Syria warns West against intervention

Syria Bans Turkish Flights Over Its Territory


Syria ratchets up tension with Turkey by stopping all Turkish passenger planes from entering its airspace.


8:46am UK, Sunday 14 October 2012



Video: Downed Syria fighter jet in Aleppo (no sound on video)
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Syria has banned Turkish passenger planes from its airspace, as tensions between Ankara and Damascus increase.

The decision, "in accordance with the principle of reciprocity", was in retaliation for Turkey's decision to stop Syrian civil aviation flights over its territory, said state news agency Sana, citing the foreign ministry.

However, the Turkish government has not announced such a ban for Syrian civilian aircraft, although it has said it would continue to ground any Syrian passenger planes it suspected of carrying weapons.

On Wednesday, Turkish jets forced a Syrian civilian flight from Moscow to Damascus to land in Ankara on suspicion of carrying weapons.
The Syrian passenger forced to land at Ankara airport on Wednesday
Both Damascus and Moscow denied the claim, and the plane was allowed to continue its journey on Friday.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the aircraft had been carrying radar equipment which could have either civilian or military uses, and insisted that Moscow had violated no laws.

Turkey and Syria have engaged in sporadic cross-border shelling in recent days.
Turkish Airlines planes can no longer fly in Syria airspace
Inside Syria, rebels and activists said a Syrian regime warplane was shot down near Aleppo, while part of the embattled northern city's historic Ummayad mosque was set ablaze.

Near Damascus a car bomb blast killed eight people, including a child and two women, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for reform of the UN Security Council to help resolve the crisis, after Russia and China have repeatedly used their veto powers to block resolutions condemning Syria.

"It's time to change the structure of international institutions, starting with the UN Security Council," Mr Erdogan told reporters on Saturday, calling for "wider, fairer and more effective representation".
A Syrian rebel in Bustan al Basha, Aleppo
"If we wait for one or two of the permanent members ... then the future of Syria will be in danger."

With rebels controlling large swathes of the border area, several incidents of cross-border fire from Syria this month sparked retaliatory shelling by Nato member Turkey and raised concern about potential escalation.

Turkey, which shares a 900 km-long border with Syria, has emerged as one of the President Bashar Assad regime's fiercest critics, despite their close relationship prior to the Arab Spring

15 October 2012 Last updated at 21:00








Syria denies Human Rights Watch cluster bomb claims


Many parts of Syria have been destroyed by the fighting
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Turkish town scarred by conflict
  
• No-man's land
  
• Turkey-Syria tensions
  
• Assad heartland
  

The Syrian army has denied allegations that it has been using cluster bombs in its battle with the rebels.

Human Rights Watch has accused Syria of dropping cluster bombs on populated areas, particularly around the north-western town of Maarat al-Nuaman.

In a statement, carried on state television, the army said it "does not possess these kinds of weapons" and the allegations are "baseless".

Meanwhile, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has asked Iran for help with the crisis.

During a visit to Tehran, he sought Iran's help to implement a ceasefire in Syria, its close ally, over the forthcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which starts in about 10 days' time.

A ceasefire, he said, "would help create an environment that would allow a political process to develop".

Mr Brahimi made a similar appeal to Iraqi officials when he travelled on to Baghdad. He has been touring the region to seek a way of resolving the conflict; visiting Saudi Arabia and Turkey last week.

In other developments:

• At least 50 people were reported to have been killed across Syria in violence on Monday
  

• Turkey says it is now housing more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in its camps, the limit at which it said it would be unable to cope
  

• EU foreign ministers have approved sanctions on a further 28 Syrians and two firms
  

• Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly ordered immediate repairs to the important Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo, which was badly damaged in fighting over the weekend
  

• Turkey said it had searched an Armenian plane taking aid to Syria, amid concern it may also be carrying military equipment to Syria
  

'False reports'
Human Rights Watch said on Sunday that online video reports purporting to show evidence of cluster bombs being used in the conflict had recently multiplied.

Continue reading the main story

• In pictures: Umayyad Mosque burns
  

Many of the attacks had taken place on towns around the highway which runs through Maarat al-Nuaman and links the capital Damascus to the second city, Aleppo, the New York-based group said.

Cluster bomb canisters and sub-munitions shown in online videos showed "damage and wear patterns produced by being mounted on and dropped from an aircraft", HRW said.

It identified them as Russian-made RBK-250 series cluster bomb canisters with AO-1SCh fragmentation bomblets.

But the Syrian army denied it had any such weapons, and accused "some news outlets that are complicit in the bloodletting in Syria" of "publishing false reports."

"Such reports are baseless and a part of a disinformation campaign," it insisted.

Syria has not signed up to a convention, brought into law in 2010 and joined by more than 100 countries, to ban cluster bombs because of the threat they pose to civilians.

Steve Goose, HRW's arms director, on Sunday called on Syria to "immediately stop all use of these indiscriminate weapons that continue to kill and maim for years".

Syria October 15, 2012, 2:46 pm4 Comments
Heat-Seeking Missiles in Syria: The SA-7 in Action with Rebels


By C. J. CHIVERS

Throughout this year, as fighting intensified in Syria and antigovernment fighters grew in numbers and in strength, it had seemed inevitable that they would acquire heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles and turn them against the Syrian military aircraft.

This blog had documented the part-by-part appearance in rebel hands of one old heat-seeking system, known as the SA-7. Since midsummer there have been occasional sightings of full systems but none, as far as we know, showing the system in actual use.

Two videos recently posted on YouTube suggest that what had been expected is now occurring.

The first video, embedded below and posted today, shows what would appear to be a two-man hunter-killer team with an SA-7, waiting for an aircraft from hiding behind a building. Matthew Schroeder, an analyst who covers missile proliferation and the arms trade at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, noted “the glint of the missile’s seeker head, so the missile is in the tube.” This, along with the visible battery and grip stock, indicates that the system is complete.The man with the SA-7 does not loiter; he is soon picked up by another man on a light motorcycle.



The second video shows what appears to be a weapon of the same class being fired at a passing fixed-wing jet. The video is not perfect. And it is not possible in the jerky and grainy video to determine which type of missile is in use, but at about 2:02 its audio seems to capture the sound of a missile’s launching and then shows the telltale corkscrew signature of the weapon through the air.



The missile appears to miss and – from here things become less clear – it is possible that the video shows lingering flares from the area where the missile traveled in flight. This might be the signature of a countermeasure system in the targeted aircraft, which dumped the flares to confuse and thwart the missile’s seeker head.

These videos were shared this morning with The New York Times by Damien Spleeters (@damspleet), a Belgian arms researcher and an occasional contributor to At War.

Mr. Spleeters has set up and maintains a map of sightings of man-portable air-defense systems, or Manpads (to use the security world’s clunky acronym) in Syria. This has become something of an Internet trap line for missile sightings, and a reader that Mr. Spleeters does not know, Mads Dahl (@massdall), alerted him to these new videos.

The videos have not been verified. Their contents cannot be readily confirmed. But they do appear authentic and to show what analysts have expected to see for some time: evidence of Manpads in use by Syria’s rebels.

A few points of context can help decipher what the sightings might mean.

First, the SA-7 is an old system. Many commentators tend to say that because it is old, its battery might lack adequate charge to activate the system, acquire a target and initiate the launching. In other words, old SA-7s might not fire. That may be so, but there is ample evidence that many old SA-7s do in fact fire, as was seen last year in Libya, where SA-7s from the 1980s were captured by fighters opposed to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and fired several times.

While battery life is an issue worth considering, a more relevant issue for the conflict might be the capabilities of the weapon. The SA-7 is an early Soviet entrant into the Manpads field. It is a dated system, it can be employed from a narrower engagement window than a more up-to-date system, and it is vulnerable to countermeasures. These systems are generally regarded as being less effective against modern military jets than they are against helicopters, or, for that matter, civilian aircraft.

The above reasons are among many reasons why aviation security circles worry intensely over the potential spread of SA-7s from any nation that holds them, and why many Western countries have encouraged militaries to consider destroying the old stock. After all, what value to a modern state is a weapon that has limited utility in war, but could be a terrible weapon for a terrorist or inexperienced guerrilla who turns an SA-7 toward a lumbering passenger jet?

Second, Manpads are not the only means of bringing down aircraft. Many heavy machine guns were designed for this purpose, and can work well against lower-elevation targets, as has been seen at the Abu Ad Duhur air base and in this video, which shows, at 0:22, a helicopter assuming the glide path of a pallet of cement blocks after apparently being struck on a rotor by a machine-gun round.

---

Kills at Least 8, Including Top Security Official
An explosion in a Christian section of Lebanon’s capital killed an official viewed by Syria as an enemy and was the most provocative violence in Lebanon tied to the Syrian conflict

Lebanon: Protests After Beirut Bomb Blast


Protesters take to the streets across Lebanon after a bombing which killed eight people including a senior intelligence official.


11:54am UK, Saturday 20 October 2012

A protester in the southern city of Sidon watches tyres burn

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Protesters in Lebanon have burnt tyres and set up roadblocks amid growing anger over a car bomb that killed eight people, including one of the country's top security officials.

There are fears that the devastating attack threatens to bring Syria's civil war to Lebanon.

Lebanese troops have been guarding road junctions and official buildings in the capital, Beirut, as the Lebanese cabinet held an emergency meeting to decide on what, if any, action to take.

A day of mourning has been declared for the victims of the Beirut blast which included Brigadier General Wissam al Hassan, head of a Lebanese intelligence department and an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Dozens were left wounded in the blast in Beirut's mainly Christian Achrafieh neighbourhood.
Politics in Lebanon and Syria are closely connected
Many observers said the attack appeared to have links to the 19-month civil war in Syria.

Brig-Gen al Hassan, 47, headed an investigation over the summer that led to the arrest of former information minister Michel Samaha, one of Mr Assad's most loyal allies in Lebanon.

Mr Samaha, who is in custody, is accused of plotting a campaign of bombings and assassinations to spread sectarian violence in Lebanon at Syria's behest.

Also indicted in the August sweep was Syrian Brigadier General Ali Mamlouk, one of Mr Assad's highest aides.

Lebanon's fractious politics are closely entwined with Syria's.

The countries share political and sectarian ties and rivalries, often causing events on one side of the border to have a "knock on" effect on the other.

Lebanon's opposition is an anti-Syrian bloc, while the prime minister and much of the government are pro-Syrian.

The civil war in Syria has laid bare Lebanon's sectarian tensions as well.

Many of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Shi'ite Muslims have tended to back Mr Assad.

Brig-Gen al Hassan was a Sunni whose stances were widely seen to oppose Syria and Shi'ite Hezbollah, the country's most powerful ally in Lebanon.

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Blame over Beirut bombing focuses on Syrian leader



By David Ariosto, CNN
October 21, 2012 -- Updated 0126 GMT (0926 HKT)








Lebanese security forces inspect damage to Beirut's predominantly Christian district of Ashrafiyeh on Saturday, October 20. A car bomb blast on Friday killed the top security official linked to the anti-Damascus camp in Lebanon, where leaders pointed a finger of blame at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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A damaged building stands Saturday with windows knocked out and belongings from within strewn about.
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A worker on Saturday sweeps shattered glass outside damaged shops.
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Lebanese men block a road leading to the airport in Beirut to protest against the assassination of top intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan in a blast on Friday, October 19.
Lebanese people take part in a candlelight vigil near the site of the car bomb blast.
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A Lebanese firefighter douses cars at the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh.
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A car burns after an explosion in Beirut. The blast hit the Ashrafiyeh district in East Beirut, a predominantly Christian area.
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Lebanese firefighters douse burning vehicles.
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Lebanese Red Cross aid workers help a wounded man. Dozens were injured, some seriously, and others were slightly hurt, a senior hospital official said.
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Lebanese security forces and rescue workers gather at the site of the explosion.
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Lebanese men evacuate a wounded woman from the scene of the car bomb.
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Lebanese police stand by a crater as they secure the site.
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Civil defense members help a wounded man in the immediate aftermath.
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A wounded woman is carried from the area. The attack did not target any political figure, the Lebanese National News Agency says.
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A civil defense member helps a wounded man.
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A wounded woman gets assistance.
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Lebanese soldiers secure the area around the mangled wreckage of the blast.
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A woman is helped by a Lebanese soldier after the explosion.
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Relatives comfort a wounded woman at the site.
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A Lebanese soldier secures the area as a civil defense member helps an injured woman.
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Syrian forces open fire on anti-al-Assad protesters across border, state media reports
  
• Lebanese PM Mikati is staying in power, despite his offer to resign
  
• Mikati is backed by Hezbollah
  
• Blame over Lebanese intel chief's death is largely aimed at Syrian regime
  

(CNN) -- A day after the most high-profile assassination in Lebanon in more than seven years, accusations over who's responsible homed in on the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire supported by Hezbollah, announced Saturday that he plans to stay in power, despite having offered his resignation to appease those who claimed al-Assad was behind Friday's car bombing that killed Lebanon's intelligence chief, Brig. Gen Wissam al-Hassan.

"To hold me personally responsible for the assassination is unfair," he told reporters. "I have always respected and admired al-Hassan, who has done great things for Lebanon."

Mikati's decision to stay heads off a power vacuum in Lebanon's government, as sectarian tensions flare particularly as the effects of Syria's 19-month civil war spill across borders and threaten the region.


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Syria under suspicion for Lebanon attack

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Sunni community will 'unleash its wrath'







Beirut car bomb: Suspects at-large still
The senior Lebanese security official and at least nine others died in the explosion in the typically peaceful and cosmopolitan Ashrafiyeh district of East Beirut.

Lebanon on edge after attack

The attack -- in broad daylight, at one of the capital's busiest intersections -- left a crater more than a meter deep and was just the kind of thing al-Hassan had worked to prevent.

But beyond its potential impact on Lebanon's security, al-Hassan's life and death illustrates the deep political and religious fissures within Lebanese society, believed to be exacerbated by its neighbor's internal conflict, where at least another 123 people were killed Saturday amid fighting that has left tens of thousands dead.

Saad Hariri, a Lebanese opposition leader and former prime minister, told CNN that he had no doubt that the Syrian leader was responsible for Friday's deadly strike.

Hariri accused al-Assad of "killing his own people" and said "he will not think twice" about killing Lebanese in order to protect himself.

"The message from Damascus today is anywhere you are, if you are against the regime from Lebanon, we will come and get you. ... No matter what you try to do, we will keep on assassinating the Lebanese," said Hariri, who blames the 2005 assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, on the Assad government.

Syrian armed forces opened fire from across the border on anti-al-Assad and anti-Hezbollah protesters in northern Lebanon, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported. The protesters burned al-Assad's effigy and Hezbollah flags before being fired upon, NNA reported, citing its reporters at the scene.

Walid Jumblatt, a Druze politician and influential power broker in Lebanon's rough-and-tumble political landscape, also echoed Hariri's comments.

Jumblatt told CNN he blames Friday's murder on the Assad government and has expressed concerns over his own safety.

He said the Syrian-backed murderers of al-Hassan "can hit you any place anywhere."

"I don't feel safe," he added, talking to CNN in his hillside home outside the capital.

When asked if he thought al-Hassan's killers would be captured, Jumblatt replied: "Sometimes you have justice -- I mean procedural justice according to the rules, and sometimes you have natural justice when one day the killer will be killed. One day the killer will die. You just have to be patient and one day you will see your enemy floating in front of you in the river."

Under Assad, Syria has continued to influence the politics of its smaller neighbor despite withdrawing troops from Lebanon in 2005 following Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Last year, Damascus maneuvered to topple Hariri's son Saad as prime minister by persuading Jumblatt to abandon the majority coalition in parliament, which left Hezbollah to play kingmaker in protracted negotiations to form a new government.

Tensions have since boiled over in Lebanon following Friday's attack as enraged citizens blocked roads and clashes erupted in the port city of Tripoli between supporters and foes of Syria's government.

The Lebanese president declared Saturday a day of national mourning in decrying the "abominable crime" in a statement.

But the prime minister's failure to appear publicly after the explosion elicited criticism, including from one protester in Beirut who said, "This government is killing us by not doing anything. It is not acting like a government. It is like a ghost government."

The U.N. Security Council also weighed in Friday, calling for "the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of this crime" to be brought to justice.

Thirteen Dead In Damascus Car Bomb Blast


An explosion hits the Old City quarter in the Syrian capital as President Bashar al Assad begins talks with a UN peace envoy.


1:52pm UK, Sunday 21 October 2012

Car wreckage pictured after the blast in Damascus

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

At least 13 people have been killed after a car bomb exploded near a police station in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

A state official speaking from the scene said an explosives-rigged taxi blew up 50 metres from the Bab Touma neighbourhood's main police station.

The mainly Christian neighbourhood is a popular attraction for shoppers and inhabited mostly by the Christian minority.

Pro-government television said seven people had been killed and 15 wounded.
Mr Assad has met with UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 10 had died and dozens were wounded, adding that it was unclear if the victims and the wounded were civilians or policemen.

A reporter at the scene said he saw blood stains in the street and on the pavements. He said glass windows of several shops in the area were shattered and at least four cars were completely burnt.

The blast came as President Bashar al Assad opened talks with visiting UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to broker a truce to start during a Muslim holiday this week.

Mr Brahimi told reporters following a closed-door meeting that he had earlier met with unidentified Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country to consult on his truce plan.

He said he received "promises" but not a "commitment" from them to honour the cease-fire.

"There is a promise to stop fighting," he said, referring to the opposition.

He noted that he "found an overwhelming response" from Mr Assad's opponents to his cease-fire plan and that "all of them have said that it's a good idea which they support."

State news agency Sana said the president supported "any sincere effort to find a political solution to the crisis, based on respect for Syrian sovereignty and rejecting foreign intervention".

21 October 2012 Last updated at 22:38

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• 
  

Jordan 'al-Qaeda plot uncovered'


Police issued photos of those detained
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

• Rise of Jordan Salafist Jihadists
  
• Jordan in Syria crisis aid plea
  

The authorities in Jordan say they have arrested 11 militants alleged to have planned attacks on Western diplomats and shopping centres in the capital.

Government spokesman Samih Maayta said the suspects were arrested in the past few days and were in police custody.

Mr Maayta said the men had brought in weapons from neighbouring Syria, and al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq had helped them manufacture home-made explosives.

The plot was said to have been in preparation since June.

Jordanian intelligence were monitoring the plotters, including their experiments with explosives, a senior official told the BBC's Frank Gardner.

The official told the BBC "this was an al-Qaeda plot timed for the anniversary of the 9 November attacks on Amman in 2005".

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent

---

From the details given out by the Jordanian authorities this would appear to be the most serious al-Qaeda plot to target Jordan since the multiple hotel bombings of 2005.

A senior Jordanian official has told the BBC that Jordanian intelligence had the plotters under surveillance from day one. Even so, the plot's international dimensions will alarm diplomats and governments throughout the region.

It seems mortar bombs were being sourced from Syria, technical bomb-making expertise from al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq, and detailed on-the-ground reconnaissance of the targets to hit gathered in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The range of those targets is both ambitious and terrifying, from shopping malls, to embassies, foreign tourists and hotels.

As the plot is analysed in detail it will likely add urgency to calls in the region to resolve the conflict next door in Syria, which is now spilling ever more across its borders.

The plotters "had planned to bring TNT explosives and mortar shells from Syria", state news agency Petra said.

The targets included "shopping centres, residential areas, diplomats and foreign nationals".

Jordan border Syria and is home to at least 200,000 Syrians who have fled the conflict, more than any other country in the region.
Elections ahead
The aim of the attack was to "create a highly destructive explosive that would cause the highest number of casualties and extensive physical damage", Petra said.

News of the alleged plot came as the country prepares to vote for a new parliament in January.

Jordan is a key ally of the US in the region.

It has often arrested terror suspects, analysts say.

It has its own militant Salafist movement - ultra-conservatives who want Islamic Sharia law to be implemented in Jordan as a prelude to an Islamic state.

Some members have been convicted of trying to recruit people to fight against US-led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, plotting attacks against US and Israeli embassies in Amman, or planning to kill foreign tourists.

In 2005, a suicide bombing of three hotels in Amman killed 60 people.

****************

Another Country embroiled in the Middle East crisis. Many refugees from Syria have been accepted by Jordan .

24 October 2012 Last updated at 18:20





Syria government 'agrees to Eid al-Adha ceasefire'





Lakhdar Brahimi: "If this initiative works, we hope to build on it and aim for a lasting and solid ceasefire"

Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Turkish town scarred
  
• Echoes of Spanish civil war
  
• No-man's land
  

Syria's government and most opposition groups have agreed to a ceasefire during this weekend's Eid al-Adha holiday, the UN's peace envoy has said.

Lakhdar Brahimi said he hoped to use the lull in fighting to "discuss a longer and more effective ceasefire".

However, Syria's foreign ministry said the truce had not been agreed, and it would announce a decision on Thursday.

Rebels were split over the ceasefire plan, with one jihadist group saying it would not observe it.

The al-Nusra Front, a shadowy group that says it has carried out several high-profile bomb attacks, said it would not be tricked into playing "filthy games".

The main armed rebel group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), said any ceasefire observed by the government would be reciprocated.

But the group's Gen Mustafa al-Sheikh added: "It is impossible that the regime will implement the truce, even if it says it will."

Eid al-Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice, commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as proof of obedience to God.

In other developments:

• Syrian state TV says a car bomb has exploded in Damascus, killing six people and injuring 20 others
  
• BBC reporters in Damascus say warplanes have been flying over the capital and firing on some areas
  
• Opposition forces and the government blame each other for the killing of at least 16 civilians in Douma, a north-western suburb of the capital
  

Government divisions
Mr Brahimi has travelled across the Middle East over the past two weeks to promote his plan to use a ceasefire to kickstart a political process.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Jon Leyne BBC Middle East correspondent, Cairo

---

Lakhdar Brahimi's surprise announcement of a Syria ceasefire raises as many questions as it answers.

As he made clear, while he believes the Syrian government has agreed to the ceasefire, only some of the rebel groups are on board. There are so many different rebel groups it may be impossible to win unanimous agreement from them. It could also be true that the Syrian government actually has more interest in a ceasefire, while it remains in power.

There is also the question of when the ceasefire would come into force - some Arab countries begin the Eid al-Adha holiday on Thursday; others, including Syria, mark it from Friday - and how long it would last. Nevertheless, this does seem to be a rare glimmer of good news in a conflict which has been getting more intense by the day.

"There is agreement from the Syrian government for a ceasefire during the Eid," he told reporters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

"Other factions in Syria that we were able to contact - heads of fighting groups - most of them also agree on the principle of the ceasefire."

Mr Brahimi later briefed the UN Security Council, and they announced that they supported his plan.

Shortly after his announcement, the Syrian foreign ministry said the government was still studying the proposal and would announce its "final position" on Thursday.

But Russian diplomats said they had "indications" that Damascus would approve the plan.

Some analysts say divisions among the rebels over the ceasefire are just one part of the problem because there are also differences of opinion within the government.

While politicians might approve a ceasefire, the army and security officials are viewed by some as more likely to object and continue to push for a military solution.
Lebanon concern
The leader of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition coalition, told the Associated Press he had little hope the truce would take hold.




The BBC's Tim Whewell reports from Marea, where the threat of helicopters distracts funeral-goers

"This regime, we don't trust it, because it is saying something and doing something else on the ground," said Abdelbaset Sayda.

Earlier this week the UN's head of peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, revealed he had started to make plans to send an observer force to Syria should a lasting ceasefire be agreed.

A ceasefire negotiated in April by Mr Brahimi's predecessor, Kofi Annan, broke down within days despite the presence of unarmed UN monitors.

The short-lived truce was followed by a dramatic escalation in the conflict.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that a power vacuum in neighbouring Lebanon could be exploited by Syria and create "even greater instability".

Lebanon's government was plunged into crisis after a senior security official was killed on Friday in a bomb attack that was blamed on Syria.

Syria: Army 'Shells City' Before Ceasefire


Syrian troops have reportedly shelled southern Damascus, hours before a ceasefire is due to come into force.


10:37pm UK, Thursday 25 October 2012

Residents walk near an area shelled by pro-government forces

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  Witnesses say Syrian troops have opened fire on a district in Damascus, hours after the country's army agreed to a ceasefire.
  
  The military and the main rebel force agreed to halt military operations from Friday for the Muslim holiday weekend.
  
  But troops stationed on a mountain close to the capital Damascus are said to have shelled Hajar al Aswad, a neighbourhood which is home to many refugees.
  
  In a statement read on state television after the ceasefire was agreed, the Syrian army said it would still respond to gunfire or roadside bombs and keep rebels from bolstering their positions or getting supplies.
  
  "Military operations will cease on Syrian territory as of Friday morning until Monday," the statement said.
  
  "(The military) reserves the right to respond to continuing attacks on civilians and government forces by armed groups."
  
  A Free Syrian Army commander said rebels would also retaliate if they were attacked during Eid al Adha. They also demanded the release of detainees by Friday.
  
  General Mustafa al Sheikh said: "We will respect the ceasefire from Friday morning if the Syrian army does the same. But if they fire a single shot, we will respond with 100. So we reserve the right to respond."
  
  However, the spokesman of Islamist Ansar al Islam, Abu Moaz, said his fighters will not commit to the ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.
  
  Mr Brahimi proposed a four-day ceasefire for the Muslim holiday, saying it could lead to a longer truce and political negotiations between the sides.
  
  Rebel forces have dismissed the idea, saying they don't trust the regime of President Bashar Assad to stick to its promises.
  
  Abu Moaz also said the fighters doubt the government will honour the truce.
  
  If followed through, a ceasefire would mark the first real halt in the 19-month conflict that human rights groups say has killed more than 35,000 people.
  
  Other rebel groups have also refused to accept the proposal, with the radical Islamic Al Nusra Front saying it will not lay down its weapons and denouncing the truce as a "trick".
  
  Fighting continued to rage on the eve of the holiday, with rebel forces clashing with regime troops as they moved into new areas of the second city of Aleppo and battles also continuing elsewhere.
  

26 October 2012 Last updated at 18:15

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Damascus car bombing wrecks Syria Eid al-Adha truce





Syrian state TV showed devastation at the Damascus blast site

Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  
• Turkish town scarred
  

The Syrian capital Damascus has been hit by a car-bomb attack, shattering a four-day ceasefire that had begun hours earlier to mark an Islamic holiday.

Activists said the device exploded near a playground in Daf al-Shouk, a residential area in southern Damascus.

State TV reported five people had been killed and more than 30 wounded, with children among the casualties.

The UN-brokered ceasefire began at 06:00 (04:00 GMT), but fighting has continued across the country.

The truce, to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday, was proposed by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who hoped it would lead to a peace process.

Both rebels and the army had said they would only observe the truce if the other side held their fire.
Countrywide violence
By Friday evening, UK-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 47 people had been killed throughout the country.

The organisation said 140 people had been killed the day before.

Continue reading the main story
Syria Ceasefire Attempts

• Arab League: Observers deployed in late December to oversee compliance with a peace plan that included an end to violence, the withdrawal of troops from the streets and the release of political prisoners. But the monitoring mission was suspended after little more than a month as fighting continued.
  
• Kofi Annan: Six-point plan for Syria included the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from urban areas, and an open-ended ceasefire that was meant to take effect on 12 April and lead to peace talks. But neither side fully adhered to the plan and violence continued to escalate.
  
• Lakhdar Brahimi: New UN-Arab League envoy toured the Middle East in October, seeking support for a ceasefire over the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which starts 26 October. The truce, backed by the UN Security Council, aims to kick-start political reconciliation.
  

The SOHR, one of the most prominent groups monitoring Syrian casualties, says its reports are impartial. However, its information cannot be independently verified.

The BBC's James Reynolds on the Turkey-Syria border says fighting has been going on throughout the day near the frontier.

The observatory said fighting began about four hours after the ceasefire began at a military base near Maaret al-Numan town, close to the main road between Damascus and Aleppo.

There were also sporadic clashes in suburbs of Damascus and the cities of Homs and Idlib.

But the car bomb in Damascus appears to have wrecked any lingering chance that the truce might take hold.

Footage of the aftermath showed several destroyed vehicles lying among rubble from badly damaged buildings.

State media blamed the attack on "terrorists".

Activists said the bombing appeared to target civilians in a largely Sunni area where some have supported the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Opposition activist group the Local Coordination Committees said crowds had come out to protest against the government after the bombing. Their claims could not be verified.

According to activists, more than 35,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, while the UN estimates that at least 20,000 have died.

The UN and Arab League have tried several times to broker a ceasefire, but the truces have fallen apart shortly after coming into force.

Mr Brahimi, who acts as envoy for the UN and Arab League, travelled across the Middle East to promote the latest ceasefire plan.

On Wednesday the UN Security Council backed the proposal and expressed hope that it would lead to a broader dialogue.

The Security Council has so far not commented on Friday's violence.

I READ IN GUARDIAN THAT REBELS MADE ADVANCES IN ALEPPO NEIGHBOURHOODS

26 October 2012 Last updated at 22:10

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Damascus car bombing wrecks Syria Eid al-Adha truce





Syrian state TV showed devastation at the Damascus blast site

Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  
• Turkish town scarred
  

The Syrian capital Damascus has been hit by a car-bomb attack, shattering a four-day ceasefire that had begun hours earlier to mark an Islamic holiday.

Activists said the device exploded near a playground in Daf al-Shouk, a residential area in southern Damascus.

State TV reported five people had been killed and more than 30 wounded, with children among the casualties.

The UN-brokered ceasefire began at 06:00 (04:00 GMT), but fighting has continued across the country.

The truce, to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday, was proposed by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who hoped it would lead to a peace process.

Both rebels and the army had said they would observe the truce only if the other side held their fire.
Countrywide violence
By Friday evening, UK-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least 60 people had been killed throughout the country.

Continue reading the main story
Syria Ceasefire Attempts

• Arab League: Observers deployed in late December to oversee compliance with a peace plan that included an end to violence, the withdrawal of troops from the streets and the release of political prisoners. But the monitoring mission was suspended after little more than a month as fighting continued.
  
• Kofi Annan: Six-point plan for Syria included the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from urban areas, and an open-ended ceasefire that was meant to take effect on 12 April and lead to peace talks. But neither side fully adhered to the plan and violence continued to escalate.
  
• Lakhdar Brahimi: New UN-Arab League envoy toured the Middle East in October, seeking support for a ceasefire over the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which starts 26 October. The truce, backed by the UN Security Council, aims to kick-start political reconciliation.
  

Car bomb shatters Syrian truce

The daily death toll reported by activist groups has regularly exceeded 150 in recent weeks.

The BBC's James Reynolds on the Turkey-Syria border says fighting went on throughout the day near the frontier.

The SOHR, one of the most prominent groups monitoring Syrian casualties, reported various outbreaks of violence in Damascus, Homs and Idlib.

The group said fighting broke out four hours after the ceasefire began at a military base near Maaret al-Numan town, close to the main road between Damascus and Aleppo.

Later, a car-bomb attack in the southern city of Deraa killed three soldiers, said the observatory.

The group says its reports are impartial. However, its information cannot be independently verified.
Widespread protests
The car bomb in Damascus appears to have wrecked any lingering chance that the truce might take hold.

Footage of the aftermath showed several destroyed vehicles lying among rubble from badly damaged buildings.

State media blamed the attack on "terrorists".

Activists said the bombing appeared to target civilians in a largely Sunni area where some have supported the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Opposition activist group the Local Coordination Committees said crowds had come out to protest against the government after the bombing. Their claims could not be verified.

Other reports claimed there were widespread anti-government protests after Friday prayers.

Demonstrations are now a rare occurrence in Syria, with many protesters fearing for their safety.

According to activists, more than 35,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, while the UN estimates that at least 20,000 have died.

The UN and Arab League have tried several times to broker a ceasefire, but the truces have fallen apart shortly after coming into force.

Mr Brahimi, who acts as envoy for the UN and Arab League, travelled across the Middle East to promote the latest ceasefire plan.

On Wednesday the UN Security Council backed the proposal and expressed hope that it would lead to a broader dialogue.

The Security Council has so far not commented on Friday's violence.

27 October 2012 Last updated at 10:58

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Syria shelling further undermines Eid al-Adha 'truce'


Syrian rebels and the military had both said they would respond if attacked
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  
• Turkish town scarred
  

The Syrian army has heavily shelled several areas of the country, say activists, despite a ceasefire marking the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Shelling and shooting were reported in the capital, Damascus, in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor and in rebel-held areas of northern Aleppo province.

The UN-brokered ceasefire came into force on Friday but was soon shattered by fighting and car bomb in Damascus.

Nearly 150 people died on the first day of the truce, activists say.

The daily death toll reported by activist groups has regularly exceeded 150 in recent weeks.

An activist in the Douma suburb of the capital said the army had started firing mortars in the early morning on Saturday.

"I have counted 15 explosions in one hour and we already have two civilians killed," Mohammed Doumany told Reuters news agency.

"I can't see any difference from before the truce and now," he added.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - one of the most prominent groups monitoring Syrian casualties - said eight people had been killed so far on Saturday, and that government warplanes had been seen flying over Aleppo.
'Failure for Brahimi'
The four-day ceasefire had been negotiated by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who hoped it would lay the groundwork for a full peace process.

But both rebels and the army said they would observe the truce only if the other side held their fire.

A commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Aleppo, which holds parts of the city, said the truce was a failure for Mr Brahimi, and had been "dead before it started".




Syrian state TV showed devastation at the Damascus blast site

"I was on several fronts yesterday and the army did not stop shelling," Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi told AFP news agency, adding that the FSA had carried out only defensive action to protect civilians.

Mr Okaidi said the Syrian people had become "guinea pigs".

"Every time there is an envoy who tries an initiative, while we know the regime will not respect it."

The Syrian army also said it had only responded in defence to attacks by rebels.

The BBC's James Reynolds, on the Turkey-Syria border, says there were many weak points in the ceasefire so no-one was expecting a sudden halt in violence.

But it now appears to be only nominal and may not continue to be practical, our correspondent adds.

Both sides still believe that force is their best option for winning the conflict, he says - the government because it has the heavier weaponry and support from Russia, and the rebels because they believe they have the backing of the public.

On Friday, a car bomb exploded near a playground in Daf al-Shouk, a residential area in southern Damascus.

State TV reported that five people were killed and more than 30 wounded. It blamed the attack on "terrorists".

Activists said the bombing appeared to target civilians in a largely Sunni area where some have supported the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Later, a car-bomb attack in the southern city of Deraa killed three soldiers, said the observatory.

According to activists, more than 35,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, while the UN estimates that at least 20,000 have died.

The UN and Arab League have tried several times to broker a ceasefire, but the truces have fallen apart shortly after coming into force

Syria: Rebel Fighters Are Becoming Radicalised


A special report by Sky News reveals that a lack of foreign intervention in Syria is leading to radicalisation of rebels fighters.


6:22am UK, Sunday 28 October 2012



Video: Sky's Alex Crawford reports from Syria
Enlarge

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By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

Sky has seen new evidence that the Syrian uprising is becoming more and more radicalised and being fought by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

The Syrian rebels have all but given up on military intervention by the West but after 18 months of grinding battle and a feeling they have been abandoned by the international community, they are making their own bombs and weapons and becoming much more self-sufficient.

There are some weapons and arms being smuggled across the borders from sympathetic Muslim neighbours.

We saw brand new rocket propelled grenade launchers with their rockets still in their plastic wrappers which had been smuggled across the Turkish border and an anti-aircraft gun which the rebels told us had come from Iraq.

But although that means that the rebels have many more weapons than they have had before, it is still small fry in comparison to the heavy weaponry, tanks and artillery employed by the regime.

What is increasingly obvious is the number of Jihad (holy war) flags and Jihad paraphernalia worn and used by the rebel fighters. The black headbands worn by many of the fighters are a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism - used by extremist groups and usually anti-Western.

The common refrain from many of the rebel fighters is that they have been forgotten by the outside world.
A cache of weapons seized by rebel fighters
A number of commanders told us they were disappointed, angry and frustrated by the lack of help from the international community.

One said: "All we get is words, not actions."

I asked him how many fighters were from outside Syria. He replied: "Most of the fighters are Syrians. I would say 90% of the fighters are Syrian. Only a few hundred in the whole of Syria are from outside the country and most of them are from sympathetic countries."

We met a Libyan medic and former rebel in his own country who said he had come to help the rebels in Syria as a fellow Muslim.

He said: "We know what it is like to suffer. I have come to help in the hospital but if I had to pick up a gun and shoot Assad soldiers, of course I would.

"The real problem here is not foreign fighters, not Al Qaeda or any other group but the regime which has done far more damage than any other group."

The rebels have been making significant gains in the north, crushing regime bases and the Assad army has been losing men as well as arms.

But the frustration by the rebels and the inaction by the international community is driving the rebels towards religious extremism.

If Assad falls, the West's lack of help may have lost them a potential ally in the Middle East and even worse, may have created an angry and resentful new enemy.

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Damascus car bombings as Syria 'ceasefire' ends


State media said the Jaramana explosion occurred outside a bakery
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  
• Turkish town scarred
  

Two car bombings in Damascus have killed at least 10 people, Syrian state media report, on the fourth day of a supposed ceasefire.

Women and children were among the victims of the two attacks in the south of the city, state TV reported.

Earlier, activists said government jets had bombed the city's Harasta district.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who brokered the truce over the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, said he regretted that both sides were not complying with it.

"The situation is bad and getting worse," he told reporters in Moscow after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

It will not discourage us because Syria is very important and the people of Syria deserve our support and interest”

End Quote Lakhdar Brahimi UN envoy to Syria
But Mr Brahimi nevertheless insisted that he would not be discouraged by the apparent failure of his initiative, which he had hoped would allow a political process to develop and lead to a permanent end to hostilities.

"It will not discourage us because Syria is very important and the people of Syria deserve our support and interest," he added. "We think this civil war must end... and the new Syria has to be built by all its sons."

Mr Lavrov said that the opposition's allies in the West and in the Middle East should realise that without dialogue with the Syrian government no solution would be found.

At least 110 people - including 39 civilians, 34 rebel fighters and 35 security forces personnel - were killed on Sunday, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group.
Heavy damage
State media said a "terrorist group" had detonated a car bomb outside a bakery in Jaramana, a predominantly Christian and Druze area of the capital.

A government official told the Associated Press that the explosion had also wounded 41 people and caused heavy damage.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an opposition activist network, said the car bomb appeared to have targeted a police station. The area was quickly cordoned off by security forces as ambulances ferried casualties to hospital, it added.

A second car bomb hit the southern district of al-Hajar al-Aswad, causing an unknown number of casualties, state TV reported later on Monday.

An earlier car bomb in Damascus during the holiday period was blamed by the authorities on Islamist militants in the rebel movement, but the opposition held the government itself responsible for the attack.

Cross-border shelling

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says there has been no real pause in hostilities in Syria since the four-day ceasefire supposedly came into force on Friday morning. More than 420 people are said to have died.

On Monday morning, videos were posted online by activists purportedly showing government aircraft bombing Harasta, an area in the north-east of Damascus. The footage also showed people being dug out of the rubble and fleeing the area.

"The army is conducting raids on agricultural lands and orchards around the capital because the rebels are trying to regroup and to strengthen their positions there," a security official told the AFP news agency.

Online videos purportedly showed people being dug out of the rubble in Harasta
Residents in Damascus told Reuters that there had been heavy bombing raids in the suburbs of Qaboun, Zamalka and Irbin overnight.

There were also reportedly air raids on towns and villages across the north-western province of Idlib, where government forces and rebels have been fighting for control of the Wadi Daif military base.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul Rahman, said the air strikes were the heaviest seen since the government started using warplanes earlier this year.

The SOHR is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be verified.

In a separate development on Monday, the Turkish military fired back after a shell fired from Syria landed near the village of Besaslan in the southern province of Hatay, state media said, amid clashes between Syrian soldiers and rebels in the nearby border town of Harim.

Turkish forces have responded to every cross-border shelling since five Turks were killed on 3 October. No injuries were reported on Monday.

According to opposition and human rights activists, more than 35,000 people have been killed since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011, while the UN estimates at least 20,000 have died.

Syria's phoney ceasefire gives way to its phoney war


It wasn't the biggest fight of the war, but it was typical. The four tank shells thumped into the rebels' position one by one. Its occupants were safe, though, having already fled fifty metres back down the road.









Image 1 of 5
It was not much of a battle, but then this was not much of a ceasefire, either Photo: Will Wintercross



Image 1 of 5
FSA fighters move through destroyed buildings in Aleppo on the front line with goverment troops Photo: Will Wintercross



Image 1 of 5
Children play on swings amongst the debris of Aleppo close to the front line where the FSA are fighting with government troops Photo: Will Wintercross



Image 1 of 5
An FSA fighter runs for cover in Aleppo on the front line with goverment troops Photo: Will Wintercross



Image 1 of 5
A brother and sister walk through the debris of Aleppo close to the front line where the FSA are fighting with government troops Photo: Will Wintercross












By Richard Spencer, Aleppo

7:33PM GMT 29 Oct 2012





The next day a fighter jet came in and finished the job.


"The regime's troops had been there three days ago," said Mohanad standing next to the remnants of the three houses in Karem Jabal, a district Aleppo. "Then we pushed them out." This was the regime's response.


No deaths, no injuries, just another street reduced to dust and shattered breeze blocks, another family in tears as their home followed so many others. It was not much of a battle, but then this was not much of a ceasefire, either.


The four days' truce, finishing notionally yesterday (mon), was like so much else in Syria'swar: neither one thing, nor the other. It was neither readily accepted nor universally rejected.


It would be wrong to say that it served no purpose at all – the number of deaths on the first two days was smaller than average for recent months. But clearly it was not a ceasefire in any meaningful sense of the term.



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Now the war of slow attrition, on the ground by the rebels, from above by the government, will continue.

On Monday, there were air attacks by the regime – at least 60 according to anti-regime activists. The Daily Telegraph witnessed them north of Aleppo but they were also experienced by towns and villages across the country. A regime shell hit a bus in a suburb of Damascus, killing eight, according to the opposition.

There was a bomb attack on the mixed Christian and Druze town of Jaramana near Damascus, most likely the work of the militant Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group with rebel sympathies but beyond the control of the Free Syrian Army's command structure, such as it is. The government said ten people died. At least 80 were killed across the country.

In Aleppo, two FSA men were killed in fighting on the southern edge of the city, one of the city's now highly irregular web of front lines.

More were injured, with one man with terrible gunshots wounds to his groin carried in the morning to one of the two hospitals still working in rebel areas.

But if the ceasefire is phoney, so too is the war.

The rebels claim the air strikes are being used to prevent them consolidating their gains. That was certainly the purpose of the shelling and bombing that brought an end to the confrontation in Karem Jabal. They limit the government's retreat. But they are not intense or regular enough to push the rebels back either.

Three months ago, when the FSA stormed into Aleppo and into several suburbs of Damascus, it seemed an endgame was in progress.

The rebels thought they could seize Aleppo and march triumphantly south. The regime claimed the "terrorists", lured from their holes, would be crushed by its own superior weaponry and numbers. The government's mouthpieces talked of 20,000 troops marching on Aleppo and encircling it. Most are nowhere to be seen.

In Homs, the government have been "on the verge" of taking the last two rebel-held districts since February, but have so far failed to do so, and so it is in Aleppo.

On the edges of the city centre, a hundred yards from a regime-held police base, a rebel named Mohammed Zachariah could only say that the battle had not moved for the month he had been fighting it.

Negotiators were trying to persuade the police and soldiers to defect.

Just 13 had done so. The rest remained.

"I don't think we are going to attack," he said. "I don't know why."

Shots rang out nearby, but from where and at whom they were aimed was unclear.

It may be that both sides simply do not have the resources to fight for a city the size of Aleppo or even a country the size of Syria.

One of the main rebel commanders in Aleppo, Abdulaziz Salameh, promised in August the city would become Stalingrad before he retreated. But epic battles are fought with armies of hundreds of thousands. Here talk of such numbers seem fanciful – there may be no more than a few thousand on either side.

As with all phoney wars, great victories are still plotted. The rebels have ground out small victories in towns along the Turkish border, including one which has cut the road resupplying the regime in Aleppo.

But there is no decisive action in sight, and many Syrians are left simply negotiating the grinding stalemate as best they can.

Just 300 yards from the front line, a squad of children played on a swing overlooked by houses with holes in their balconies and anxious mothers looking down from scarred rooftops. Adel Abu Ghaith, 28, said he had moved his wife and child to his parents' home behind the government's lines when the shelling started, and on Sunday moved back once gunfire hit there too.

It was not that he preferred the rebels, he said. It was all a question of which area seemed safer. He himself was neutral. "I depend on God, since it is best to depend on Him," he said. "We hope God will make a victory for truth. But what the truth is, is not yet clear.

Syrian General 'Assassinated' In Damascus


As fighting rages in Damascus, the regime blames Air Force General Abdullah Mahmud al-Khalidi's death on "terrorist groups".


2:34pm UK, Tuesday 30 October 2012

A sniper aims at government forces in Aleppo

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A Syrian air force general has reportedly been assassinated in Damascus as air strikes pounded rebel enclaves and fighting raged in the capital.

State television claimed that Abdullah Mahmud al-Khalidi was killed by "armed terrorist groups" in the Rukn al-Din district of Damascus.

His death was "part of their campaign to target national personalities and scientists", the report claimed but it gave no further details.

The general was shot dead on Monday evening as he left a friend's house, a security source told the AFP news agency.
A Syrian refugee camp near the border with Turkey
News of the killing came after regime warplanes launched their heaviest air strikes to date, with more than 60 raids on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The watchdog said raids on Tuesday had hit rebel-held areas in the suburbs of Damascus and the town of Maaret al-Numan. There was also fighting in Homs, Aleppo and the southern province of Daraa.

Three children were among four civilians killed in Maarat al-Numan, which is a key army supply route between Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo.

Regime forces have been battling with rebels for weeks as they attempt to secure control of the area.

There were also clashes between rebel forces and troops backed by Palestinian fighters at the Yarmuk Palestinian camp near the capital.

There were no initial reports of casualties, although activists on the ground reported violent fighting.
Opposition forces capturing a tank near Aleppo
The latest developments came the day after the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, during which it is believed that more than 500 people died.

There are more than half a million Palestinian refugees living in Syria - around 148,000 in Yarmuk - and their leadership is largely supportive of President Bashar al Assad's regime.

A proposed ceasefire over the Eid holiday collapsed amid opposition car bombings and government air strikes.

Sky News has learnt that a lack of foreign intervention has led to rebel fighters becoming more radicalised, making their own IED's and smuggling weapons across the Turkish border.

The UN-Arab League peace envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, is due in China later to try and revive efforts to stop the violence.

On a visit to Moscow on Monday he described the situation as "bad and getting worse".

Mr Brahimi is expected to make new proposals for a peace deal at the UN Security Council in November. All the plans put forward so far have been vetoed by Russia and China.

31 October 2012 Last updated at 10:24

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Electrical fire at Saudi wedding kills 25


A women-only marquee is believed to have been set on fire
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At least 25 people have died and 30 others were hurt in a fire at a wedding in eastern Saudi Arabia, officials say.

Hundreds were inside the courtyard of a home in the village of Ain Badr, in the Abqaiq region, when the blaze began.

A high-voltage power line reportedly fell down and sent sparks flying after it was hit by celebratory gunfire.

The power line is also believed to have touched a metal door at the only exit from the courtyard, causing the electrocution of many of the victims.

Most of those killed and injured are reported to have been women.

The local newspaper al-Youm cited Civil Defence chief Gen Abdullah Khsheiman as saying a women-only marquee was set on fire.


Women are separated from men at weddings in Saudi Arabia in line with the kingdom's strict rules on gender segregation.

A photograph of the aftermath posted online showed a large courtyard strewn with chairs and a pole in the middle supporting strings of lights.

Survivors have been taken to the Aramco and Central Abqaiq hospitals.

Civil Defence spokesman Col Mohammed al-Ajami said the governor of Eastern Province, Prince Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, had ordered the authorities to investigate the incident.

The Saudi authorities last month banned the shooting of firearms at weddings - a popular tradition in tribal areas of the kingdom - according to the Reuters news agency.

In July 1999, 76 people died in a similar incident in Eastern Province.

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   Syria: explosion near Shia shrine raises spectre of sectarian strife
   

Syria was gripped by post-ceasefire violence on Wednesday, as a bomb near the country's most important Shia shrine resurrected the spectre of sectarian strife and new street battles sent mortar fire across Aleppo.








Sayyida Zainab mosque rests on the supposed burial place of Zainab, the Prophets' daughter and wife of the Caliph Ali, who is highly revered by the Shia Photo: ALAMY





By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut and Richard Spencer in Aleppo

6:34PM GMT 31 Oct 2012




The explosion near the Sayyida Zainab mosque south of Damascus was reportedly packed in a motorcycle. The mosque, a popular pilgrimage site, has been at the heart of recruitment campaigns for Iraqi Shia to go to Syria to support the regime and defend their co-religionists from the largely Sunni rebels, according to recent reports.


The London-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said that at least six people were killed, including two children.


The mosque, rebuilt by the Syrian regime's ally Iran in 1990, rests on the supposed burial place of Zainab, the Prophets' daughter and wife of the Caliph Ali, who is highly revered by the Shia.


The "Abu Al-Baraa bin Malek" rebels – a group named after a specialised cell of suicide bombers within al-Qaeda after the 2003 Iraq war, later posted a message online claiming responsibility for the attack. The explosive device was targeted at a government checkpoint close to the shrine, the message said.


The message is particularly alarming as it was a bombing of an Iraqi Shia shrine by Sunni militants that triggered the worst of the sectarian fighting of Iraq's civil war.

November 2012 Last updated at 16:24

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Syria rebels 'take key Damascus-Aleppo checkpoints'


Maarat al-Numan has been a focus of fighting as it straddles the motorway between Damascus and Aleppo
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  
• Turkish town scarred
  

Rebel attacks on army checkpoints on the main road between Syria's biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, have left 28 government troops dead, reports say.

Five opposition fighters were also killed in the attacks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group.

They came as regime helicopters and jets carried out air strikes in eastern suburbs of the capital and elsewhere.

These often drop barrels of TNT, which are inaccurate but cause huge damage.

Helicopter gunships strafed an area of Damascus while warplanes were in action over the capital's suburbs and in north-western Idlib province, said the SOHR.

In the past few weeks, the military has stepped up the use of warplanes where ground forces have not been able to dislodge rebel fighters.
Exposed positions
The government soldiers were killed in attacks on three army checkpoints in Idlib, said the SOHR.

They said said rebel fighters had overrun at least one of the checkpoints, near Saraqeb south-west of Aleppo, killing a large number of troops and seizing quantities of arms and ammunition.

The checkpoints are of considerable strategic importance, says the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon, but the rebels are unlikely to try to hold them.

They are exposed positions, and government forces are sure to hit back with artillery and air strikes, adds our correspondent.

Opposition gains on the ground at Saraqeb, at nearby Maarat al-Numan and elsewhere are believed to be one of the main reasons for the sharp escalation in recent days of the regime's use of its monopoly of air power.

Maarat al-Numan straddles the Damascus-Aleppo motorway and has been under bombardment by government forces since it fell to rebels on 10 October.

In Damascus, meanwhile, state-run media Sana reported that a bomb hidden in a rubbish bag had exploded near a Shia Muslim shrine, killing 11 people and wounding 39.

Sana also reported that a car bomb in another Damascus suburb, Moaddamiya, caused several casualties.

The SOHR says more than 36,000 people - among them 25,667 civilians, 9,044 security forces personnel and 1,296 rebel fighters - have been killed since protests against Mr Assad erupted in March 2011.

The SOHR is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be verified.

A video appearing to show Syrian opposition fighters killing troops at a checkpoint in Idlib province prompts war crimes claims.


2:26pm UK, Friday 02 November 2012



Video: Syrian Rebels 'Murder' Soldiers
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By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in Jerusalem

Syrian rebels are suspected of murdering a group of captured government soldiers undermining a strategic victory which gave them control of the main highway between Aleppo and Damascus.

An unverified video of the killings, believed to have been in Saraqib, shows a group of about 20 armed men wearing rebel head bands standing over at least eight captured soldiers.

One of the soldiers pleads with the militia insisting that he did not shoot anyway.

A rebel can be overheard saying "gather them together for me".

Young men, many of them already wounded, are flung into a pile and then riddled with bullets.
Fighting in Aleppo
The executions are a reminder of a similar atrocity in Aleppo in August when a group of rebels murdered local people they accused of being members of Assad’s Shabiha (ghosts) militia.

The capture of Saraqib is a significant strategic gain for the rebels. It controls the road to Damascus, and cuts the government forces main supply route to its Aleppo line.

It also severs the regime's links to Latakia, the main coastal city in the heartland of Assad's brethren in the Alawite community.

Rebel successes in the past have come from the valuable contribution of former regime soldiers who have changed sides, bringing their tactical skills with them.
Syrian refugees near the Turkish border
But recently deserters have been reluctant to contact revolutionary fighters for fear of summary execution. Last week a group of about 20 government soldiers gave themselves up in Turkey claiming asylum and saying they would not have surrendered to rebel forces for fear of retribution.

Amnesty International’s Ann Harrison, the deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said that the footage appeared to show “a potential war crime in progress”.

She said that the human rights group would continue to investigate the alleged atrocity.

The government is accused of widespread war crimes including the murder of civilians who have been found with their hands tied close to the government held air force headquarters in Aleppo.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
The rebel gains, which are reported to include a 25km radius around Saraqib, have come at a time when the exiled Syrian national Council and other groups are facing international criticism for their apparent failure to unite.

Two days ahead of key talks among the opposition in Qatar, the Syrian National Council lashed out at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent statement that it was not fully representative of the country's diverse dissident forces.

"Any discussions aimed at passing over the Syrian National Council or at creating new bodies to replace it are an attempt to undermine the Syrian revolution by sowing the seeds of division," the SNC said in a statement.

Clinton said the SNC was not representative of on-the-ground opposition forces and that it "can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition".

It is likely that Washington will be pushing for an overhaul of the opposition at a meeting in Qatar this weekend. But US influence will depend on Qatari support.

Washington contributes a pittance, and only in the form of non-lethal aid, to rebels who receive hundreds of millions of pounds in support from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, much of it donated by individuals.

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   Syrian rebels launch major assault on northern airbase
   

SYRIAN rebels were today attempting to end President Bashar al-Assad's airpower dominance by launching a major attack on a strategic northern airfield.








Black smoke rise up from bombing by a Syrian forces warplane in Taftanaz village, Idlib province, northern Syria Photo: AP





By Richard Spencer in Aleppo Province and Colin Freeman

2:22PM GMT 03 Nov 2012

23 Comments




Up to eight battallions of guerrilla fighters were said to be involved in Saturday morning's assault on the Taftanaz airfield, a key base for government attack helicopters. The move is part of a concerted effort to rob the government forces of their last major advantage in the conflict, which has seen helicopters and warplanes inflict heavy damage on largely defenceless rebel positions.


Videos released online by anti-government activists appeared to show show rebels firing rockets and smoke rising over buildings around the airfield, which lies on the main highway between Damascus and Aleppo.


The attack involved a wide coalition of rebel groups, including experienced jihadist fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamic militant group accused of links to al-Qaeda.


The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase."


Rebel fighters also attacked and briefly held an air defence position at Duwila in Idlib province, in fighting that killed an army officer and wounded eight rebels, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.



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The assault at Taftanaz comes a day before the start of a key international conference in Qatar at which the United States and its allies aim to reorganize the opposition's political leadership and unite their ranks. Washington believes that the main representative body of the opposition in exile, the Syrian National Council, is ineffective and lacks credibility with rebel fighters on the ground.

Instead, Riad Seif, a long-time dissident and liberal politician, has been touted as the potential head of a new government-in-exile dubbed the Syrian National Initiative.

In response, the SNC has accused Washington of undermining the country's revolt and "sowing the seeds of division" by seeking the overhaul.

However, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said this week that the SNC "could no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition."

Mr Seif, 66, who has been suffering from cancer for years, left Syria only a few months ago after being thrown in jail earlier in the country's uprising.

He is understood to command respect among Syrian rebels for having spoken out against the regime, although many observers doubt whether he will be able to deliver on promises to create a more broad-based opposition, reaching out to President Assad's minority Alawite sect and Kurdish political leaders.

Syrian Tanks 'Cross Into Israeli-Held Territory'


Israel says Syrian tanks have entered a demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights as video emerges of rebels under fighter jet fire.


7:00am UK, Sunday 04 November 2012



Video: Rebels 'Targeted By Fighter Jet'
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Shells have fallen on the Heights in the past

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Israel says three Syrian tanks have entered the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights for the first time in 40 years.

Israel restricted its response to complaining to the UN peacekeepers who monitor the de facto truce in the area, which was captured from Syria in 1967.

But the entry highlights the threat of the ever-worsening conflict spreading beyond its borders.

It was not immediately clear why the tanks had crossed the frontier, but Israeli media said the tanks had been in combat in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam where rebels have been trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad.

Stray ordnance has previously exploded on the Israeli side as Syrian forces have conducted operations nearby.

Rebels also launched a major assault on the Taftanaz airbase in the northern province of Idlib, which is used to deploy regime air power.

Video posted on the internet is said to show rebel fighters firing rockets at the airbase, and being fired on as they try to secure a strategic north-south corridor.
Israel seized the Golan Heights in 1967
The attack on the Taftanaz base, from where helicopter gunships raid opposition positions and rebel-held areas, comes after troops launched an unprecedented wave of air strikes to try to reverse the rebels' gains.

The video said eight battalions were taking part in the attack, including the radical Islamist Al-Nusra Front.

It showed a missile launcher mounted on the back of a pick-up truck firing on regime positions.

The development came as video emerged from Syria which purportedly shows rebels filming as an attack jet targeted them.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase".

Analysts said rebel forces clearly have the momentum in the battle for Syria's northwest.

"The rebels' gains in the north seem irreversible," said Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh's Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies department.

He said regime forces appeared to be concentrating their efforts in the region on defending the embattled commercial hub of Aleppo, which has been cut off from Damascus and the Mediterranean coast due to rebel advances in the past month.

"The problem with this strategy is that the Aleppo garrisons are now largely isolated. It is likely they will fall in the months to come," he said.

The fresh clashes came as the opposition prepared for key talks starting in Qatar on Sunday, where the United States is expected to push for a new umbrella organisation to unite the country's fractured regime opponents.