christians of the Syrian population fear for the future, many are already thinking of leaving the country.

“Christians in Syria wonder what will happen with their daily life, when a new government will come to power,” Dystra continued. “This uncertain and unknown future might lead to an exodus of Christians from Syria (like what happened to Iraqi Christians), and that is what Syrian Church leaders do expect.”

Dykstra compares the Syrian Christians’ plight to the Iraqi Christians who fled Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

“In Iraq hundreds of thousands Christians left that country due to all the violence targeting them. But where will a Syrian exodus lead to? Which country will welcome hundreds of thousands Christian refugees in a period where borders seem to become more and more closed borders?” Dykstra asked.

Terrorism and foreign policy think tank Gerard Direct stated in a report recently released that the battle for Syria’s second largest city could determine whether Assad’s regime stands.

“The battle for Syria’s second city, Aleppo, is a crucial fight that could determine the direction of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad,” the report said.

Reports coming from Aleppo say the rebels survived an offensive by the Syrian army.

Janssen believes the fight for Aleppo is key in Assad proving that his government can stand. Janssen adds that Assad’s problems are being compounded by large numbers of fighters coming from outside Syria.

“At this moment the biggest problems are in Aleppo. I heard that more than 5,000 rebels entered the area across the Turkish border,” Janssen said.

Janssen also says ethnic Kurds are entering the fight: “It seems that the Kurdish Democratic Union party (the Syrian branch of the PKK) controls great swaths of land in Syrian Kurdistan. They are at the same time fighting with the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army.”

“There is some talk about the presence of Peshmerga fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan,” Janssen said.

Janssen adds the outside support signals that the rebellion has become a “holy war.”

“Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia invented the idea of in indirect military intervention in Syria and the West followed and approved. Money and weapons poured from across the borders into Syria and with them thousands of foreign fighters,” Janssen said. “This last development changed the nature of the Syrian crisis profoundly. The crisis became a full-blown, internationally-sponsored, civil war.

“These foreign fighters consider themselves to be holy war warriors, jihadists fighting against an atheist regime. They are not interested in democracy and human rights for minorities. It paved the way for a dangerous and growing presence of al-Qaida inside Syria,” Janssen said.

Christian human rights group Open Doors USA confirms Janssen’s conclusion, saying that al-Qaeda has joined the fight.

“According to Reuters News, the rebels include the Free Syrian Army, al-Qaeda-style jihadists, the Muslim Brotherhood and local pro-democracy Sunni liberals,” the Open Doors report said.

The Open Doors report also says that while Assad is unpopular, Christians aren’t supporting Assad’s overthrow.

“While the defeat of Assad and the military would be welcome news to most, the sizeable Christian community of over 1.5 million is fearful for its future,” the Open Doors report said.

“Under Assad, Christians enjoyed a measure of freedom to worship in Syria, which is 90 percent Muslim. In fact, Christians were granted a degree of religious freedom not seen in most other Middle Eastern countries – before and after Arab Spring,” the Open Doors report also said.

“If Assad falls, Christians in Syria are fearful of what will happen when a new government – probably a radical Islamic one – will come into power,” says Open Doors USA President and CEO Dr. Carl Moeller,” the report said.

“Will their freedom to worship end? Will persecution increase? Will they have to flee Syria with their families as have thousands of believers in Iraq?” the report asked, quoting Moeller.

Reports of an end to Assad’s regime, however, may be premature. Janssen reports from Jordan that Assad still controls Damascus.

“Currently the situation in Damascus seems to be under the control of the Syrian army despite some fighting in certain neighborhoods,” Janssen said.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/thousands-of-christians-run-for-their-lives/?cat_orig=world