visionary Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/10/22/syria-and-beyond-live-coverage-revolution-was-won-when-wall.html#1752 A Jordanian soldier was killed earlier today on the border with Syria. Information and Culture Minister Samih Maaytah told AFP that "corporal Mohammed Abdullah al-Manasir, 25 years old, was martyred during a clash with an armed group that was trying to enter Syria". AFP continues:A military statement said that soldiers guarding the border, who have been reinforced since the beginning of the conflict in neighbouring Syria, exchanged fire during the night with two separate groups comprising 13 gunmen in total.The violence came just hours after Jordan announced it had foiled a "terrorist plot" and arrested 11 Al-Qaeda suspects who planned to carry out suicide attacks against shopping malls, foreigners and diplomatic missions in the kingdom. 1732 GMT: Syria. Earlier we reported that the closing of the supply lines at Ma'arrat al Nouman were helping the Free Syrian Army to win victories and captures bases and equipment in Idlib province (see update 1515). Now, an activist shares with us videos that suggest that some of that equipment is being redeployed to the front to attack regime forces in Ma'arrat al Nouman.The FSA won its victories in Ma'arrat al Nouman without most of this heavier equipment, without a wave of new recruits, and without the ammunition it has recently captured. Now, as the FSA puts this newly captured equipment into battle, the playing field is just that much more level. https://twitter.com/WilliamsJon 3 killed in armed clashes between pro & anti-Assad supporters in Northern Lebanon. 2 boys, 9 & 15, shot dead as Syria unrest spreads.2:24 AM https://twitter.com/RafifJ At meeting with Syrian activists last night, I heard nothing but contempt for Brahimi and his Annan Plan v3. @UN, please note. 2:36 AM https://twitter.com/JMiller_EA Syria Live: At least 17 killed in air strikes against small village east of Damascus http://bit.ly/OWdSIl9:29 AM https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint From J.Landis, who insisted US should stay away from Syria over a year!“ US Must Supply anti-Aircraft Missiles to rebels http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=15984 10:18 AM https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf A convoy headed to Maarat al-Nouman from Hama today was attacked...6 tanks and a shilka were destroyed 1:57 PM [Maret Al Nouman]City and surrounding towns still under FSA control...but the aerial shelling has been hell. 1:59 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters are advancing in al-sheikh sa`id and midan neighborhoods in aleppo city2:38 PM resistance fighters destroyed a military tank near ghassan abboud square in deirezzor 2:43 PM update: resistance fighters destroyed 3 military checkpoints today in al-qusayr countryside (homs) 3:04 PM update: resistance fighters killed +30 assad troops today in deirezzor city, mainly in al-rushdiyah neighborhood 3:06 PM https://twitter.com/SchamsEU Top French intellectuals call for a western military intervention in Syria to save democracy: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2012/10/22/assez-de-derobades-il-faut-intervenir-en-syrie_1779116_3232.html&sa=U&ei=nJeFUO_iIMa6hAe64YGoBA&ved=0CBoQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEkX_jrSRiJdIwyI6lJQxYS3w0mNw3:07 PM http://www.lccsyria.org/10388 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaBy the end of Monday the LCC managed to document 204[7] martyrs, among them 8 women and 5 children. 134 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, including more than 60 were found with signs of torture on most of them in Moadamiah 10 in Harasta and 15 due to the aerial shelling of Outaya; 23 in Aleppo; 14 in Idlib; 13 in Deir Ezzor; 9 in Daraa, including 4 who were field-executed in Busra Al-Sham; 6 in Homs; 5 in Hama; 1 in Raqqa; 1 in Banyas; and 1 in Lattakia Seems like they undercounted a bit again. Adds up to 207. http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 35,453 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 This is somewhat different than previous ideas...although I don't see it happening or how it would work. (I don't think a ceasefire would last for more than a few days at best and Syria won't allow outside troops there, and Russia would veto anything in the SC that tried to put them there.) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/10/20121022234235559153.html UN mulls Syria peacekeeping planThe United Nations is planning for a peacekeeping force in Syria should a ceasefire in that country take hold and pending a Security Council mandate, the UN peacekeeping chief has said. "I would confirm that, of course, we are giving a lot of thought to what would happen if and when a political solution or at least a cease-fire would emerge,'' Herve Ladsous told reporters on Monday. He said it was too early to say how many peacekeepers might be deployed Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday as part of his push for a ceasefire between rebels and government forces for the Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins on Friday. Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, said Assad's government supported the truce proposal but would not commit to halting fire during a the four-day holiday until Western countries and their Gulf allies stop supporting rebels and halt their weapons supplies to the anti-government fighters. Brahimi told reporters, following a closed-door meeting, that he also had held talks earlier with opposition groups inside and outside the country and received "promises'' but not a "commitment'' from them to honor the ceasefire. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters killed brigadier general ghayyath iskandar haddad and another military officer in deirezzor3:43 PM a real war is going on now in harem (idlib). resistance fighters destroyed 2 military tanks and besieged a military compound 3:58 PM resistance fighters in abukamal say the iraqi army opened fire on them when they tried to liberate a military checkpoint near border 4:34 PM resistance fighters are attacking a military compound (al-muhallab) in al-ashrafiyah neighborhood in aleppo city 5:01 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/20121022105057794364.html Defected woman general trains Syria's rebelsIn a revolution that has become associated with masculine bravado and gunfights in the streets, Zubaida al-Meeki stands out. A former Syrian army general, she became the first woman officer to publicly announce her defection from President Bashar al-Assad's army after seeing what she describes as "crimes and atrocities committed by the regime". An Alawite originally from the Occupied Golan Heights, bordering Israel, al-Meeki used to work in the army's recruitment division in Bibila, a town south of Damascus that was mostly seized by rebels in August after heavy fighting with regime forces. Al-Meeki says she had planned to defect and join the Free Syrian Army (FSA) since October last year but was unable to do so because of constant surveillance imposed on army officers by the regime. "When they suspected that I may defect, they stormed our house [and] broke the front door," she told Al Jazeera. "Then early in 2012, they fired my brother from his government job in the health administration in the city of Quneitra." But after the FSA took control of major parts of Bibila, al-Meeki approached a checkpoint manned by opposition forces and told them she wanted to join the fight against Assad's regime. "When she first approached us, we were surprised and suspicious. Here you have an Alawite woman telling you 'I would like to fight on your side'," Khaled, a co-ordinator with the FSA's Jond Allah battalion - which operates in Bibila and nearby towns - told Al Jazeera. "We made enquiries about her to make sure she is trustworthy. We found out she was." While being suspicious because she belongs to the same religious sect as Assad, Khaled learnt from his research on al-Meeki that most Alawites who were displaced from the Golan Heights were considered second-class Alawites in Syria. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/23/us-syria-crisis-bakery-idUSBRE89M0QD20121023 Syrian army shelling kills 20 at Aleppo bakery: activistsSyrian government forces killed at least 20 people on Tuesday when they shelled a bakery in a neighborhood under rebel control in the contested northern city of Aleppo, opposition activists said. The dead included women and children, they said. Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed decapitated bodies amid scattered bread loaves. Majd Nour, an opposition campaigner in Aleppo, said two shells hit the bakery, located in the eastern Hananu neighborhood, in the early afternoon. Free Syrian Army fighters were guarding it at the time, he said. "The frontline is about two kilometers away from the bakery, at Karm al-Jabal. There has been a lull since the army shelled Hananu overnight," Nour said. "It was quiet all day and suddenly Assad's forces fired three shells. The first landed near the bakery and the other two hit it," he added. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/aleppo-rebels-get-first-pay-packets Aleppo rebels get first pay packetRebels in Aleppo are lining up to receive their first paycheques since the conflict in Syria began, more than 19 months ago. Fighters have to stamp the sheet with their thumbprints before being paid $150. Colonel Abdul Salam Humaidi defected from the army after 30 years in service, because he says the regime is corrupt and sectarian. He’s now the financial official in the Revolutionary Military Council, and is overseeing the first wave of remittance. The revolutionary military councils are undertaking a project to distribute monthly salaries to the fighters, especially those who are on the front lines. We hope that we will be able to continue testing this project until fighters are secure in their livelihoods." Although it is not clear who is providing these fighters' salaries, rebels say some of the sources of the money are in Turkey, the Gulf states and Islamic institutions. http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/23/syria-despite-denials-more-cluster-bomb-attacks Syria: Despite Denials, More Cluster Bomb AttacksMounting evidence shows that Syria’s air force is continuing to drop cluster bombs on towns across five governorates despite the Syrian army’s denial that it is using them, Human Rights Watch said today. Data compiled by Human Rights Watch shows an important increase in the use of cluster bombs in the past two weeks. The cluster bomb strikes are part of an intensifying air campaign by government forces on rebel-held areas that has included dropping high explosive, fragmentation, and even improvised “barrel” bombs into populated areas. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/23/us-syria-crisis-alawites-idUSBRE89M0T420121023 Insight: Village cafe shootout spells trouble for AssadA warm autumn day in the Syrian village of Qardaha and a man walks in to a cafe where two customers are arguing. He pulls a gun; shots are fired. The newcomer is wounded and one of the other men killed. But this is no obscure local feud; it reveals frictions among President Bashar al-Assad's core supporters. For Qardaha is the ancestral home of the ruling dynasty. And the man who strode in with a pistol was the beleaguered president's cousin. Accounts vary of what happened next. But the cafe gunfight and subsequent bloodshed in the village involved only Alawites, the religious minority on which Assad has depended in his civil war against mainly Sunni rebels. The violence shows that fear and anger over his policies may be eroding that support. Some locals say Mohammed al-Assad, known as the "Mountain Sheikh" for his powerful family ties, argued in the cafe about smuggling and other rackets that underpin the economy of the Alawite hill towns around the port of Latakia; others believe he took exception to complaints about his cousin's conduct of the war and about the rising death toll the community is suffering. Damn it.... http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=449843 Turkey looking to Iran, Russia to tackle Syria crisisTurkey is turning to regional powers Iran and Russia, backers of the Damascus regime, to help it deal with Syria's bloody civil war that has spilled across its border with deadly shelling and a flood of refugees, analysts say. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the first signs last week that Ankara may be shifting the way it approaches the 19-month conflict after holding what local media called a "surprise meeting" with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Baku. Ankara has proposed to Iran establishing a set of trilateral mechanisms involving key regional players to face the Syrian crisis raging at their doorsteps. "This [trilateral] mechanism might involve Turkey, Egypt and Iran," Erdogan said. "A second mechanism could involve Turkey, Russia, Iran. A third could be made up of Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia." "This represents a significant shift in position by Ankara," Semih Idiz wrote in the English-language Hurriyet Daily News. "It was no more than a few months ago that Ankara looked coolly on any discussion on Syria which involved Russia and Iran due to their unconditional backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad," he argued. "Turkey has been desperate for 19 months," Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Istanbul's Bilgi University, told AFP. "It doesn't have enough strength to change the circumstances in Syria, or to convince Syria's allies [to find a solution], or to convince its Western allies to stand by it."A new initiative to build cooperation with key regional players may be Turkey's way of mending fences with its neighbors over Syria. "I think Turkey's leaders are rediscovering the idea of having zero problems with neighbors," a Western diplomat, familiar with Ankara's efforts, told AFP. "Turks have come to the conclusion that they need to do something as regards Russia and Iran. They have realized Turkey is not alone and even if it were a super power, Turkey has to have friends." I guess that's what happens when no one else helps them. I hope this doesn't mean they're going to go back to snuggling up to Iran again. They've been pretty angry with them. https://twitter.com/NMSyria BREAKING Explosion rocked the headquarters of the army’s fourth division, led by Maher al-Assad in Moadamiyat Damascus9:49 AM https://twitter.com/JMiller_EA Lebanon Live: While fighting stopped in Beirut yesterday, 4 were killed in Tripoli http://bit.ly/RilpPS 9:51 AM https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2 Back from TripoliLB, just some isolated shooting in bab al tabbane,rest of the city quite Lebanon10:01 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 http://backchannel.al-monitor.com/index.php/2012/10/2867/un-security-council-debates-text-on-syria-ceasefire/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=un-security-council-debates-text-on-syria-ceasefire France seeks changes to draft UN statement on Syria ceasefireFrance has proposed changes to a draft UN Security Council press statement on Syria, as UN/Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi seeks the body’s support for a cease-fire for the Eid Al Adha holiday October 26. In particular, France is seeking changes to the text that would single out the Syrian regime for greater responsibility for the violence that has killed an estimated 30,000 people, according to a copy of the revised draft provided to Al-Monitor Tuesday. “The Council must stress that the responsabilty [sic] lies first on the Syrian authorities to stop the killings,” the memo from French UN delegation to other UN Security Council members proposing their revisions states. “This has been a consistent principle of the UNSC since the start of the crisis. We thus retained the formulation of the [secretary General's] SG statement “in particular on the Government of the Syrian Arab republic as the stronger party.’” Eh, the draft is still built on delusion or unsupported optimism, even with French additions. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/oct/23/syria-un-peacekeepers-ceasefire-hopes-fade-live?commentpage=1#block-5086c48ac0e376c4a1112e2a Smoke coming from military HQResidents of Muadamiyeh confirm that something has happened in the headquarters of the Syrian regime's 4th Brigade, but they are unsure what it was. Our colleague Mona Mahmood has spoken to Suha Salih, an activist in the area. This is what she said: We started to notice dense smoke coming from the direction of the headquarters of the 4th Brigade near al-Muadamiyeh mountain. We did not hear any sound of explosion but it seems that the smoke is a result of an explosion. There are no other residential or governmental buildings where the headquarters is. Now, we can hear gunshots but it seems [the gunfire] is a collective funeral for 14 men who were detained at the checkpoints. Their bodies where found at Taboura district which is on the outskirts of Muadamiyeh. The 4th Brigade is believed to be based in an isolated area surrounded by woods, as shown on the map below. It is the only army base in the Muadamiyeh area. https://twitter.com/BBCBarbaraPlett UN says Lebanon becomes third country w/ more than 100,000 Syria registered refugees12:10 PM https://twitter.com/RafifJ What should give you goosebumps is that the civil resistance movement in Syria is making a comeback. This is courage. RESPECT10:49 AM In the coming weeks look for more anti-sectarian protests across Syria. Not just "we are one;" it's "we are one Syria." 10:50 AM LCC reports: FSA in Deir Ezzor blew up a regime forces bldg in Nazlet Radesat; many people killed and injured, incl officers 12:14 PM Syria: LCC reports from Damascus Suburbs, Artouz, that detainees from raid-arrest campaign were field-executed; 100+ homes destroyed. 12:36 PM https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2 Ceasefire declared as army units deployed in Syria Street which separates Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in TripoliLB Lebanon11:58 AM At least 10 people have been killed and 65 wounded in clashes in Tripolilb since friday, by Reuters count 12:51 PM https://twitter.com/OnlySyrian Assad's army is targeting bakeries everyday in Aleppo killing people's will to survive and live. Today 30 were killed in Hanano nighborhood1:13 PM https://twitter.com/ZeinakhodrAljaz More than 100,000 Syrians are living in refugee camps across the border in Turkey.But despite the relative safety, some families are starting to return home. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr asked them why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Oct-23/192468-syrian-opposition-council-says-will-avoid-de-baathification.ashx#axzz2A9ZPIzC6 Syrian opposition council says will avoid de-BaathificationThe opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) does not want to ban members of the ruling Baath party from political life in a post-Assad Syria, and has learnt from Iraq's mistakes, its leader said Tuesday. The opposition bloc believes that while members of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle should be put on trial, there should be no sweeping sanctions against Baathist sympathisers unless they have "engaged in criminal (activity) against the Syrian people", said SNC chairman Abdulbaset Sieda. "The rest of the government, the Baath party or other parts of the government apparatus, for us it's not a problem. We are open to that," Sieda said at a seminar in Stockholm organised by the United Nations Association in Sweden. "I think you can learn from the mistakes that have been made in Iraq and in other countries.... We are not saying this party should be eradicated." https://twitter.com/NMSyria The LCC is reporting that up to 80% of regime forces stationed across Idlib have retreated out of the city.2:16 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters have seized 2 tanks, weapons & ammunition in the town of harem (idlib)2:39 PM resistance fighters have destroyed the largest compound for assad's troops & thugs in the town of harem 2:38 PM resistance fighters have liberated 97 % of the town of harem (idlib). assad's troops are hiding in the town's citadel 2:42 PM a real war is going on now in the northern areas of idlib city 2:50 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters destroyed al-ghariyah bridge (daraa), killed 2 soldiers & arrested troops3:07 PM update: resistance fighters say assad's troops have left the town of harem (idlib) 3:11 PM update: resistance fighters destroyed 5 military checkpoints today around al-qusayr city in homs 3:16 PM there were 2 explosions in al-mazzeh military airport. clashes continue around the airport 3:22 PM https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam Shift in US position? State Dept: While we don't want vacuum in Lebanon, we support process to produce a new gov. responsive to people.2:50 PM Good opportunity in Lebanon to produce a new government. Hezbollah has no political alternatives.Pres. Suleiman, PM Mikati have upper hand 3:46 PM https://twitter.com/peterson__scott Inside Aleppo Syria, relatively quiet day of shelling means news of 20 dead in single bread line bombing swallowed by stress of daily life3:56 PM Inside Aleppo Syria, perhaps less bombing today, but witness to snipers triggered at three separate front lines. Ceasefire possible? 3:58 PM https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint Maliki truly becoming another Saddam and US watches: Iraqi vice president: Iran supplying Assad through ground convoys http://goo.gl/1P3ur4:22 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters continue to besiege an artillery base in al-sheikh suleiman in aleppo city4:17 PM resistance fighters released prisoners in harem 4:25 PM the heroes celebrate their victory in the town of harem (idlib) 4:30 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2177852&l=a513b68520&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaNumber of martyrs has risen to 189 thus far, including a family from Bokmal; 13 children and 9 women; 100 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs 50 of them in Moadamiya ;33 in Aleppo most of them in the massacre of Hanano near the bakery; 15 in Deir Ezzor; 7 of them due the shelling at Bokamal city; 13 in Homs most of them in Talkalakh; 13 in Daraa; 10 in Idlib; 3 in Hama; 1 in Lattakia and 1 in Raqqa 4:18 PM http://todayszaman.com/news-296140-anti-aircraft-shell-from-syria-hits-turkish-health-center.html Anti-aircraft shell from Syria hits Turkish health centerAn anti-aircraft shell fired from Syria hit a health center across the border in Turkey's Hatay province on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries, the private İhlas news agency reported. The shell hit the Mahmut Ekme Health Center in Hatay's Reyhanlı district. It is not yet clear whether the shell was fired by Syrian regime forces or the opposition forces. The Reyhanlı District Governor's Office said it had no immediate information on the incident. http://www.lccsyria.org/10394 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaBy the end of Tuesday the LCC managed to document 202 martyrs, including a family from Bokmal; 15 children and 10 women; 100 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs 50 of them in Moadamiya ;34 in Aleppo most of them in the massacre of Hanano near one of the bakery; 25 in Deir Ezzor; 7 of them due the shelling at Bokamal city; 13 in Homs most of them in Talkalakh; 13 in Daraa; 11 in Idlib; 4 in Hama; 1 in Lattakia and 1 in Raqqa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/24/14663587-syria-agrees-to-ceasefire-during-eid-holiday-says-mediator?lite Syria agrees to ceasefire during Eid holiday, says mediatorSyria has agreed to a ceasefire during the short Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which begins Friday, international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi told a Cairo news conference Wednesday. Brahimi, appointed by the United Nations and Arab League, said some Syrian opposition groups he had been in contact with had also agreed to a truce in principle. Brahimi didn't elaborate on how such a truce would be monitored. Reporting from Syria is difficult and claims made by either side are almost impossible to verify. “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,'' he added. This should last...a good hour or two maybe. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky update: one military checkpoint remains in salqin5:41 PM update: some assad thugs are still in the citadel of harem 5:42 PM update: there are 5 military bases in the south eastern countryside of idlib 5:44 PM update: there are military checkpoints in jisr al-shughour & ariha (idlib) 5:45 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters have liberated all saijer military compound (idlib)3:52 AM assad's barbaric thugs slaughtered a child girl & executed 4 children & 8 women in douma (damascus countryside) 4:13 AM resistance fighters attacked a military checkpoint in north al-raqqah. many dead & injured assad troops are in the national hospital 4:57 AM there were clashes near fayez street in al-raqqah city. resistance fighters killed 3 military officers (including a pilot) 5:01 AM defection of colonel nadim al-hasan to resistance fighters in aleppo 6:12 AM https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf A Beautiful mosque in MaaratAlNouman destroyed by MiG shelling 3:07 AM Massacre in Maarshoreen claims the lives of at least 5 members of the same family. Another massacre in Kafroma kills 8 as of now. 4:19 AM The FSA surrounding Wadi Aldayf military base in MaaratAlNouman tapped a convo btwn "Issa" the commander of Wadi Aldayf and some1 else. "Issa" said there were 15 injured soldiers, many decomposing bodies, no food, and that they were low on ammunition. The man on the other line told him that the FSA were listening. He told him to kill the injured, and to dump the dead bodies in a well. The FSA then announced over loud speakers that whoever surrenders will be given safe passage. 5:36 AM Aljazeera reporting that there were 10 martyrs during the shelling on the Bilal mosque in MaaratAlNouman 6:00 AM 4 religious scholars were martyred in MaaratAlNouman when a mosque was shelled earlier today. 8:02 AM https://twitter.com/CFKlebergTT Ok in short: UN's Brahimi says Syria agrees to ceasefire during id. Damascus says they're still just thinking about it.8:54 AM If Syria's regime stops violence oppositional "defensive operations" will also stop, SNC's chief Sieda tells me. 8:55 AM SNC pessimistic about Syria ceasefire. "So far we don't think the regime will accept it," SNC chief Abdulbaset Sieda tells me. 8:56 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/syria-field-hospital-video_n_2007190.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003 Syria Crisis: Horrific Scenes In Al Qusayr Field Hospital (VIDEO) (WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE) "The army of Assad. You see this child? They are a terrorist [sic]?" Dr. Qasim points at a young girl lying on a stretcher in his field hospital. Her intestines hang out of her tiny belly. The sound of gunfire and explosions resonate through the small room. "Please, look at this child," Dr. Qasim says. "This is not a fighter, not an old man, not a young man." A dead newborn baby, wounded fighters, family members mourning in agony, children who can't go to another hospital for fear of being killed by regime forces. Each is a part of daily life in Dr. Qasim's hospital. "We try to send the children to Damascus," he says. "They catch them at the check points." Photographer and videographer Robert King traveled to Syria for VICE and embedded with the Free Syrian Army. King recorded images in a field hospital in Al-Qusayr, a strategically located town in the violence-stricken province of Homs. The hospital treats both Syrian civilians and rebel fighters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE88J0X720121024 Syria says army still undecided on ceasefire moveSyria said on Wednesday its military command was still studying a proposal for a holiday ceasefire with rebels - contradicting international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi's earlier announcement that Damascus had agreed to a truce. The statement threw Brahimi's efforts to arrange a pause in the bloodshed in Syria into even more confusion, as the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad have given no indication they would be willing to sign up to it. A previous ceasefire arrangement in April collapsed within days, with both sides accusing the other of breaking it. Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League special envoy, had crisscrossed the Middle East to push the warring factions and their international backers to agree to a truce over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha - a mission that included talks with Assad in Damascus at the weekend. "After the visit I made to Damascus, there is agreement from the Syrian government for a ceasefire during the Eid," Brahimi told a news conference at the Arab League in Cairo. Within an hour, Syria's Foreign Ministry said the proposal was still being studied by the armed forces' leadership. "The final position on this issue will be announced tomorrow," a ministry statement said. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jordan-seeks-to-curb-flow-of-fighters-to-syria-8222287.html Jordan seeks to curb flow of fighters to SyriaMohammed Abu Tahawi, a top Islamist militant leader in northern Jordan, told the crowd at the party in Irbid, a city north of this capital. "If we only had a few more Nasser Dalgamounis, we would no longer have Bashar al-Assad." That rhetoric and journeys such as Dalgamouni's are raising alarm in Jordan and among its Western allies, which have cited the roles being played by Islamists and foreign fighters as a reason not to arm the rebels in Syria. Those fears shot to the forefront Sunday, when Jordan said it arrested 11 Jordanians who were plotting to use weapons procured on Syrian battlefields to attack the U.S. Embassy and other targets in Amman. Later, officials said a Jordanian soldier was killed in a firefight with militants seeking to enter Syria. Tahawi and other holy-war promoters say that at least 150 Jordanians are fighting in Syria with Jabhat al-Nusra, a militia linked to al-Qaida. Other armed ultraconservative Islamists — known here as Salafist jihadists — have been arrested as Jordan, with U.S. help, tries to buttress a porous 230-mile border with Syria. The numbers are hardly a game-changer. But as a smaller and weaker neighbor, Jordan fears the prospect of the Syrian war spilling over its borders, concerned that the jihadist forays into Syria could prompt the Assad regime to retaliate against Amman. Jordan has accepted more than 200,000 Syrian refugees, and King Abdullah II has encouraged Assad to step down. But Jordan has preserved official ties with Damascus, while viewing with apprehension the kinds of cross-border strikes that Syria has launched into Turkey, to the north, and is accused of orchestrating in Lebanon, to the west. http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/going-home-to-aleppo/439/ Going Home, To AleppoAbdulwahab Tahhan, 24, spent his whole life in Aleppo, leaving for the first time last January to teach English overseas. Two months later, the Syrian revolution began. Last month, Abdul decided he had to see the war with his own eyes. This is what he saw. https://twitter.com/Skytwitius Islamist Nusra front rejects Syria truce, says distrusts regime: AFP10:52 AM https://twitter.com/BBCWorld Syrian state TV says a car bomb has exploded in Damascus, killing six people and injuring 20 others http://bbc.in/TzTteF 12:34 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky al-farouq brigades say they will cease fire on eid (muslim festival) only if assad's troops end their besiege of homs city12:56 PM https://twitter.com/columlynch Syria un ambassador, asked if assad has agreed to cease fire, says:"good to see you" 12:06 PM Russian ambo, angered at press leaks from UNSC meeting on Syria, called for press accreditation of reporters lifted 12:48 PM Russias un ambo will press for reporters/diplomats accreditation be stripped at UN for leaking confidential proceedings of UNSC 12:53 PM ****ing Russia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE88J0X720121024 Syria undecided on ceasefire proposal, rebels dividedSyria said on Wednesday its military command was still studying a proposal for a holiday ceasefire with rebels - contradicting international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi's announcement that Damascus had agreed to a truce. The statement threw Brahimi's efforts to arrange a pause in the bloodshed in Syria into even more confusion, as divided rebel groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad gave mixed messages. The prominent Farooq Brigade, which operates out of the battered city of Homs, said it would cease fire. The Islamist militant Al Nusra Front rejected the truce, saying it is not a group "who accepts to play such dirty games." I'm not so sure Farouq agreed to either...I think they might have been speaking sarcastically.... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/world/middleeast/syrian-soldiers-fight-rebels-and-fatigue-in-homs.html?_r=1& Bleary-Eyed Syrian Troops Fight a Building at a TimeFor more than 24 hours, President Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers fought their way through this city, bleary-eyed men, worn down by months of combat. Afraid to go into the streets, where snipers pick their targets, the government men snaked their way through “mouse holes” punched in walls of blown-out buildings. Their goal was to retake one building, just one, a former school controlled by the rebel Free Syrian Army. http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syrians-face-six-month-wait-for-passport-to-freedom Syrians face six-month wait for passport to freedomSyrians trying to get passports are being told to wait up to six months for their travel documents to be issued, as increasing numbers of people plan to flee the country. Many of those preparing to leave the capital are educated, middle-class professionals, usually from parts of the city that are comparatively safe. Despite their relative security, they speak of having finally lost hope that the violence would subside and that sweeping political liberalisation, or even an internationally brokered transition to democracy, would follow. Now they say the crisis, in its 19th month, will only worsen and is likely to endure for years. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I hate Syria now, I hate this place," said a Damascus pharmacist, a father of two in his mid-30s. "I never wanted to leave before, not even on holiday. I loved life here but now there is no future." http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/foreign-islamic-militants-worry-syrian-rebels-but-also-provide-a-powerful-boost-to-their-fight/2012/10/24/fbceadbe-1e44-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.html Foreign Islamic militants worry Syrian rebels but also provide a powerful boost to their fightThe presence of foreign Islamic militants battling Syria’s regime is raising concerns over the possible injection of al-Qaida’s influence into the country’s civil war. Syria’s rebels share some of those misgivings. But they also see in the foreign extremists a welcome boost: experienced, disciplined fighters whose battlefield valor against the better-armed troops of President Bashar Assad is legendary. Nothing typifies the dilemma more than Jabhat al-Nusra, a shadowy group with an al-Qaida-style ideology whose fighters come from Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the Balkans and elsewhere. Many are veterans of previous wars who came to Syria for what they consider a new “jihad” against Assad. The group has become notorious for numerous suicide bombings during the 19-month-old conflict targeting regime and military facilities. Syria’s rebels have tried to disassociate themselves from the bombings for fear their uprising will be tainted with the al-Qaida brand. But several hundred fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra — Arabic for “the Support Front” — have also been a valued addition to rebel ranks in the grueling, three-month battle for control of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Their reputation in battle circulates among Aleppo’s rebels like an urban legend. Soon after opposition forces launched their assault on the city in July, government troops almost drove them out of the key district of Salaheddin — until 40 Jabhat al-Nusra fighters rushed to the front and fended them off, according to a story told by many rebels. The group’s fighters have played a similar role along the multitude of front lines that divide this city of 3 million people, where regime forces and rebels have been at a standstill, fighting street to street but unable to score a decisive victory. Many rebels talk of the al-Nusra fighters’ prowess as snipers. “They rush to the rescue of rebel lines that come under pressure and hold them,” one rebel said. “They know what they are doing and are very disciplined. They are like the special forces of Aleppo.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/syria-black-market-housing Syria's black market in housing adds to the nation's turmoilForty-six per cent of Syria's buildings are illegally constructed, according to a government study in 2007 – and this includes the homes in which more than half the population live. The problem was mostly seen around the large cities but, amid a widening gap between rich and poor, the authorities generally turned a blind eye to it. Particularly since this summer, though, they have been bulldozing illegal buildings – but only in restive areas. In other areas, the authorities have been selective in their demolition orders. The campaign against illegal construction is thus being used to send a message: if you rebel against the regime, you will no longer enjoy the favours bestowed by it. A further complication is that officials also accept hefty bribes from internally displaced people to allow them to use abandoned or partly demolished buildings. Additionally, the regime's militias and rank-and-file officers are raiding houses, ransacking and then fraudulently selling or leasing them. Besides adding to people's suffering amid the current conflict, these practices are reshaping neighbourhoods across the country, from large cities to small villages – which is a recipe for future clashes between the old and new owners. Many will feel their properties have been usurped by other people or bought cheaply and at some point may try to retake them. Mona, 37 years old, used to live with her five children in a flat under construction in Adra, about 24km east Damascus where low-income workers and military personnel live. Earlier this month, five intelligence officers raided her flat and asked her to leave. https://twitter.com/And_Harper 349 refugees x'd to safety of jordan last nite. Majority families w young children. All transferred to Zaatri. 1 seriously injured.12:03 AM https://twitter.com/ZeinakhodrAljaz Syria rebels uneasy alliance in Bab al Hawa border crossing 11:56 PM Ahrar al Sham brigade told me the world shouldn't be afraid to arm us because of the way we look 12:25 AM Syria Farouk al Shamal brigade says they have ideological differences with Ahrar al Sham "they follow a strict interpretation of Islam" 12:27 AM https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2 Syria will hold by-elections on December 1 to fill five seats in Parliament to replace, among others, two defecting MPs2:34 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky wadi al-dayf military base near ma`arrat al-nu`man: a tank is burning http://youtu.be/5pqk2aEmj602:47 PM resistance fighters destroyed a tank in karm al-jabal in aleppo city 2:51 PM resistance fighters shot down a military copter in ma`arrat al-nu`man 3:52 AM formation of al-umari brigade in al-lejat (daraa) http://youtu.be/BZ27Xg9uz9M 4:00 AM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ27Xg9uz9M&feature=player_embedded http://www.lccsyria.org/10399 The Local Coordination Committees in SyriaThe number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 150[2] thus far, including 18 women and 13 children. 84 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs (including 30 who were field-executed in Douma), 30 in Idlib; most of them in Kafroma, 9 in Aleppo, 9 in Daraa, 7 in Homs, 5 in Hama, 4 in Deir Ezzor, 3 in Raqqa, and 1 in Hasakeh http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 35,807 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/un-rights-probe-into-syria-abuses-seeks-unconditional-talks-with-assad/2012/10/25/a6bfe962-1eaf-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.html UN rights probe into Syria abuses seeks unconditional talks with AssadU.N. war crimes investigators said Thursday they have asked for an urgent meeting with President Bashar Assad to press for a firsthand look at his war-torn nation. Since last year an independent commission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council has unsuccessfully sought unrestricted access to Syria. Sergio Pinheiro, the Brazilian professor and diplomat who heads the four-person panel, has only been allowed into Damascus for a weekend last summer to meet with government officials and some families affected by the violence. Instead, the panel has gathered nearly all of its evidence of suspected war crimes and other abuses from more than 1,100 interviews with victims and others who have fled Syria. Activists say more than 35,000 people have been killed since the start of the anti-Assad uprising that began in March 2011. “We’ll again seek our access to Syria and we decided to send a letter to President Assad calling for a meeting,” Pinheiro told reporters at the U.N.’s European headquarters in Geneva, after a first meeting of the newly reconstituted panel that now includes Carla del Ponte, a former U.N. war crimes prosecutor. “We expect that he will receive us in Damascus.” Pinheiro said the panel had a “duty” to demand access to Syria. “We intend to go there without conditionalities,” he added. http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=16548 Aleppo Seems to Fall to Rebel Troops. Regime Cuts it Loose?Reports from friends inside suggest that Aleppo is falling to rebel troops. Both major Christian areas – al-Syriaan al-Jadide and al-Syriaan al-Qadime have fallen. The regime’s largest Mukhabarat station is in the second area. FSA sharpshooters have gone to the tops of all buildings in these areas with no government opposition. The major Kurdish neighborhood – Ashrafiya – gave no resistance. The government had been counting on the Kurds to hold back the FSA fighters. Game up in Aleppo it would seem. Regime seems to have cut it loose. This is what I am being told by Aleppine friends who are on the phone with relatives inside both these areas. They have sharpshooters on top of their buildings. One said the family’s Filipino maid fainted due to the loud shooting earlier in the day. People are terrified that the regime may try to strike with airplanes. For now (7:00 Eastern S. Time), an eerie silence has settled over the city. Where will the government try to hold the line? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/oct/25/syria-conflict-ceasefire-doubts-live#block-50892e83b5794584b1c13f66 1h 37m ago 'Clashes around military airport' in Aleppo This is the latest take on Aleppo from the Associated Press: Rebels and activists in Syria say anti-regime forces are advancing in Aleppo and have taken control of several neighborhoods. Activists in Aleppo say there are heavy clashes around the city, particularly around a military airport. A rebel commander Bassam al-Dada told the Associated Press on Thursday that anti-regime fighters have taken two central areas in the country's largest city, including Salaheddin, where battles have raged for months. Al-Dadda is an adviser to rebel leader Riad al-Asaad. http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/10/25/syria-and-beyond-live-coverage-ceasefire-theatre-while-fight.html#1429 1338 GMT: Syria. For those looking for an easy FSA victory in Aleppo, don't count on it. First of all, it's suspicious that the regime has pulled out so quickly, and one the eve of ceasefire as wellSo the question is this - is this some sort of sudden collapse of the regime's strength in the city, or is it a dirty trick, the kind of which we witnessed right before the previous ceasefire back in late spring? We'll continue to track this information as it rolls in. Here's the bottom line: The FSA is not likely to take all of Aleppo today, or even any time soon. The Syrian Army also has several extremely large and heavily fortified barracks, particularly in the southern districts, so uncontested FSA control is not on the horizon. However, this is a sudden and hugely significant collapse of regime lines. We've been reporting for over a week that the FSA has nearly completely cut regime supply routes to the city. We've also been reporting that over the last month the FSA has captured several key checkpoints, and won several large victories in the countryside of the city. The fact is that the FSA does appear to be grinding away at the regime forces, and those efforts are prevailing. The main obstacle to the FSA is now, and has always been, lack of logistics. Months ago we predicted that if the FSA proved resourceful enough to weather this obstacle, they would succeed. It's also early. It's possible that the regime has made a strategic move here, and will reposition troops insider the city, or outside of it, for strategic gain. However, the regime has lost a massive amount of territory in Idlib province, many key bases, huge stockpiles of weapons, and some of its most strategically important highways and supply routes. If the Assad army does not win a quick victory with the troops is has pulled out of these districts in Aleppo, it could be a sign that the military in the northern half of the country is in complete collapse. Meanwhile, overnight there were reports that several military checkpoints fell to the FSA in and around Al Raqqa, to the east (map). This is significant, because previous to this the fighting in this region was further to the north, but in recent days the FSA has been advancing south. It would appear as though they are not meeting much resistance. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syrian-pilgrims-raise-rebel-flag-haj-mufti-calls-unity Syrian pilgrims raise rebel flag at haj as mufti calls for unitySyrian pilgrims raised rebel flags as the haj reached its climax near Mecca on Thursday, despite a call from Saudi Arabia's top cleric for the annual Islamic pilgrimage to be free from nationalist sentiment and Muslim infighting. This year's haj takes place against a backdrop of divisions among Muslims, as Shi'ite Iran and Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey back opposing sides in Syria's civil war. "My parents asked me to pray for God to bring peace, stability and safety to Syria," said Musa al-Ali, 38, a Syrian man living in Riyadh. "I hope death is brought to a halt in Syria." Nearly three million Muslims stood at Mount Arafat in western Saudi Arabia on Thursday in the most important ritual of the haj. Most had spent the night at nearby Mina. The message of the Grand Mufti, the most senior Saudi cleric, echoed comments by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who urged Islamic solidarity during the pilgrimage. In 1987, hundreds of Iranian pilgrims died in clashes with Saudi security forces after protests. "We want the call of the faithful, not a factional one. Avoid raising national and factional slogans," the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said in his sermon in the Grand Mosque. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters have liberated the syriac neighborhood in aleppo city8:53 AM resistance fighters have liberated tariq ibn ziyad barracks (near al-sabil park) in aleppo city 9:13 AM clashes in the syriac neighborhood in aleppo city http://youtu.be/8ESo55ACSMA 9:27 AM there are heavy clashes around nile street in aleppo city 9:29 AM https://twitter.com/THE_47th Gen. Ogaidi of Aleppo Mil Council on Alarabiya now: We don't trust Assad, we won't implement any ceasefire until all terms met...9:30 AM The terms: nationwide halt of all military attacks, release of (all!?) political prisoners, end the few besiegement of towns across Syria 9:32 AM https://twitter.com/Avend93 acco. to our sources, nobody is controlling on Eshrefiye neighborhood in Aleppo, clashes on going btwn FSA and Assad army. 9 Kurds killed. 9:37 AM BREAKING: fierce clashes are ongoing in Eshrefiye, 16 Kurds have been killed till the moment. more dozens wounded. 9:46 AM https://twitter.com/bungdan Seeing lots of claims that Syrian govt "withdrew from Aleppo." I'm no fancy strategist, but if Assad loses Aleppo he loses the war.10:27 AM They have either been driven out of some neighborhoods by force, or are simply marshaling troops for a major offensive. 10:27 AM Simply "gave up" on Aleppo? No way. 10:28 AM https://twitter.com/LccSy Free Syrian Army Takes Control of Kantari Checkpoint, Raqqa http://fb.me/1mps844WF 10:17 AM https://twitter.com/LccSy Regimes' Army Withdraws from Northern Area in Daraa Mahata http://fb.me/1kYphiZD3 10:21 AM https://twitter.com/BreakingNews Syrian army will cease military operations from Friday morning until Monday; reserves right to respond to attacks - state TV via @Reuters11:13 AM I wonder what time exactly? https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf Reports that one of the convoys has made it to the edge of Wadi Aldayf in MaaratAlNouman. Idlib10:39 AM That reinforcements and food and supplies made it to whoever is still there from the army...theyve been surrounded for 16 days. 10:49 AM The FSA forced the convoy to retreat from Wadi Aldayf and it did not enter. Instead it retreated to the Hamdiyeh Checkpoint. 11:15 AM Very heavy rain in Idlib today...But the MiGs are still flying over MaaratAlNouman shelling it with TNT barrels and cluster bombs. 11:17 AM https://twitter.com/Reuters Free Syrian Army commander says fighters will commit to truce, but demands prisoner release on Friday.11:23 AM https://twitter.com/Reuters Islamist Ansar al-Islam fighters not committed to ceasefire in Syria, doubt Syrian Army will honor it - spokesman11:29 AM https://twitter.com/ZeinakhodrAljaz Russia accused Washington of "coordinating" deliveries of arms to Syrian rebels, despite assurances the US provides no lethal assistance11:24 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/10/25/syria-and-beyond-live-coverage-ceasefire-theatre-while-fight.html#1813 1753 GMT: Syria. The Guardian has interviewed an FSA fighter in Aleppo, Abu Yousif, who claims that after today's fighting, more than 90% of Aleppo province, and at least 60% of the city, is under Free Syrian Army control:Brigades of the FSA were able to progress from al-Ashrafiyeh district where the Criminal Security branch is. There was also progress in al-Midan and Sulaiman al-Halabi districts. The [government] branch responsible for raids is in al-Midan district. These two branches are the biggest in Aleppo.Till now the clashes which started at 10am today are continuing and many district have been stormed by the FSA to get towards these two branches. Earlier news claimed that these two branches were taken by the FSA but the truth is the FSA fighters are surrounding these branches and they have still not taken them yet. We are working to get inside them. In Khan al-Assal district, there is a police school which was under siege by the FSA for 10 days now. The Syrian army were sending reinfocrements every day to ease the siege on it. Today a convoy was heading towards the school and was faced by fire from the FSA and could not get there. As for al-Ashrafiyeh district, it was controlled by [the Kurdish] PKK party and the Syrian army. The FSA were in Bani Zaid which is at the entrance to al-Ashrafiyeh. The FSA had to take al-Ashrafiyeh district to be able to reach the Criminal branch – and they did. The advance now is just around the Criminal Security and it is not easy to get control. Some skeptics have criticized the claims that the FSA has advanced through the Kurdish neighborhoods, but Abu Yousif reports that the attack was made possible because the PKK accepted the FSA into the neighborhood. This rings true, as there is no reported fighting that involves the PKK in Aleppo.The PKK accepted the deal after a lot of pressure from the Kurdish people. Lately, many buses loaded with Kurdish people from Afreen, 70km northwest of Aleppo, were attacked at random by the Syrian army thinking they are coming from Izzaz.Since the beginning of the revolution the regime has been trying to keep the PKK on its side but I think now it is going to lose them. 1813 GMT: Syria. It no longer appears that the regime's withdrawal from large parts of Aleppo today was purely strategic, as they fought to control some of those areas (see previous updates). The fighter from Aleppo also confirms the earlier assessment that the regime thought it could rely on Kurdish fighters to keep the FSA out of the Kurdish areas, and that assessment was a false one. Here's a reason why it's not wise to simply withdraw from areas of Aleppo - snipers rule the streets, and with new territory captured by the FSA, it will make Assad's efforts to retake the city that much harder: https://twitter.com/JamjoomCNN Syrian State TV: Syria regime accepts ceasefire w/caveats; including right 2 respond 2 attacks from terrorists, protecting borders11:36 AM Somewhat vague.... https://twitter.com/SherineT Head of FSA military council tells @AJArabic that if regime breaks ceasefire they will respond and admits he can only talk for FSA11:46 AM https://twitter.com/borzou Syria regime “ceasefire” reserves right of army to reply to any kind of movement perceived as military in nature, state TV says11:55 AM Getting vaguer.... https://twitter.com/borzou Rebels take Ashrafiya, Jdeidah and Qadima in Aleppo, activists tell me. But not one-way traffic - key flyover at Shaar seized by regime11:54 AM Assad army seem to be regrouping in south and south-west in Aleppo. prior to withdrawal, assault or a ceasefire-related trap? 11:55 AM Rebels believe Assad is pulling out to defend Homs and Hama as Aleppo not sustainable after loss of most of Idlib. Maybe but a big sacrifice 11:56 AM Syrian TV announces ceasefire but hard to see why rebels should give up fighting now in Aleppo/Idlib. 11:57 AM https://twitter.com/THE_47th So Aleppo Military Council still maintains its ground: no ceasefire till all political prisoners are out. That's like +50k.11:59 AM Syrian Gov should just release all political prisoners since March 15, most are civil & peaceful demonstration leaders.. Won't hurt anymore. 12:00 PM This position from fighting factions of Aleppo was expected: they are not too keen on a ceasefire. 12:02 PM https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss Assad agrees to brokered international news cycle about a Syrian cease-fire.12:19 PM https://twitter.com/hhassan140 "It's a cease-fire, not a cease-knife." - a friend.12:59 PM https://twitter.com/Reuters U.S. State Department says "hopes and expects" that Syrian government, opposition will honor ceasefire pledges1:13 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters attacked a military checkpoint near the central jail in idlib city. +8 assad troops were killed12:17 PM resistance fighters destroyed an armored vehicle in wadi al-dayf military base 12:57 PM resistance fighters have surrounded wadi al-dayf military base from all directions. heavy clashes continue 1:03 PM update from al-qaryatayn (homs): resistance fighters killed a security man. 2 soldiers defected. the police station was destroyed 1:25 PM https://twitter.com/KareemLailah I totally agrees on FSA conditions: ceasefire means stop all military operations & not moving & sending reinforcements.1:38 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153 about 7 hours agoRebels have surrounded and besieged the strategic border town of Harem for 11 days, trying to create a continuous "liberated" territory on the Turkish frontier between the army occupied city of Jisr Ashughur and the embattled city of Aleppo. The battle has been fierce for the city whose residents are mostly government loyalists. Rebels said on Thursday (October 25) they had succeeded in taking half of Harem but the fighting has put its historic citadel under threat. "The Syrian army is positioned at a high point in Tormeh and in the famous Harem citadel. We have made a request to UNESCO that they order the Syrian army to leave the citadel. They are fortifying themselves there and are firing on us, we have to strike back. They don't just destroy the people, they destroy their artefacts. We call on UNESCO to issue an order that they leave the citadel. I think the rebels actually have control of most if not all of the town except the citadel. about 7 hours agoSaudi Arabia on Thursday said it had expelled three employees of Syria's consulate in Jeddah. A spokesman for the Saudi foreign ministry said the three had been told to leave for activities "incompatible" with their position, but did not elaborate. I thought they had already closed the place down months ago. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky update: assad's forces bombed al-ashrafiyah neighborhood in aleppo city. 14 people were killed & +18 were injured2:27 PM resistance fighters destroyed a tank in khan al-asal http://youtu.be/SPUtiKhZXBw 2:29 PM resistance fighters attacked a military detachment near the iraqi border (al-baghouz) & arrested 16 assad troops 2:39 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters killed 5 assad troops, including a sergeant, in kafr shams (daraa)3:15 PM the syrian tribe of bani khalid rejects the so-called ceasefire proposal 3:48 PM assad's troops have been bombing al-rastan city for 3 hours 5:28 PM 5 military security men have defected to resistance fighters in al-shadadi (al-hasakah) 4:27 PM https://twitter.com/Tears_OfLiberty My two brothers are in Syria. Ali was targeted-before an FSA member pushed him&got sniped instead. I don't know what more to say. I just dnt.4:23 PM https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak Activists claim the Syrian Army is shelling in Southern Damascus, after accepting UN ceasefire4:29 PM https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf Assad already broke his truce...shelling on KhanSheikhoon Idlib kills 7.6:02 PM https://twitter.com/MidaniBatman @SyrianSmurf Doesnt start until 6 am tomorrow. Hes putting work in before the break. 6:04 PM http://www.lccsyria.org/10404 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaBy the end of Thursday the LCC documented 106[5] martyrs; including 2 families from Douma; 10 children and 6 women; 36 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs most of them in Douma; 33 in Aleppo; 12 in Idlib: 11 in Homs; 5 in Daraa; 3 in Lattakia; 2 in Deir Ezzor; 1 in Raqqa; 1 in Hasakeh and 1 in Hama http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 35,912 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=451082 Syrian ceasefire “collapses” in several regionsA ceasefire between the Syrian army and rebel forces that took effect on Friday has collapsed in several regions amid fighting, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The ceasefire has collapsed in several regions of Syria but there is still less violence and fewer victims than usual," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. In Damascus, clashes erupted between rebels and troops in the southern neighborhood of Assali while a car bomb exploded in the nearby district of Tadamun, where a separate car bombing killed six people two days before. In the central city of Homs, one civilian was killed as the army rained shells on the rebel-held Khaldiyeh district, while shooting broke out from army checkpoints in the town of Tal Kalakh on the border with Lebanon. In a video posted to Youtube by activists in Homs, clouds of black smoke can be seen rising into the sky among bombed out buildings as three explosions rock the area within a minute. The Observatory said security forces also fired at demonstrators, who came out for weekly anti-regime protests, but the regime and main rebels groups have not indicated they would abandon the truce. "Violent clashes started around 10:30 a.m. around the Wadi Deif base. The army responded by bombing the neighboring village of Deir Sharqi," Abdel Rahman told AFP. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/oct/26/syria-eid-ceasefire-live#block-508a9be9b5793e5495b45115 Syrian-iranian media dealThe Syrian government news agency, Sana, has signed a cooperation deal to "share media services and expertise" with the Iranian Fars news agency, Sana reports. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/10/syria-chemical-weapons-2/ Exclusive: U.S. Rushes to Stop Syria from Expanding Chemical Weapon StockpileThe regime of embattled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is actively working to enlarge its arsenal of chemical weapons, U.S. officials tell Danger Room. Assad’s operatives have tried repeatedly in recent months to buy up the precursor chemicals for deadly nerve agents like sarin, even as his country plunges further and further into a civil war. The U.S. and its allies have been able to block many of these sales. But that still leaves Assad’s scientists with hundreds of metric tons of dangerous chemicals that could be turned into some of the world’s most gruesome weapons. “Assad is weathering everything the rebels throw at him. Business is continuing as usual,” one U.S. official privy to intelligence on Syria says. “They’ve been busy little bees.” Back in July, the Assad regime publicly warned that it might just use chemical weapons to stop “external” forces from interfering in its bloody civil war. American policy-makers became deeply concerned that Damascus just might follow through on the threats. Since the July announcement, however, the world community — including Assad’s allies — have made it clear to Damascus that unleashing weapons of mass destruction was unacceptable. The message appears to have gotten through to Assad’s cadre, at least for now. Talk of direct U.S. intervention in Syria has largely subsided. “There was a moment we thought they were going to use it — especially back in July,” says the U.S. official, referring to Syria’s chemical arsenal. “But we took a second look at the intelligence, and it was less urgent than we thought.” That hardly means the danger surrounding Syria’s chemical weapons program has passed. More than 500 metric tons of nerve agent precursors, stored in binary form, are kept at upward of 25 locations scattered around the country. If any one of those sites falls into the wrong hands, it could become a massively lethal event. And in the meantime, Assad is looking to add to his already substantial stockpile. http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=451119 Geagea says March 14 will implement plan to overthrow governmentLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in remarks published by French daily Le Figaro that March 14 parties were focused on implementing an incremental plan to tackle the current political crisis gripping Lebanon. “The [March 14] forces started working on a clear plan for the coming period in order to gradually face the challenges ahead,” Geagea was quoted as saying by Le Figaro on Friday. He added that the plan included maintaining pressure on the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati through ongoing peaceful sit-ins, and the boycott of parliament sessions and parliamentary committees “until the government steps down.” “The ultimate goal is stopping the killing machine in its tracks, which is controlling political life in the country,” the LF leader also told the French daily. “The Miqati government is an element that is directly or indirectly helping the killing machine.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/bushr-al-tawashi-syria_n_2022334.html Bushr Al Tawashi, Syria Toddler, Thought Dead Reunited With Parents In CyprusMedia in Cyprus are hailing it as a miracle. A 2-year-old Syrian boy who was believed dead after his family inadvertently left him behind as they fled shelling in Damascus last summer has been reunited with his parents in Cyprus, a lawyer said Friday. "You can imagine how they felt when they were told their son was alive after bearing all this guilt thinking that he was dead," lawyer Stella Constantinou told The Associated Press. The story of little Bushr Al Tawashi's survival evokes every parent's nightmare. No one knows exactly how long Bushr wandered about alone in the rubble of his family home in the Al Kaboun suburb before another fleeing family found him and handed him over to rebel fighters to look after. In their chaotic haste to escape fighting between government troops and Syrian rebels, Bushr's father Machhour Al Tawashi and his mother Arin Al Dakkar had assumed the boy was picked up by other members of their extended family who had been staying with them, the lawyer said. But heavy fighting prevented them from going back to search for Bushr once they realized that he was missing, Constantinou said. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/casualties-car-bomb-attack-hits-southern-damascus-sana Casualties as car bomb attack hits southern Damascus: SANAA car bomb attack hit a southern area of the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday causing casualties on the first day of a temporary declared ceasefire, state news agency SANA reported. "A terrorist car bomb attack in... the neighbourhood of Daf Shawk has caused casualties and significant material damage," the news agency reported. https://twitter.com/Matt_VanDyke Eid ceasefire in Syria? Nope. I woke up in Aleppo this morning to the sounds of war, like most other days.7:18 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky update: 1 was killed & 3 were injured due to bombardment on the besieged city of homs6:46 AM they are bombing al-khalidiyah, al-qusour, joret al-shuyyah & bab houd 7:07 AM resistance fighters have liberated al-shuhadaa square in douma 7:21 AM see previous tweet: resistance fighters have destroyed the most dangerous military checkpoint in douma 7:23 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky assad's troops are bombing the town of hass (idlib) mercilessly7:29 AM assad's artilleries & rocket launchers are bombing khan shaykhoun city (idlib) 7:35 AM assad's troops are bombing the town of kafr rouma (kaffar ruma, idlib). many people were injured 8:23 AM https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf 40 bodies were discovered in DeirEzzor yesterday. They were dumped in a graveyard.6:32 AM Protest in Ariha today for the first time in months. In the middle of the protest regime soldiers open fire injuring several people. 10:07 AM 3 British journalists w/ the BBC captured yesterday in Binnish by regime thugs (Shibiha) and turned in to security personnel in Idlib city 10:12 AM https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria 2 days or so ago people predicted Assad would end the ceasefire through car bombs in Damascus... just saying.[/size]10:50 AM https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak Reuters: Syrian State TV reports five people killed and 32 injured in Damascus car bombing11:09 AM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2185088&l=4639b1e867&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaNumber of martyrs on the first day of Eid Truce in Syria has risen to 48, including 5 women and 4 children; 14 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs; 10 in Idlib; 8 in Aleppo; 7 in Deir Ezzor; 6 in Homs; 2 in Daraa; and 1 in Hama Number of Eid Truce breaches by the regime has risen to 110 thus far based on what the LCC managed to document Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1026/Buying-bread-and-dodging-snipers-7-vignettes-of-life-in-war-torn-Aleppo/Introduction Buying bread and dodging snipers: 7 vignettes of life in war-torn Aleppo http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/saudi-cleric-calls-urgent-action-stop-syria-bloodshed Saudi cleric calls for "urgent" action to stop Syria bloodshedThe imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque called on Arabs and Muslims on Friday to take "practical and urgent" steps to stop bloodshed in Syria that has killed some 30,000 people, and urged world states to assume their moral responsibility towards the conflict. Muslims from around the world on Friday celebrated Eid al-Adha, which marks the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage that this year attracted more than three million people from nearly 190 countries. Saudi officials said the haj, including the ritual stoning of the devil which has in the past led to hundreds of deaths in stampedes, had been successful with no major accidents. "The world should bear responsibility for this prolonged and painful disaster (in Syria) and the responsibility is greater for the Arabs and Muslims who should call on each other to support the oppressed against the oppressor," said Sheik Saleh Mohammed al-Taleb in his sermon during Eid prayers. "The solution should be practical and urgent because the oppressor becomes even more fierce as the days pass," he added. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/us-syria-crisis-return-idUSBRE89P0KF20121026 Nowhere left to run for Syrians under siegeFor two months, Dana and her 12 children fled from village to village trying to escape bombardment by Syrian forces. Finally, she gave up and took them back home. "Everywhere we went, the bombs found us. If we're going to die, I want it to be in our own house," she says, rocking two young daughters in her lap. After months of relentless shelling across Syria's northern provinces, many Syrians like Dana have given up trying to flee and instead have tried to live a life under the bombs. Despite the shudders of artillery fire in the distance, young women in Syria's northern town of Atareb stroll their babies in prams along cratered pavements and past collapsed buildings while children play soccer in the street. Farmers pick cotton in the surrounding fields, ignoring the scorch marks left from mortar bombs around them. Outside the cracked walls of her grey concrete home, Dana, a small woman in a yellow veil, has stacked piles of shrapnel that she and her children sweep out of her house each day. "You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I still cry if I hear a fighter jet come. My kids and I all know our place - some behind the fridge, or behind the washer, in the backroom," she sighs, wringing her hands, which are covered in scratches from her shattered windows. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/hezbollah-crosses-syrian-border-with-bloody-assault-on-assads-enemies-8227316.html Hezbollah crosses Syrian border with bloody assault on Assad's enemiesIt is a fortnight since Amr Al Ali was smuggled unconscious over the border to Lebanon, with a graze to his lips from a ricocheting bullet and deep wounds in his legs and hands after an exploding rocket turned a breeze-block wall in front of him into concrete shrapnel. Yet the Free Syrian Army fighter says his enemy was not President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers, but militants from the armed wing of the Shia movement Hezbollah, a long-standing ally of Iran and the Syrian regime. Rebel fighters and fleeing residents have told The Independent that Hezbollah began a major assault on the Syrian side of the border in mid-October, after the FSA tried but failed to take control of border villages and crossing points. At night Katyusha rockets fired from Hezbollah positions in the Hermel area rain down on rebel positions over the border, they claim. "Everyone knows they have fighters there," said the bearded 23-year-old Syrian, from the temporary sanctuary of an old agricultural outbuilding perched over the Lebanese town of Aarsal, a few kilometres from the border. However, he said the situation had changed in recent weeks as even more militants began to flow in. Evidence shows that Hezbollah is sending ever more fighters across the border to back the Syrian regime. Its supporters have thronged to the Bekaa valley for funerals of militants – including that of a senior commander whom Hezbollah said died on "jihadist duties", without specifying where. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky a real war is going on now in talkalakh town center. we may hear about a massacre there. the town needs urgent help2:17 PM assad's troops bombed the western area of ma`arrat al-nu`man city. 5 people were injured 2:25 PM update: 11 people were killed & +60 injured in douma today 2:34 PM assad's tanks & artilleries are bombing people's homes in al-firdous neighborhood in aleppo city 3:29 PM resistance fighters arrested assad troops & destroyed a bmp vehicle in suleiman al-halabi neighborhood in aleppo city. resistance fighters seized a bmp vehicle in suleiman al-halabi neighborhood in aleppo city. 3:53 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2185588&l=914196748e&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees: The number of martyrs in the first day of ceasfire has risen to 94 martyrs, including 7 women and 6 children; 38 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs 10 of them were martyred in the explosion of Zohour neighborhood, 22 in Aleppo 4 of them were members of the FSA, 11 in Idlib, 7 in Deir Ezzor, 7 in Daraa, 6 in Homs, and 3 in Hama. 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visionary Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/27/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE88J0X720121027 Syria bombards major cities, further undermining truce: activistsSyrian opposition activists reported a return to heavy government bombardment in major cities on Saturday, further undermining a truce intended to mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha religious holiday. Activists in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, the suburbs of Damascus and in Aleppo, where rebels hold roughly half of Syria's most populous city, said that mortar bombs were being fired into residential areas on Saturday morning. The bombardment came on the second day of a truce called by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who had hoped to use it to build broader moves towards ending the 19-month-old conflict which has killed an estimated 32,000 people. "The army began firing mortars at 7 a.m. I have counted 15 explosions in one hour and we already have two civilians killed," said Mohammed Doumany, an activist from the Damascus suburb of Douma, where pockets of rebels are based. "I can't see any difference from before the truce and now," he added. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/world/middleeast/winters-approach-adds-to-crisis-as-syrians-continue-to-flee.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 Winter’s Approach Adds to Crisis as Refugee Population SwellsThe population of registered Syrian war refugees in neighboring countries, which has already surpassed United Nations projections three times, is expected to nearly double by year’s end, to more than 700,000 people, just as the greatest need for shelter from the Middle East’s achingly cold winters is at its most intense, aid workers, advocates and relief officials say. In a confluence of man-made crisis and weather disaster that could overwhelm Syria’s neighbors, efforts have lagged in ensuring that the refugees are adequately protected from the near-freezing temperatures that prevail in areas where many of them have been concentrated, especially in Jordan and Lebanon, according to United Nations workers and representatives of major charities that are working with refugees. The vast majority of refugees are women and children. Further complicating the problem, aid officials said, is that Syria’s neighbors have grown increasingly worried about the lack of donations needed to feed, house and clothe the growing number of refugees. A special fund administered by the United Nations to care for Syrian refugees has raised only about a third of its $488 million budget. “A lot of those people are running out of money and running out of resources,” said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency in Amman, Jordan. “These surrounding countries are really ill-equipped to handle this kind of crisis,” he said. “So far these countries have shown generosity, but the international community can’t expect that generosity to continue if it does not help. That is one of our big fears.” Of the four countries that have absorbed the vast majority of Syrian refugees — Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq — all except Iraq have taken in more than 100,000 each, with Lebanon surpassing that threshold this past week, the United Nations refugee agency reported last Tuesday in an update from its Geneva headquarters. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters are attacking al-lairmoun military checkpoint in aleppo city4:48 AM resistance fighters destroyed a tank in douma 4:53 AM resistance fighters destroyed another military checkpoint (abdul ra'ouf) in douma 4:54 AM 5 hours ago: a car exploded in deirezzor city center (near laylati restaurant). some people were killed & injured 5:07 AM resistance fighters destroyed a military tank near al-lairmoun military checkpoint in aleppo city 5:14 AM https://twitter.com/Avend93 TCK is trying to get the truth about what's happening now in Eshrefiye after PYD claims of 100% control on the neighborhood.5:16 AM Confirmed: FSA withdrew from Eshrefiye but they still exist near to the neighborhood. 5:44 AM http://www.lccsyria.org/10408 The Local Coordination Committees in Syria:By the end of the first day of Eid truce, LCC could document 103 martyrs including 9 women and 6 children. 39 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs, including 10 due to an explosion in Al-Zohor neighborhood; 22 in Aleppo, including 4 Free Syrian Army members; 12 in Homs; 11 in Idlib, 9 in Daraa; 7 in Deir Ezzor; 3 in Hama. http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 36,015 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/28/us-saudi-haj-protest-idUSBRE89R00J20121028 Saudi authorities disperse anti-Assad protest in MeccaSaudi authorities quickly dispersed a protest by hundreds of Syrian pilgrims calling for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and denouncing what they said was international failure to stop bloodshed in Syria, a Reuters witness said. Protesters held up rebel flags and marched toward the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, east of the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where more than 3 million Muslim pilgrims congregated for the annual haj. No one was hurt when two police vehicles drove slowly in the direction of the protesters with the sirens on as the officers asked the crowd through loudspeakers to leave the area. The protesters swiftly dispersed and merged with thousands of other pilgrims in the area, the witness said. Saudi officials made it clear in recent days that they want a politics-free pilgrimage and urged pilgrims to focus on performing the rituals. The haj pilgrimage is one of the Muslim faith's so-called five pillars and a religious duty for all Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime if they are capable. It started on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday. This year's haj took place against a backdrop of divisions among Muslims, with Shi'ite Iran and U.S.-allied Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar backing opposing sides in Syria's civil war. Saudi Arabia has led Arab efforts to isolate President Bashar al-Assad's government and has supported the rebels with money and logistics. At the protest, dozens of security guards already deployed in the area stood by without interfering. "Syria lives forever despite of you Assad," the protesters shouted as the streamed by a giant wall at Jamarat Bridge used for the ritual stoning of the devil, one of the main rites of the haj. Another slogan went: "We don't want Bashar, all Syrians raise your arms up!" https://twitter.com/JosephSwims I made it to Hatay! Going to bring warm hats to the children in the camps tomorrow with @hands4syr. I can't wait to meet them.5:47 PM Oct. 26 Visited one of the refugee camps. They wouldn't let the adults in, but I got in and played football! @hands4Syr pic.twitter.com/mAmGtbxK 10:06 AM @hands4Syr helped to buy loads of clothes to deliver to refugees! This is where the £ I raised went. 10:50 AM http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/lebanon/9638058/Hizbollah-debates-dropping-support-for-the-regime-of-President-Bashar-al-Assad.html Hizbollah debates dropping support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad https://twitter.com/Avend93 Latest- Eshrefiye | both "FSA and YPG" realised the detainees, the neighborhood is calm.4:27 PM https://twitter.com/edwardedark "Assad or we burn Aleppo" graffiti scrawled in front of Police Chief's house in Aleppo5:32 PM regime using automated sniper rifles in parts of Aleppo, they've killed a number of civilians & ironically 1 regime officer 5:35 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky just in: resistance fighters say they have liberated harem (idlib)2:03 PM resistance fighters confirm they killed +30 #assad troops & thugs today in deirezzor city 2:16 PM resistance fighters have destroyed a military checkpoint & a military tank in ain terma (damascus countryside) 2:59 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters liberated nagash security station near the iraqi border 3:32 PM resistance fighters liberated the fine arts school in aleppo city 3:38 PM resistance fighters say they destroyed al-shifouniyah military checkpoint (douma) & seized a tank 3:45 PM defection of major jamal abdul majid to resistance fighters in aleppo http://youtu.be/PfvhqPxxYa8 4:08 PM http://www.lccsyria.org/10412 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaBy the end of the second day of the Eid Trace the LCC documented 93 martyrs, including 6 women and 5 children. 47 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs (13 of them in Douma),15 in Aleppo, 11 in Daraa,10 in Idlib, 4 in Deir Ezzor, 4 in Hama, 1 in Homs and 1 in Hasakeh On the second day of the ceasefire, it was broken in 487 points, including 12 areas that were subjected to aerial shelling – most of them were in Damascus’ Suburbs (Erbeen, Zamalka, Douma, Mesraba, Kafr Batna, Saqaba and Harasta). Also, the regime fired at 260 points. Most of them in Damascus and its Suburbs, where the regime fired at 67 points. After that is Idlib, where 52 points were subjected to gunfire. 95 points were shelled with mortars, 65 areas were shelled with artillery, 31 points were shelled with missiles and 4 areas were shelled using Gvozdika http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 36,108 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/28/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE88J0X720121028 Syria airforce bombs cities, truce "practically over"Syrian jets bombarded Sunni Muslim regions in Damascus and across the country on Sunday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad kept up air strikes against rebels despite a U.N.-brokered truce that now appears to be in tatters. "The ceasefire is practically over. Damascus has been under brutal air raids since day one and hundreds of people have been arrested," said veteran opposition campaigner Fawaz Tello. "Assad has been trying to use the truce to seize back control of areas of Damascus," said Tello, who is well connected with rebels. Speaking from Berlin, Tello said Sunni districts in the city of Homs, 140 km (90 miles) north of Damascus, and surrounding countryside came under Syrian army shelling on Sunday. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/28/us-syria-crisis-jordan-idUSBRE89R0AC20121028 Syrian jihadist spillover haunts JordanJordan's announcement that it has foiled an al Qaeda plot to bomb the capital highlights the threat to Washington's ally from Islamist fighters hardened by conflict in neighboring Syria, and the danger of Damascus trying to export its crisis. The kingdom is no stranger to turmoil. For decades it has navigated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on its western border and more recently bloodshed in Iraq to the east, which spilled over to Jordan with hotel bombings in Amman seven years ago. But the Syrian civil war could pose the gravest threat yet to Jordan's pro-Western King Abdullah, whether or not rebel fighters succeed in toppling President Bashar al-Assad after 42 years of Assad family rule. The overthrow of Assad by Sunni Muslim rebels could embolden hardline Sunni Islamists in Jordan, while a weakened but still fighting Assad may try to deflect pressure by spreading the conflict to his neighbors, Jordanian politicians say. Mahmoud Kharabsheh, a prominent politician with an intelligence background, says Syria's role in letting al Qaeda fighters head to Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion has reinforced fears that Damascus could try the same in Jordan. "The Syrian regime will not leave a stone unturned to destabilize the kingdom. The Syrian regime is determined to export its crisis to neighboring countries to ... destabilize our security," said Kharabsheh, a member of the outgoing Jordanian parliament. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/world/middleeast/influx-of-iraqi-shiites-to-syria-widens-wars-scope.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Iraqi Sects Join Battle in Syria on Both SidesMilitant Sunnis from Iraq have been going to Syria to fight against President Bashar al-Assad for months. Now Iraqi Shiites are joining the battle in increasing numbers, but on the government’s side, transplanting Iraq’s explosive sectarian conflict to a civil war that is increasingly fueled by religious rivalry. Some Iraqi Shiites are traveling to Tehran first, where the Iranian government, Syria’s chief regional ally, is flying them to Damascus, Syria’s capital. Others take tour buses from the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq, on the pretext of making a pilgrimage to an important Shiite shrine in Damascus that for months has been protected by armed Iraqis. While the buses do carry pilgrims, Iraqi Shiite leaders say, they are also ferrying weapons, supplies and fighters to aid the Syrian government. “Dozens of Iraqis are joining us, and our brigade is growing day by day,” Ahmad al-Hassani, a 25-year-old Iraqi fighter, said by telephone from Damascus. He said that he arrived there two months ago, taking a flight from Tehran. The Iraqi Shiites are joining forces with Shiite fighters from Lebanon and Iran, driving Syria ever closer to becoming a regional sectarian battlefield. http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/any-unknown-future-would-be-better-than-syrias-agony Any unknown future would be better than Syria's agonyMost Syrians inside Syria have long rejected foreign military intervention. But they didn't expect to find themselves, after 19 months of revolution, in this deadly stalemate. The flip side to the principled policy of "no intervention" has become the paralysis of watching rivers of blood flow through Syria's cities, towns and villages. In their desperation, Syrians have become cynical towards America's true stance on the Assad regime. Still, they have given the Obama administration the benefit of the doubt, telling themselves that nothing will change before the US elections. But as the number of dead steadily increased, the hope of a shift in US foreign policy towards Syria after the elections has faded. This was clearly expressed on October 19, the first Friday since the revolution began to have been given an anti-American name: "America, your silence is complicit in thousands of our deaths." But leadership on Syria is nowhere to be found, not in Syria nor in the rest of the world. Instead, the Syrian crisis has been reduced to these cliched statements, by politicians, journalists and pundits, that seem to create some kind of equality between the two sides.In fact, the gross inequality between the opposition's actions and the regime's response has been clear since the beginning: peaceful protests are met with gunfire and mass arrests; guns are met with tanks; cluster bombs target residential areas; barrels of explosives are dropped on innocent civilians; and no place is immune, not places of worship, not archaeological treasures, not national heritage sites After 19 months, with 30,000 dead, tens of thousands vanished, hundreds of thousands made refugees, and Assad's violence spilling into Turkey and Lebanon, what unknowns about this regime are left to be uncovered? The "red line" on chemical weapons that must never be crossed? Is it "leadership" to remain paralysed by that?Washington sources predict a drawn-out civil war. While they analyse and watch, Syrians live a nightmarish waiting game, paying the price of what is known. In Syria and in the US, we are a long way from hope and change, and a long way from yet another spring. Another cold winter is coming, and this year there will be less fuel, less electricity, less shelter, less food and fewer Syrians in Syria. Thousands of refugees will be huddling in their tents, shivering on the morning of November 7, wondering if the smiling, victorious face on TV will possess some kind of magical "leadership". But for Syrians, hope has become a burden. Even in their hopes, Syrians continue to doubt. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters captured 5 assad troops in jabal al-zawiyah in idlib8:47 AM resistance fighters have liberated the medical tower in douma 10:14 AM assad's troops bombed the al-husayniyah camp & killed +3 boys 11:36 AM resistance fighters killed 8 assad troops near al-lairmoun military checkpoint in aleppo city 11:49 AM https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf The Bakery in Maarat Misreen, which provides bread to 50 towns in the area, is on the verge of shutting down due to a lack of propane.10:36 AM It has been running on propane for over a week since there has been an electric shutoff. 40 tons of bread were made there daily. Idlib 10:37 AM Very intense shelling on Maarat Al-Nouman now from MiGs and military helicopters. 5 martyrs in the city already. 10:31 AM Massacre in Albarrah in JabalAlzawiyah Idlib. 5 confirmed martyrs as of now with many more under the rubble. 10s of injuries. 11:10 AM At least 21 martyrs have been confirmed in the Albarrah massacre in Idlib today. Many of them were families that fled MaaratAlNouman. 1:05 PM https://twitter.com/OnlySyrian Reports : FSA killed colonel "Zouhir Bitar" head of Info.section in Air-force intelligence unit in Aleppo12:46 PM Many areas in Aleppo controlled by FSA r out of water such as Sukari, Qaterji, SalahAddin. 12:48 PM Aleppo: Assad's shelled Orem Kubra heavily which is a strategic site on the route to the besieged 46th battalion. 1:08 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf 50 regime soldiers surrender from the Allani checkpoint in Harem Idlib. Many others escape into the olive groves.2:23 PM https://twitter.com/NMSyria Car bomb explosion near Teshreen Stadium in Barzeh has resulted in destruction of neighboring buildings. Damascus2:31 PM The FSA has taken control of the Air Force Intelligence building in Aleppo - 2:37 PM News that tens of thugs have been killed by car bomb explosion in Barzeh outside the Police Academy. - Damascus 2:52 PM Seems like they haven't quite taken the Airforce Intelligence Building over yet. https://twitter.com/OnlySyrian FSA is attacking Lairamoun Assad's check point next to Air-force Intelligence Center in Aleppo2:58 PM Breaking Aleppo: Air-force Intelligence center is besieged by FSA & some Intelligence groups have withdrawn. 3:01 PM https://twitter.com/Bambuser_Alert BREAKING (update): Sound of Free Syrian Army, FSA, trying to occupy Syrian Airforce Intelligence building in Aleppo: http://bambuser.com/v/3100811 3:32 PM LIVE (update): Sound of Free Syrian Army, FSA, trying to occupy Syrian Airforce Intelligence building in Aleppo: http://bambuser.com/v/3100836 3:34 PM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky assad's warplanes continue to bombard ma`arrat al-nu`man city. many buildings were destroyed. no reports on casualties3:25 PM correction: +50 assad troops have surrendered near salqin (idlib) 3:29 PM update from al-barrah (idlib): +10 people were killed & +50 injured due to aerial bombing. many homes were wiped out 3:35 PM heavy clashes have erupted around al-nayrab military airport in aleppo city 3:52 PM resistance fighters killed assad troops & destroyed a small truck in jam`iyat al-zahraa in aleppo city 3:54 PM https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria Around 120 Assad soldiers fled after being surrounded in Al Lani. 50 were captured by the FSA, 70 entered Turkish territory.5:08 PM Other Assad soldiers who fled to Turkey without defecting are still being held at police houses, which seems quite luxurious. 5:22 PM I read about a plan to place them in a special, safe refugee camp, but perhaps numbers were too low so far. 5:23 PM https://twitter.com/tweets4peace FSA attack checkpoint in Alqusair and liberate, report by @samialrifaie in English The FSA launched a huge attack on regime forces stationed in 5 checkpoints around the city Qusayr in the suburbs of Homs. After fierce clashes for almost 5 days, the FSA liberated these checkpoints and inflicted heavy losses on regime forces. This was the FSA's gift to residents in the city before Eid Al-Adha. 6:43 PM http://www.lccsyria.org/10416 Local Coordination Committees in Syria:By the end of the third day of Eid Truce the LCC documented 128 martyrs including 15 women and 14 children: 56 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 27 in Idlib most of them in Barrah massacre; 20 in Aleppo; 10 in Homs; 10 in Deir Ezzor most of them in Mayaden; 3 in Daraa; and 2 in Hama http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 36,236 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jackson-diehl-a-jihadist-group-prospers-in-syria/2012/10/28/c036128a-1ed8-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html A jihadist group prospers in Syria https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2 Activists report on another brutal air raid in Syria, this time in a village of Idlib, they speak of more than 21 dead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-PkqLEWqPE&feature=youtu.be2:16 AM https://twitter.com/omarsyria MiG flying over and shelling Damascus, windows and doors shaking.2:39 AM https://twitter.com/NMSyria MiG fighter jets launch rockets on targets in Zamalka, Damascus this morning. Family all the way in Dumar woke up to explosions.2:41 AM https://twitter.com/LeShaque I'm glad to see widespread condemnation of Itani's kidnapping among Syrian activists. We should have a zero tolerance policy.3:14 AM No explanation given. Abi Ibrahim deemed his work to be anti-revolution. I think they need money. 3:17 AM Fidaa Itani was kidnapped in the same manner practiced by the regime. Not how we want to treat the press in liberated Syria. 3:24 AM https://twitter.com/THE_47th Open wounds attract bacteria, open wars attract extremists. Nothing new here. We've been saying this since March 2011.3:48 AM so 4 "civil" world 2 express "worry" at extremists surfacing in Syria, is like me complaining abt herpes after a 19mnth unprotected sex-fest 3:53 AM https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov Turkey strikes Syrian forces after four mortar bombs hit southern Turkish province of Hatay this morning. 3:53 AM To avoid the Free Syrian Army, 29 Syrian troops, including 5 injured, surrender to Turkey after rebels capture Allani town on Turkish border 4:08 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky an assad warplane has bombed harasta (al-mahasneh mosque & its surrounding area). some people were killed & injured3:55 AM assad's troops have been bombing the town of khan al-asal (aleppo) for 4 hours 4:03 AM people found a tortured, executed body near al-aziz mosque in al-zahira (damascus city) 4:12 AM clashes continue around al-jabilah & al-rushdiyah neighborhoods in deirezzor city 4:22 AM assad's troops continue to bombard the areas between al-latamneh & taibat al-imam in hama countryside 4:29 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/29/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE88J0X720121029 Air strikes in Damascus wreck last day of Syria "truce"Syrian jets bombed parts of Damascus on Monday in what residents said were the capital's fiercest air raids yet, underlining the collapse of a truce proposed by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. "More than 100 buildings have been destroyed, some leveled to the ground," said opposition activist Moaz al-Shami, who said he had witnessed three air raids in the northeastern suburb of Harasta alone. "Whole neighborhoods are deserted." Syrian state television said a "terrorist car bomb" had killed 10 people, including women and children, near a bakery in Jaramana - a southeastern district of Damascus controlled by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Damascus residents reported air raids on the suburbs of Qaboun, Zamalka and Irbin overnight and on Monday which they said were the heaviest since jets and helicopters first bombarded pro-opposition parts of the Syrian capital in August."Even electricity poles have been hit and they are lying among pools of water from burst pipes. There is no food, water, electricity or telephones," said Shami, the activist in Harasta. "Army snipers surround Harasta National Hospital and no one can move from one street to another without risking being shot." Shami said Free Syrian Army rebels still held most of the area, but their anti-aircraft guns could not hit the warplanes. http://www.maysaloon.org/2012/10/the-philosophy-of-tyranny.html The Philosophy of TyrannyStalin once said that half a million deaths is a statistic but the death of one is a tragedy. As Syrians we've stopped registering shock at the news of a hundred deaths a day in the country. We don't bat an eyelid, and might even change the news channel upon hearing of it. Fatigue sets in, and our troubled minds look for entertainment and something to distract us. Then the deaths no longer make the news, because the news is not about what is worthy but about what people are talking about. Of course there will always be those few who will keep talking, and they will slowly pass through the curtain of respectability and we will quietly categorize them as the fringe, as the extreme. The numbers eventually don't matter and they fade into statistics. Then you sit down at a dinner table with somebody who has never voiced outrage about the outrageous but has plenty to say about those victims who dared to cry out - Why did you cry out? Didn't you know it would only get worse? Now you've spoiled it for everybody. You should have just kept your mouth shut. That is what they mean as they quietly present their "point of view", as if we are discussing fly fishing and not mass murder. Here, in the comfort of a civilized country, we can pretend to be other than what we are, and as sensible people we surely cannot be taken in by the extreme rantings of people who wish to disturb the peace - Oh and by the way, you did hear about such and such barbarism that the riff-raff claimed to be carrying out in the name of this so-called freedom? Oh you didn't? Well I've heard it on good authority that... - and so on and so forth. I sit and seethe, eventually losing my composure. I say more than I meant to say, and with a louder tone. I speak quickly, because I feel as if there is no time to lose, and inwardly I curse my hastiness. I feel as if Truth is a flower that is about to be stamped out. I tell myself this is all quite illogical, that it's clear that what is happening is obvious to all. But later, as the angry fever subsides, I realise that what terrifies me is the fading of memories. That at some point, those gentle lies will continue to grow and spread and take root. https://twitter.com/farGar during natural disasters like Sandy every1 comes together but when a mass murderer like Assad kills innocent Syrians for 19 months- POLITICS11:19 AM it's so sad my friend, we're just watching fellow humans die in the most horrifying ways. Syrians wont forget. 11:34 AM what i mean is, if a storm instead of assad were killing Syrians, intl community would help 11:45 AM B.O. is stopping many states from selling weapons to the FSA, pretty much asking jihaadists to go to Syria 11:52 AM Assad currently destroying Al Ghouta Damascus …11:56 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters have destroyed 2 military tanks in homs city8:44 AM defection of a colonel, a lieutenant & a sergeant in aleppo 9:29 AM resistance fighters seized a military tank in homs city 9:47 AM heavy clashes are going on now near shihan square in aleppo city 12:11 PM assad's troops are bombing al-asali area in damascus city. 2 houses were destroyed 12:15 PM https://twitter.com/NMSyria 7:20PM - 75 killed across Syria so far today. But who cares, the number is still in the double digits. Sarcasm12:25 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2193202&l=17f3b109cb&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaThe number of martyrs in Syria on the 4th day of the Eid truce has risen to 104. 51 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, including 10 in Hajar Aswad and 10 due to the bombing of Jaramana; 24 in Aleppo, most of them in Meghayer neighborhood; 11 in Idlib; 9 in Homs; 4 in Daraa; 3 in Deir Ezzor and 2 in Hama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/10/29/syria-and-beyond-live-coverage-a-ceasefire-ends.html#1922 Following the collapse of the UN-proposed truce, rebel fighters launched a major offensive on regime forces in Idlib, Damascus, Deir Azzour and Aleppo, whereby they seized control of a five military checkpoints in the Damascus suburb of Douma. They also seized control of the provincial towns of Salqin, Harem and Darkoush in the suburbs of Idlib, besides storming the air force intelligence compound in Aleppo city. They captured a number of military tanks, heavy machineguns and a big quantity of ammunition. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/kurdish-man-tortured-rebels-dies-watchdog Kurdish man tortured by rebels dies: watchdogA Kurdish man tortured by rebels in northern Syria has died of his wounds on Monday, a watchdog said, noting that some armed groups have taken up methods used by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Khaled Bahjat Hamdu, 37, was captured on Friday along with scores of other Kurds in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, near the village of Hayan, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Hamdu "died from wounds caused by torture inflicted on him while he was captured by an armed group near the village of Hayan," it said. "He was tortured using electricity. He was one of 120 captives released on Sunday, but he was so weak that the following morning, he died," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. "Some of the armed groups are using the regime's methods of repression," said Abdel Rahman. "We should not be silent about this." Syrian rebels clashed with Kurdish militia in Aleppo on Friday, leaving 30 dead whole more than 200 were captured, the Observatory said. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/29/tourists_and_terrorists Tourists and TerroristsIf you go to Damascus and ask a taxi driver to take you to the suburb of Harasta, you will not find it. Nor will you find Jobar. You will not find al-Hajar al-Aswad, either. Nor Qaddam. You will find half of Douma, three quarters of Daraya. Zamalka you will not find. What you will find in place of these villages in the Damascus countryside, which the Syrian army reclaimed from the rebels in August and September, is the rubble of war. Rows of four- and five- and six-story buildings razed to their foundations. Symmetrical heaps of broken masonry, neatly setting off the original real estate lots -- and then whole oceans of stone, with jagged waves. Electricity poles shattered at the trunk like felled trees, their tangle of wires branching in the dirt. Cars flattened as at the junk yard. Buses riddled with bullets. Apartment buildings with their fronts sheared off, so that you get an axial view of the floors, furniture and tenants gone missing. Great article, I remember him going through Latakia, Tartous, Homs, and Hama and writing about them previously too. https://twitter.com/AlexCrawfordSky Turkish news agency reports the Syrian regime has bombed its own air defence system nr Idlib to prevent it falling into rebel hands3:28 PM Rebels have gained control of majority of region around Idlib and villages of Allani and Duveli. 3:30 PM Bombing of Syrian air defence system witnessed from Turkish border. Large smoke columns seen. 3:31 PM Turkish news agency reports 29 Syrian army soldiers fled to Turkey to escape capture by rebels. Now in Hatay. Five are injured. 3:37 PM https://twitter.com/tweets4peace Syria convoy leaves in just over 12 hrs. Final packing,pray 4 those driving&amazing work by @hands4Syr, Stand By Syria & Human Concern team4:00 PM You can follow our convoy leaving tomorrow morning 7:20am BBC breakfast. Prayers it goes smooth and arrives in 1 piece. 4:13 PM https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria PKK/PYD has killed 15 FSA members in Anadan, Aleppo. Source is given as Lewa Al Tawheed. Yesterday they attacked Azaz.4:09 PM There is no doubt anymore that the PKK/PYD is an enemy of the revolution. 26 FSA members killed in total in Azaz & Anadan. 4:10 PM Azaz and Andan are towns outside Aleppp, near the Turkish border. They are opposition towns and house rebel leadership for the area. https://twitter.com/OnlySyrian Today: A civil plane full of female detainees took off from Aleppo Int.Airport heading to Damascus. Thus FSA is not going to allow any planes whatever it is to take off from Aleppo Int.Airport.4:13 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2193788&l=cd2fa0bedf&id=217848338242310 The number of martyrs at the 4th day of truce in Syria has increased to 113. 53 of them are in Damascus and its suburbs including 10 in Hajar Aswad and 10 in Jaramana explosion. 27 martyrs in Aleppo most of them in Maghayer neighborhood, 11 in Idlib, 9 in Homs, 6 in Daraa, 4 in Hama and 3 martyrs in Deir Ezzor http://www.lccsyria.org/10421 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaThe last day of Eid Ceasfire has ended with 115 martyrs including 7 children and 3 women. 53 martyrs were in Damascus and its suburbs including 10 in Hajar Aswad and 10 in Jaramana explosion, 27 in Aleppo most of them in Maghayer neighborhood, 13 in Idlib, 9 in Homs, 6 in Daraa, 4 in Hama and 3 martyrs in Deir Ezzor http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 36,351 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/kurds-talk-of-intervention-in-syria-raising-danger-of-escalation Kurds talk of intervention in Syria, raising danger of escalationClashes between Syrian-Arab insurgents and Kurds in northern Syria and threats by a major Kurdish rebel force to send its fighters to the region have raised the spectre of further escalation and intervention by Turkey. After the Aleppo clashes, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a rebel group that has been fighting for Kurdish self rule in Turkey since 1984 and has several thousand armed fighters, said it might intervene militarily in that part of Syria.Speaking about the Aleppo clashes yesterday, Bassam Imadi, a leading member of the Syrian opposition in exile, said: "This is a very dangerous development." He said there was a danger of a new front opening up in Syria. "It will create a diversion that will hurt everyone," he said. "It diverts attention from the fight against the regime." http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gERs_qh99dkQHhEG8ES8wOTLwI3Q?docId=CNG.493b5bfef777e0c4e6e2103828c1614e.4c1 Syria rebels clash with Palestinians as envoy due in ChinaClashes erupted between Syrian rebels and troops backed by Palestinian fighters near Damascus Tuesday as the UN-Arab League peace envoy was due in China in a bid to revive struggling efforts to halt the violence. On the first day after the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, which saw a bid for a ceasefire collapse amid renewed clashes, car bombings and air strikes, a watchdog said more than 500 people had died in fighting over its four days. The failure of peace efforts prompted fierce condemnation from Qatar, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani saying the international community was becoming complicit in a "war of extermination". Tuesday's clashes near Damascus spread into the Yarmuk Palestinian camp, home to 148,500 people, after breaking out in a neighbouring district, activists and a watchdog said. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the Syrian Revolution General Council, a network of activists on the ground, said fighting was heavy between the rebel Free Syrian Army and Palestinian forces. Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the pro-regime Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command had joined forces with the army after fighting spread into the camp. There are more than 510,000 Palestinian refugees living in Syria and their leadership is largely supportive of President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The regime has raided and shelled and killed a lot of Palestinians there though. I think most of the youth support the revolution. Sheikh Hamad, the Qatari prime minister, expressed deep frustration with the failure of international efforts in an interview with Al-Jazeera television."What is happening in Syria is not a civil war but a war of extermination against the Syrian people," he said. The war, he charged, was being waged "with a licence to kill, endorsed firstly by the Syrian government and secondly by the international community." Moscow on Monday called for international dialogue with Assad's regime, but the call was rejected by key regional player Turkey."There is no point in engaging in dialogue with a regime that continues to carry out such a massacre against its own people, even during Eid al-Adha," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday. http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=452085 Iran asks Iraq not to search Syria-bound planesTehran on Tuesday asked Iraq not to stop and search its Syria-bound aircraft despite US pressure to do so, after Baghdad inspected Iranian planes twice this month. "The Iraqi government should resist such pressures and not allow such acts to take place in the future," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast. The Iraqi authorities stopped and searched a Syria-bound cargo plane from Iran for weapons on October 28, after carrying out a similar inspection on October 2. Both planes were allowed continue their journey on to Syria when their cargo was cleared. The United States has been pressing Baghdad to ensure all Iranian aircraft flying through its airspace are ordered to land and checked for weapons, but Iraq has said it will only stop planes when it has doubts about the cargo. "In the two cases which our planes were inspected by Iraq it showed that such claims are lies," Mehmanparast said. Mehmanparast added that "Western accusations against Iran are to show that the instability in Syria is not due to their support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups." http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/30/us-syria-crisis-homs-idUSBRE89T0KH20121030 Syrian jets bomb area near Homs to break rebel siegeSyrian warplanes bombed rebel positions on the outskirts of the central city of Homs on Tuesday to try to break a siege of an army base housing dozens of soldiers, opposition activists said. Two rebels were killed and 10 wounded at al-Mubarkiyeh, a village 6 km (4 miles) south of Homs, where rebels have besieged a compound guarding a tank maintenance facility, they said. Opposition sources said the facility had been used to shell Sunni Muslim villages near the Lebanese border. There was no word on Syrian army casualties in the fighting, which followed a failed four-day truce proposed by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday. The truce lasted only a few hours and Eid al-Adha ended on Monday with a wave of air strikes on Sunni regions where rebels have slowly made gains. Clashes raged on across the country. "The warplanes hit al-Mubarkiyeh five times this morning. Army bulldozers had already razed the village in March," said activist Nader al-Husseini by telephone from near the area. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/world/meast/syria-kurdish-militia/index.html Syria rebels, Kurdish militia discuss cease-fireSyrian rebels and a Kurdish militia appear to be negotiating a cease-fire after clashes in the battle-scarred northern city of Aleppo on Saturday left at least 21 fighters dead and more than 100 people kidnapped. https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf Bilal mosque in MaaratAlNouman now completely destroyed...all you see is rubble with minarets and domes on top... 7:14 AM Oct. 29 By the time this is all over there won't be a Homs...there won't be a MaaratAlNouman...there would only be piles of stones. 10:22 AM Oct. 29 Ceasefire never lasted...the only thing that is lasting is CeaseWater...CeaseElectricity...CeasePropane...CeaseDiesel...CeaseLife... 5:01 PM Oct. 29 The [Wadi Aldayf] base is still surrounded, but regime troops have gathered all across the way from Hamdiyeh checkpoint to Wadi Aldayf and a small village nearby after a convoy made its way there. The FSA is still shelling the base but the regime is getting stronger by the day there. 5:18 PM Oct. 29 https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf FSA arrest 10s of regime soldiers in Harem Idlib...apparently they're all either from Damascus or Aleppo... …1:46 AM MiG strike on MaaratAlNouman completely levels 2 residential buildings, 3 stories each. Many people under the rubble. Martyr count unknown. 3:35 AM MASSACRE in MaaratAlNouman after 2 residential buildings completely destroyed. 19 martyrs as of now...many more under the rubble. Idlib 4:23 AM https://twitter.com/DamascusTribune 8 people were martyred today in a new massacre due to mortar shelling onto Hamoriyah city in E Ghouta in Damascus suburbs5:42 AM https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov After violent protests, Turkey steps up Syrian refugee camp security with increased cams, police officers and X-ray scanners at camp gates.5:32 AM Turkey is housing 107,769 Syrian refugees in 12 tent and one container camps as of today. 692 of them are being treated in Turkish hospitals 7:19 AM https://twitter.com/Ugariti_Homsi 30 civilians killed in an air strike by Assad's army targeting Ma'arat Numan town in Idlib.7:24 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky assad's warplanes are bombing the towns in al-akrad mount in latakia. assad's warplanes continue to shell damascus countryside.5:28 AM defection of a (military) corporal 5:57 AM an assad tank bombed a vegetable car near the town of namer (daraa). 3 people were killed 7:22 AM assad's troops bombed an ambulance car near the town of al-herak (daraa). the driver & 2 nurses were killed 7:27 AM resistance fighters destroyed a military pick up truck & killed +20 assad thugs near the 30th street (al-hajar al-aswad, damascus) 7:32 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/61-syrians-detained-jordan-police 61 Syrians detained in Jordan: policeJordan police on Tuesday were detaining 61 Syrians who were travelling in three trucks near the southern town of Maan, an Islamist stronghold, a statement said. "A police patrol in Maan governorate seized today three trucks carrying 61 Syrians, who are now in detention. The drivers were arrested too," a Public Security Directorate statement said. "Investigations are under way to find out more information about them and why they were travelling in these trucks," it said without elaborating. Maan has a bloody and rebellious past that goes back to the turn of the last century, when the town was the seat of the Great Arab Revolt that crushed the Ottoman rule. Jordan, which says it is hosting 200,000 Syrians, arrested last week seven Syrians for carrying 35 "advanced" walkie-talkies, which are banned in the kingdom, as well as other equipment. http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/arm-syrian-rebels-to-make-a-political-solution-possible Arm Syrian rebels to make a political solution possibleInternational lethargy has allowed the once-upbeat Syrian uprising to morph in profoundly dangerous ways. The picture is grim. The humanitarian toll is increasing, with a monthly death count now on par with the worst months of the sectarian war in Iraq. Syria's civil war has spilt across the region in ways that Iraq's never did. The long-feared radicalisation of segments of the Syrian opposition is happening. It is the responsibility of Syrian civilian leaders and foreign governments to impress this on rebel commanders. Persuasion alone will not work, so there is a need to develop leverage by fostering dependency on weapons and funding. "Positive dependency" is fundamentally about strengthening the political hand of the Syrian opposition. It is also about containing the worst instincts of warlords and military leaders who, having seized power through blood and force, will be reluctant to abide by the rules of politics.Likewise, how desirable would it be for every rebel group, some of which have their own political or religious agendas, to develop their own supply networks or to master the expertise to build IEDs? These groups will have to disarm and disband for Syria to have a better future. Being able to starve them of weapons will certainly help. Better weapons would require better training and organisation to be effective. Herein lies one last opportunity to instil discipline and create dependency. For external actors who worry about the day after the Assads, this is a momentous challenge. Western states are increasingly marginal in the dynamics of the Syrian conflict. The question is whether they can afford to be irrelevant. They have dragged their feet so far, not investing enough attention and resources into this admittedly dangerous game while regime allies are marshaling all their resources in its support. Two Washington analysts, Andrew Tabler and Jeffrey White, have developed useful political and military criteria to vet and equip rebel groups. Some will retort that it is too late and too risky. Many rebels already feel that they were abandoned in their moment of dire need, so why would they accept conditional help from outsiders now? But the realisation that victory for the opposition is not on the battlefield alone should prompt some new, if counter-intuitive, thinking. http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/editorial/a-self-defeating-fight-pits-rebels-against-kurds A self-defeating fight pits rebels against Kurds https://twitter.com/hhassan140 Syria TV: General Abdullah Mahmoud Al-Khalidi, an air force general, was assassinated in Damascus. Second to be killed in Rukn Eddin. AJA10:02 AM I wonder if he had some involvement in the ongoing government airstrikes, especially around the capital. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky the school of commerce in ma`arrat al-nu`man has been destroyed8:46 AM update: resistance fighters destroyed 3 military tanks in al-ghutah al-sharqiyah (near irbin & zamalka) 9:50 AM a warplane bombed jobar (& irbin, zamalka, harasta, douma......)[Damascus suburbs] 10:16 AM resistance fighters fired missiles on the airforce intelligence building in al-lairmoun district (aleppo city) 12:15 PM resistance fighters destroyed a tank & killed assad troops in the eastern area of wadi al-dayf military base (idlib) 12:26 PM shuhadaa rukn al-din brigade (damascus) declares responsibility for killing major general abdullah al-khalidi 12:33 PM https://twitter.com/And_Harper Refugee babies. Last nite 522 x'd to jordan. Among new arrivals 17 new born, youngest 2 days old, another 27 less than one yr old.11:28 AM Eldest arrival last nite was 85 yrs who x'd 2 jordan w/ his wife to save his only surviving son, his other 4 sons had been killed. 11:28 AM https://twitter.com/NMSyria FSA seized control of another border crossing with Turkey on Monday.11:50 AM BREAKING: Reports that two artillery shells have hit the Air Force Intelligence HQ in Aleppo and the building is on fire. 12:14 PM https://twitter.com/OnlySyrian Two homemade rockets by FSA have shelled Air-force intelligence HQ in Aleppo causing a big fire now.12:16 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2196262&l=b84a3dfd3f&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaThe number if martyrs in Syria has risen to 80 thus far, among them 4 women and 3 children; 29 were reported in Idlib most of them due to the shelling of Maaret Al-Nouman; 19 in Damascus and its Suburbs; 8 in Aleppo; 8 in Homs; 6 in Daraa; 5 in Hama; and 2 in Lattakia 12:31 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/aussie-killed-in-syria-a-hero-friends-say/story-e6frfku9-1226507175806?sv=b0009b91d5dc48dafcf2b83e4beaffa1#.UJBmC2Ju1LY.twitter Melbourne man dies in Syria 'crossfire' http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/30/obama_administration_works_to_launch_new_syrian_opposition_council#.UJBcBMLw5sw.twitter Obama administration works to launch new Syrian opposition councilSyrian opposition leaders of all stripes will convene in Qatar next week to form a new leadership body to subsume the opposition Syrian National Council, which is widely viewed as ineffective, consumed by infighting, and little respected on the ground, The Cable has learned. The State Department has been heavily involved in crafting the new council as part of its effort oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and build a more viable and unified opposition. In September, for instance, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with a group of Syrian activists who were flown in to New York for a high-level meeting that has not been reported until now. In fact, over the last several months, according to U.S. officials and Syrian opposition figures, the State Department has worked to broaden its contacts inside the country, meeting with military commanders and representatives of local governance councils in a bid to bypass the fractious SNC.Many in the SNC are accordingly frustrated with the level of support they've gotten in Washington. "The Obama administration is trying to systematically undermine the SNC. It's very unfortunate," one SNC leader said told The Cable. But U.S. officials are equally frustrated with an SNC they say has failed to attract broad support, particularly from the Alawite and Kurdish minorities. The new council is an attempt to change that dynamic. Dozens of Syrian leaders will meet in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Nov. 3 and hope to announce the new council as the legitimate representative of all the major Syrian opposition factions on Nov. 7, one day after the U.S. presidential election. https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf The regime army killed 7 soldiers in JisrAlShughoor Idlib when they attempted to defect from a checkpoint.2:05 PM They were trying to escape...got to within 100 meters from the checkpoint then they opened fire on them. 2:10 PM The Air Defense base in Salqeen was shelled today by the regime destroying all radar equipment after the FSA liberated it. 15 soldiers defected from that base yesterday. Apparently it was taken back. The 15 that defected there yesterday report that there are ~ 250 soldiers inside. Most injured. 5:41 PM Today's Idlib massacres were in MaaratAlNouman, KafarBateekh, and Saraqib. I wonder where they will be tomorrow... 5:52 PM http://www.lccsyria.org/10426 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaBy the end of Tuesday the LCC documented 163 martyrs among them 13 children and 7 women; 72 were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs ; 50 in Idlib most of them due to the shelling of Maaret Al-Nouman and dozens in Saraqeb and Kafar Batekh; 13 in Aleppo; 12 in Homs; 7 in Daraa; 5 in Hama; 2 in Deir Ezzor and 2 in Lattakia http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 36,514 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/syrias-rebels-need-to-strike-at-the-regimes-backbone Syria's rebels need to strike at the regime's backboneWhat if the Syrian regime crumbled today? Did the government lose control - at least briefly - when at least four of the regime's top figures were killed in a bomb attack in Damascus in July? In my opinion, it probably did. Those officials, including the dictator's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, linked the regime's top echelons with the security apparatus in overseeing the daily repression. That chain was probably broken, for a brief period, before the embattled regime reasserted its control and the violence continued as usual. But how would the regime's opponents know? They clearly lack the necessary tools even to immediately recognise a power vacuum, much less fill it. Even if the regime fell, the war would continue until people on both sides became aware of the vacuum. The rebels must keep this in mind. If the rebels are to achieve palpable results, new strategies are needed. From interviews with activists, rebel fighters and regime's loyalists, there appear to be two critical areas where rebels must focus to break the stalemate. First, strike the regime's backbone. The Assads increasingly rely on militia-like forces that carry out daily operations on the ground, with little supervision from the Damascus leadership. The Assads have undoubtedly signed off on the killing, but in the form of general directives, rather than tactical leadership. That is why day-to-day operations were hardly affected by the July bomb. The second area that rebels must work on is establishing political leadership with a strong presence on the ground. Contrary to popular belief, a unified political opposition is even more urgent than a unified command-and-control structure among the armed rebels. Many of the disagreements among anti-regime fighters are the result of rivalries at the political level - the most salient example is the distribution of arms according to political loyalties.A unified on-the-ground resistance cannot be the prerequisite for assistance and weapons supplies. A coherent political leadership, backed financially and politically by foreign states, is more urgent than ever. As the US magazine Foreign Policy reported on Tuesday, the US administration intends to launch a new Syrian opposition council during meetings in Qatar next week. The present Syrian National Council has proved time and again that it cannot reform and become inclusive on its own. An international effort is needed to make that happen. Foreign countries, particularly those that wield influence because they supply arms and aid, can help to forge unity on the ground. Political leadership must be connected to Syrians inside the country, working closely with activists and fighters, and begin to administer areas where the regime has little or no presence. When the opposition members inside Syria feel that they are sacrificing their lives, they naturally owe no allegiance to politicians living in hotels in foreign capitals. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/31/us-syria-usa-idUSBRE89U1AY20121031 Clinton calls for overhaul of Syria opposition groupThe United States called on Wednesday for a major overhaul of Syria's beleaguered opposition, saying it was time to move beyond the Syrian National Council (SNC) and bring in those who are "in the frontlines fighting and dying today". Speaking on a visit to Croatia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said Syrian opposition talks in Qatar next week should lead to a broader coalition that would speak out strongly against "efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution." Western patience has been wearing thin with the SNC, a group of largely expatriate Syrian activists who so far have failed to gain much traction with groups inside the country. "We've made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition," Clinton said. "They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others." "There needs to be an opposition structure that is dedicated to representing and protecting all Syrians," Clinton said. A meeting next week in Qatar would be an opportunity for Syria's disparate opposition groups to bring in representatives of those who "are on the frontlines fighting and dying today", Clinton said.She added that the United States had facilitated the movement of several representatives of these groups to a meeting last month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. "And we also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution." "We have recommended names and organisations that we believe should be included in a leadership structure," Clinton told a news conference. https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf Reports that the FSA has shot down a helicopter in Mhambil Idlib.4:59 AM The FSA controls the entire way from lattakia to aleppo ever since they liberated the villages west and south of Jisr Alshughoor 5:24 AM The Maasara checkpt in Mhambil Idlib now taken over by the FSA! This chckpt was one of the worst! It shelled the entire Idlib Countryside. 4:24 AM The problem is Jisr Alshughoor itself has a very large regime presence. 5:24 AM Reports that the FSA in DeirEzzor shot down a regime fighter jet... 7:17 AM https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters have liberated the town of rouyhinah in al-qunaytirah12:55 PM resistance fighters have liberated the town of bariqah in al-qunaytirah 12:56 PM resistance fighters have liberated the town of bi'ir ajam in al-qunaytirah 12:57 PM resistance fighters destroyed 2 tanks, killed assad troops & seized weapons in harasta. resistance fighters control the town 2:01 PM https://twitter.com/NMSyria FSA has destroyed two tanks, one in Khan Wazir and another in the Saba’a Bahrat in Aleppo.1:05 PM https://twitter.com/AnonymousSyria SecClinton: We don't like extremism, and we're resisting it, but your inaction left a vacuum, extremists are happy to fill in. Take action!1:22 PM https://twitter.com/BSyria Clinton is calling on the opposition -- which one? -- to prevent the revolution from extremism. Hahahaha.1:33 PM If there is extremism in the revolution today, then America is one of the parties to blame. We warned abt this from day one. 1:34 PM https://twitter.com/DSyrer Clinton think she's in a position to give advice to us. How cute.1:40 PM Clinton on Syria: "He's a reformer!", "They should stay peaceful!", "We're outraged!", "CW is a red line!", "Watch out for extremists, k?" 1:46 PM https://twitter.com/RafifJ Obama tours devastated cities as a show of leadership and support. Assad devastates cities, then hides in fear and shame.1:35 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=296803 US: Syria responsible for tensions along Turkey borderThe US administration has reiterated that Syria bears the responsibility for tensions along the border with Turkey, days after a top US commander said the origin of shells that have landed in Turkish territory was unclear. The US condemned the Syrian regime after a mortar bomb fired by Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akçakale in Şanlıurfa province on Oct. 3, killing five civilians and injuring several others. Ankara retaliated by hitting Syrian targets, escalating tensions along the border. Last week, however, US Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling sparked a controversy in the Turkish media when he said that the origin of the shells that were fired from Syria and landed in Turkish territory was in dispute. He said that the US was not sure if these shells were from the Syrian army, from rebels who wanted to get Turkey involved in the conflict or from the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). When asked to comment on Hertling's remarks, Mark Toner, the deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, said at a press briefing on Wednesday that he has not seen the said remarks but added that “all of these tensions, all the escalation of violence, the onus rests squarely on the [bashar al-] Assad regime.” “We've been clear that it's the Syrian government, the Syrian military that has escalated border tensions. … We wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for Assad's brutal crackdown of a largely peaceful -- or a peaceful opposition to the government. Eventually we saw these Syrian citizens take up arms against the government and the military as a result of the crackdown to defend their homes and families, but let's be very clear that it's Assad and his regime that bear responsibility here,” Toner said. When pressed to comment on the specific issue of border tensions, Toner said, “We've said it was the Syrian military.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/01/us-syria-crisis-attacks-idUSBRE8A00KV20121101 Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers in checkpoint attacksRebels killed 28 Syrian army soldiers on Thursday in an attack on three checkpoints around the town of Saraqeb, which straddles the country's main north-south highway, an opposition-linked group said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that opposition activists in Saraqeb, in the northern province of Idlib bordering Turkey, confirmed the attacks had been carried out by several rebel units. The army has lost swathes of land in Idlib and Aleppo province but is fighting to control towns along supply routes to Aleppo city, where its forces are fighting in many districts. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/oct/31/syria-crisis-brahimi-china-live#block-50914cd6b57959e43bca950d Syria’s former prime minister Riyad Hijab, who defected from the Assad regime in August, has been named on proposed opposition council that has been set up in consultation with the US government as a possible transition government.The new 51 member 'National Initiative Council' is due to be unveiled in Doha next week, sources in the Syrian opposition revealed to the Guardian. As Foreign Policy magazine reported they confirmed that the new body will have only 15 seats for the fractured Syrian National Council. "The new council is definitely an attempt to undermine the SNC," an opposition source said. He also revealed that the new body would include former prime minister Hijab, as well as three seats for the Kurdish National Council, and one for Haytham Manna, from the internal opposition group the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change. The US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has been closely involved in drawing up the new council. He is understood to be concerned about the lack of representation from minorities including Alawites, the Assad clan's Shia sect. Despite these concerns there no Alawites have been named on the new council. But places have been reserved for at least six "national figures" which could a leading Alawite. It is unclear where the council will be based, but Turkey has been ruled out because of Kurdish involvement in the group. https://twitter.com/NuffSilence Dozen of civilians were killed in the town of Atareb when regime air-force bombed public bakery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhQGfWOVaWM 2:26 PM Oct. 31 https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky from ahrar al-sham brigades: resistance fighters destroyed icarda military checkpoint 3:31 PM Oct. 31 update: 4 tanks were destroyed today in zamalka & harasta 4:03 PM update: 3 military tanks were destroyed today in aleppo city 4:09 PM update: resistance fighters destroyed 2 military tanks in the town of al-ya`qoubiyah(idlib) 4:10 PM update: 6 military tanks were destroyed today in the province of homs 4:12 PM https://twitter.com/RafifJ LCC reporting from Bokamal, Deir Ezzor that Iraqi officials have arrested 15+ Syrian men in the city of Qaem at the camp.8:18 PM Oct. 31 http://www.lccsyria.org/10430 Local Coordination Committees in SyriaLCC could document 121 martyrs in Syria by the end of Wednesday. 53 martyrs in Aleppo, 44 in Damascus and its suburbs including 18 in war planes shelling over Zamalka, 11 in Homs, 5 in Hama, 4 in Idlib, 3 in Daraa and a martyr in Deir Ezzor http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975&viewfull=1#post9046975 36,635 people killed so far in Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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