SYRIA – News

MASSIVE DOUBLE EXPLOSION DESTROYS GOVERNMENT COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE BUILDINGS – MANY DEAD AND WOUNDED:

UN MONITORS MAKING LITTLE IMPACT AS SHELLING AND FIGHTING CONTINUE IN DESTROYED HOMS:

TIMELINE – 10th MAY 2012 10.10 GMT:

In Syria, things do not get any better. This morning, Thursday, just before 8.00am local time, 2 huge bomb explosions occurred near a busy highway to the south of Damascus in the suburb of Al-Qazzaz.

The highway was full of early morning traffic ferrying people to work, school and university.

Many vehicles and their occupants were destroyed in a vicious double blast that many believe was targeted at Syrian Intelligence buildings nearby known to be used for counter-intelligence operations. 

Two intelligence buildings, one of them 10 storeys high, were destroyed and the explosions, the largest so far in Damascus, were heard all over the city.

According to reports, the first explosion was smaller and once a group of security personnel had come to the scene, a second much larger blast was detonated.  At least 29 people have been killed and 103 wounded, though later reports are quoting figures of as many as 40 dead and 170 injured.

The Government was quick to blame ” opposition terrorists”, but the Free Syrian Army and the Opposition said they do not target civilians and blamed the Government for setting this up to gain support. 

However, the blast has all the hallmarks of a separate Al Qaeda operation designed to undermine the Government and create chaos. Al Jazeera has a video report, HERE:

UN MONITORS MAKING LITTLE IMPACT AS SHELLING AND FIGHTING CONTINUE IN DESTROYED HOMS:

Major General Robert Mood, the head of the UN observer mission, has already visited the scene of this morning’s bomb blast, himself having narrowly missed injury yesterday from a roadside bomb detonated as his convoy, accompanied by Syrian troops, passed on its way to the southern town of Daraa. 

As the windshields of trucks were blown out 8 Syrian soldiers were wounded but no UN monitors.

In Homs, the 11 UN monitors there were busy trying this morning to broker a ceasefire after heavy overnight shelling by Government troops.

Shooting continues throughout the day and large areas of the city are completely deserted.

According to this BBC video report, Syria’s third largest city is turning into a “ghost town”, HERE:

There are now 70 UN monitors in Syria overall but their prescence so far seems to have had little effect on the “peace process”.

More violence was reported yesterday in the northern province of Idlib and in Hama, and an elderly Lebanese woman in her 70′s was shot dead and her daughter wounded by cross border fire into the town of Masharia Al-Qaa on Lebanon’s side of the Syrian border.

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OUTLOOK GRIM AS ASSAD’S FORCES CONTINUE TO BREAK  CEASEFIRE AND FSA RETALIATE IN SELF-DEFENCE:

UN OBSERVER BUILD UP PAINFULLY SLOW AS REPUTED REBEL ARMS SHIP INTERCEPTED OFF LEBANON:

TIMELINE – 29th APRIL 2012 13.09 GMT:

Major General Robert Mood from Norway, arrived in Damascus today to take charge of the UN peace keeping mission to monitor a “ceasefire” in Syria.

So far “a ceasefire” looks like wishful thinking and the UN’s job more and more like “Mission Impossible”.

All indications are that Assad’s Government has not withdrawn its tanks, troops and heavy artillery to their bases, allowed international journalists into the country or the widespread distribution of humanitarian aid, all conditions of the ceasefire agreement.

This video footage released yesterday, Saturday, shows massed Syrian Army troops entering the Damascus suburb of Douma to carry out house raids as they search for opposition fighters, HERE:  

Another video shows a funeral march in the Midan area of Damascus which turns into an anti-Assad protest and is then attacked with tear gas, HERE:

Activists say that Assad’s soldiers also carried out house to house searches in the Damascus area of Irbin on Saturday, arresting demonstration leaders who welcomed the UN observers a week ago.

Joint UN/Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan’s declared ceasefire of April 12th has been largely ignored with the Syrian Army attacking opposition strongholds and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) striking back with hit-and-run assaults on military checkpoints, patrols and vehicles.

UN OBSERVER BUILD UP PAINFULLY SLOW AS REPUTED REBEL ARMS SHIP INTERCEPTED OFF LEBANON:

The UN has only 15 observers in place at the moment (15 less than originally announced) but hopes to have 300 in the country by the end of May.

However, the Syrian regime was outraged yesterday after widely reported criticisms from Ban Ki-Moon, the UN General Secretary, largely blaming the Assad Governemnt for ceasefire violations. Ban Ki-Moon said the Syrian Government’s repression of civilians had reached “an intolerable stage”, prompting calls of “bias” from the Syrian press.

UN observers toured the heavily shelled district of Khaldiyeh in Homs this morning, Sunday, and although shooting outbreaks continue, the presence of the monitors in the city seems to have reduced the level of violence and killing experienced in recent months.

At a military base not far from Assad’s summer palace at the coastal village of Burj Islam near Aleppo, fighting broke out as more than 30 soldiers defected to the Opposition side.

The Lebanese Government, an Assad ally, also intercepted a ship registered in Sierra Leone, whose journey had originated in Libya with a port call in Egypt. 

The Lebanese authorities say the vessel had on board 3 containers full of weapons such as heavy machine guns and rocket propelled grenades destined for Opposition forces in Syria.  Al jazeera has a video report HERE:

A suicide-bomb explosion in Damascus outside a mosque on Friday killed 9 and wounded many more. Four other explosions were also recorded across the capital city on the same day, some suggesting that opposition forces have changed their tactics in order to bring the fighting to Assad’s power base.

But overall, not much has changed. The outlook looks grim and the confirmed statistics (with many more killed since they were verified on 3.4.12 ) currently look something like this:

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ASSAD FORCES PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK WITH UN MONITORS AS SECURITY COUNCIL INCREASES NUMBERS:

TIMELINE – 23rd APRIL 2012 10.15 GMT:

On Saturday, with the agreement of Russia and China, the Security Council agreed to send an unarmed UN monitor force of 300 to Syria for 90 days. Kofi Annan, the UN/Arab League special envoy on Syria described it as a “pivotal moment in the stabilisation of the country”.

To many members of the Opposition, the country appears far from stable.

Activists report that where the advanced party of UN monitors has already been deployed in Syria, things go quiet when they are there and tanks and heavy artillery are hidden.

One video online shows a tank hidden in the local Ba’ath Party headquarters.

When the monitors leave, the shelling, sniping and intimidation of the local population continue. Indeed, one video shows a crowd accompanied by UN monitors in Homs coming under sniper fire from the Shabiya, Assad’s armed civilian militia, HERE:

Five observers visited Homs for the first time Saturday and were shown gutted apartment buildings on either side of debris littered streets. Two monitors stayed on in the city after the rest of the team returned to Damascus and in this video you can see an English speaker imploring the monitors to stay, HERE:

In other areas, in complete violation of the agreed truce, shelling continues by Assad’s Army.

The Douma suburb of Damascus, which has been a centre of anti-government feeling for months, came under shell and heavy machine  gun fire on Sunday. 

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), in retaliation targeted an armed personnel carrier with a bomb, just outside Douma and killed 4 soldiers. Shelling also continued in Idlib province and around Deir Al-Zour in the north.

In Hama, where the UN monitors met the Governor yesterday, things were quieter, with local activists saying that the Army had hidden vehicles in Government installations.  The UN monitors also toured Rastan to the south of Hama. 

A rather confused looking UN monitor (EDITOR: Looking as though he is dressed for a medieval battlefield) is literally led by the hand in a tour of the town by a member of the FSA, HERE:

Despite the rather shaky ceasefire, it is clear that conflict continues.  Al Jazeera has a video report HERE:

The EU has announced that it is bringing in its 14th round of sanctions against Syria, this time targeting the supply of luxury goods, a clear signal to Assad and his wife that their continued use of European companies and stores to fuel their high-living lifestyle is not acceptable.

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SENSE OF DEJA VU AS MONITORS ARRIVE AND THE KILLING CONTINUES UNABATED – UN PEACE PLAN ALREADY IN DANGER:

UN AMBASSADORS’ WIVES STEP FORWARD IN A DIRECT VIDEO APPEAL TO ASMA ASSAD TO STOP THE KILLING:

TIMELINE: – 18th APRIL 2012 11.24 GMT:

In Syria there is a real sense of “deja vu” as the first advance party of 6 UN military monitors, under the leadership of Moroccan colonel Ahmed Himmiche, arrived in Damascus.

After meeting with Syrian Government officials they were whisked away to Daraa for a brief visit to the Governor of that province. Daraa is where the Syrian revolution originally started after some boys were arrested for daubing anti-government graffiti on a wall.

Kofi Annan, the UN/Arab League special envoy who devised the 6 point peace plan that President Assad is supposed to be adhering to, is sending 30 monitors initially but is to ask the Security Council for 250, though he has stated that even this is not enough.

For the battle-weary citizens of Syria, they have seen all this before. 

The Arab League sent monitors, the people came out on the streets to meet them and then they were withdrawn again when nothing seemed to change and the fighting and shelling continued.

Now it seems to be happening all over again.

Tanks have been seen entering Idlib, not leaving it as they are supposed to and the shelling of the Opposition neighbourhoods of Khalidiya and Bayada in Homs continues daily, including this morning, Wednesday.

Yeesterday 6 people were also reported killed by sniper fire in Homs and 3 people were killed in the southern town of Basr al-Harir in Deraa province and 25 wounded as Government shells pounded the area.

In the northern Idlib province the Syrian army fired mortars and machine guns into two villages, killing at least four people.

The BBC, which has a team in Free Syrian Army held mountainous areas of Idlib province, clearly filmed a Syrian Army helicopter flying over the area, continuously and indiscriminately firing at people on the ground, in complete disregard of the terms of the ceasefire.  You can see the video, HERE:

Some activist groups reported as many as 25 killed Monday and up to 50 yesterday, across the country.

The military, tanks and heavy weapons were all supposed to have been withdrawn a week ago under Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

Kofi Annan visited Qatar yesterday to update the Arab League on “progress” with his peace plan negotiations and actions. Oddly, at a press conference afterwards, Annan’s chair was suddenly removed and he failed to appear.

Answering questions, Qatar’s Prime Minister and also current chairman of the Arab League, Jassim bin Jaber bin Muhammad Al Thani, reiterated his previous line that if Assad will not stop then the Syrian opposition should be armed to defend itself. Al jazeera has a video report, HERE:

In France, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the ceasefire violations by Assad forces should be met with a swift and firm response by the UN Security Council. He also claimed that international sanctions against Syria had been effective in halving Syria’s previous foreign currency reserves of an estimated $17 billion.

Sanctions had also been responsible in contracting Syria’s oil sales by 30% and as a consequence losing the country around $520 million a month in revenue. Before sanctions the EU was Syria’s largest oil buying customer.

UN AMBASSADORS’ WIVES STEP FORWARD IN A DIRECT VIDEO APPEAL TO ASMA ASSAD TO STOP THE KILLING:

In another unexpected move the wives of 2 UN ambassadors, those of the British and German envoys, have issued a video appealing to Assad’s wife Asma to join them in stopping the killing. 

Alternately showing pictures of the well groomed Asma and Syrian women fleeing the bombing and killing, the ambassadors wives, Sheila Lyall Grant and Huberta Voss Wittig, produced an open letter in the form of the short video.

The video is accompanied by a change.org petition demanding Asma al Assad “stand up for peace… for the sake of your people” and the 2 women say “We are asking Asma Assad to take a risk… and to say openly, stop the bloodshed, stop it right now”.

You can watch the video HERE:   and sign the petition, which more than 4,000 have in the first 24 hours, HERE:

Asma Assad  was born and brought up in London, where she also worked as an investment banker before moving to Syria and marrying Bashar Assad in 2000.

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MORE DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST ASSAD THAN EVER BEFORE AS FRAGILE CEASEFIRE GENERALLY HOLDS:

UN SECURITY COUNCIL GETS UNANIMOUS AGREEMENT TO URGENTLY SEND MILITARY MONITORS TO SYRIA:

TIMELINE – 14th APRIL 2012 UPDATED 22.36 GMT:

While a fragile 2 day old ceasefire continued to generally hold yesterday, tens of thousands of demonstrators returned to the streets of Syria.

Altogether activists recorded 801 demonstrations across the country, the largest number since protests began in March 2011.  Nothing has changed -  the majority still want President Bashar Assad to go.

The Syrian authorities did their best to contain demonstrations after Friday prayers using tear gas, clubs and warning shots fired in the air, but the protesters were not to be deterred. 

One of the biggest protests was in the Damascus suburb of Douma.  There is video footage from Douma, HERE:

In Hama, where demonstrators tried to break through a security cordon to reach the main square of Assi, Assad’s troops opened fire killing two and wounding a further 20.

Other killings were also reported around Syria by Government troops in Deraa, Idlib and near Damascus, 13 in all. A Syrian army officer was reported killed and others injured in a bomb explosion alongside a military bus in Aleppo and a Ba’ath Party official was shot in Daraa province.

Fighting with heavy machine guns was also reported on Friday at Khirbet al-Joz near the Turkish border between Syrian Army troops and members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

There are reports this morning of shelling overnight and early today, Saturday, in Homs with explosions in the old city districts of Jurat al-Shayah and al-Qarabis. Several people have been wounded.

So far, heavy weapons and troops do not seem to have been removed from the main towns and cities and as such Assad’s Government is still in breach of the ceasefire agreement.  The BBC has a video report HERE:

UN SECURITY COUNCIL GET UNANIMOUS AGREEMENT TO URGENTLY SEND MILITARY MONITORS TO SYRIA:

The UN today reached unanimous agreement in the Security Council to send military monitors to Syria. This is the first time all the members had agreed on a common action over Assad.

The UN Security Council’s attempts to secure an agreement on Friday on a resolution to send 30 monitors into Syria immediately had been thwarted by Russia disagreeing with the wording and suggesting an alternative resolution of its own.

Kofi Annan’s spokesman says that the 30 monitors are on standby to board planes to Syria and to position themselves in strategic towns and cities as soon as the agreement was reached.  Annan wants to build the force up to 250 as soon as possible.

Al Jazeera has a video report, HERE:

So while there have been some breaches of the ceasefire, conflict has been vastly reduced and lives saved as a result. The world holds its breath to see just how long this lasts.

Many will  be surprised if massive daily demonstrations against the President does not provoke him into further retaliation on the slightest pretext.

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BULLETS HIT TURKISH REFUGEE CAMP AS ANNAN’S CEASEFIRE PLAN BECOMES INCREASINGLY WORTHLESS:

TIMELINE – 9th APRIL 2012 13.57 GMT:

Gunfire was reported this morning crossing the Syrian border into the refugee camp at Kilis, killing one it is believed and injuring 4 others including a Turkish translator and a Turkish policeman.

At this stage it is not clear whether this was accidental cross-fire or a deliberate attack on the refugee camp.  The Turkish Government has protested to the Syrian Charge D’affaires and reinforced its own troops along the border.

Kofi Annan, the UN/Arab League special envoy, was due to visit some of the Turkish refugee camps today or tomorrow while on his way to talks in Tehran with the Iranian Government, but it is rapidly becoming obvious that his “6 point peace plan” is now in tatters.

Al Jazeera has a video report on the cross-border incident, HERE:

With only a few hours to go before the Tuesday deadline, there is no sign at all that Assad intends to start withdrawing his troops as agreed.

Relentless killing by the Syrian army has continued unabated since the peace plan was agreed and more than 200 have been reported dead in the last 3 days alone.  The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is claiming that up 1,000 people have been killed in the last week, most of them civilians.

Yesterday, Sunday, true to form Assad changed the rules again and his Government said that they could not start withdrawing troops unless the opposition fighters gave written guarantees that they would “lay down their arms”.

Colonel Riad al-Asaad, who commands the FSA, said they did not recognise President Assad’s Government and therefore would not give guarantees but said they would lay down their arms if the Damascus regime complied fully with Annan’s peace plan.

Activists say that Assad’s troops are trying to regain control of Idlib province in the northwest using tanks and helicopters and driving terrified villagers towards the Turkish border. Heavy shelling continues on Homs and clashes are frequent near Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib, Daraa and Deir al-Zour.

The BBC has a video report HERE: and Al Jazeera HERE:

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HUGE INTERNATIONAL SCEPTICISM OVER WHETHER ASSAD WILL COMPLY WITH APRIL 10th TROOP WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE:

FSA CHANGE TACTICS TO GUERILLA WARFARE AFTER BEING OUTGUNNED IN CITY STRONGHOLDS:

SYRIAN ARMY HUNTING DOWN ACTIVISTS, EXECUTING THEM AND BURNING DOWN THEIR FAMILY HOMES:

TIMELINE – 3rd April 2012 10.27 GMT:

According to Kofi Annan, the UN/Arab League special envoy on Syria, President Assad has agreed to withdraw all his troops and heavy weapons from cities and towns by Tuesday April 10th and comply with a ceasefire within 48 hours after that.

Annan, addressing the UN Security Council yesterday, Monday, told the member nations he had hoped for an earlier withdrawal date but this had not been forthcoming. 

It appears that Assad only agreed to the April 10th deadline after pressure from the Russian Government who are rapidly losing patience with the Syrian regime.

Many other foreign governments, Opposition forces and activists, still remain deeply sceptical that Assad, who has broken numerous promises before, will comply with the agreement.

Abu Alababid, a member of the Revolutionary Council in Daraa, said, “The Syrian people have been cheated once and twice and three times. When he [Assad] did away with the emergency law last year, he killed 30 people in the same day. We no longer have trust in the regime”.

As if to underly their scepticism, activists reported 146 people killed on Monday, many of them women and children and the majority of them from the area around Homs.  Thousands of refugees were also reported arriving in one Homs province village, having fled fighting elsewhere. A further 70 people were reported killed Sunday.

Kofi Annan is sending UN representatives to Damascus to see whether a 100 member UN monitoring mission can be put in place following any ceasefire.

FSA CHANGE TACTICS TO GUERILLA WARFARE AFTER BEING OUTGUNNED IN CITY STRONGHOLDS:

The opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) has tentatively agreed to comply with any ceasefire if the Assad regime implements it, but the organisation is at the same time reeling from being driven out of its strongholds in Homs, Daraa and Idlib, leading an Assad Government Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad al-Makdissi, to announce on Syrian state TV on Friday, that, “The battle to topple the state is over”.

The FSA on the other hand now sees that it has no alternative but to engage in guerilla warfare, especially after civilian support was eroded when Assad’s forces shelled residenntial areas where FSA fighters were concentrated.

A FSA commander, calling himself Abu Suleiman, said, “The plan is hit-and-run attacks against the military in Damascus. We have to cut off the head of the snake. The best fighters from across the country are moving to the capital to join the resistance there”.

The hopes of the opposition fighters were also boosted by an announcement after the “Friends of Syria” meeting in Istanbul over the weekend, that millions of dollars would be channelled to the main Opposition groups to support humanitarian aid and to “pay the wages of defected soldiers”. 

Whether this money, supposedly several million dollars a month,  could be used to buy arms is not clear.

The US has also supported the setting up of an “international clearing house” to record and examine claims against the Assad regime of  “crimes against humanity”.

Heavy clashes between the Syrian Army and Opposition forces continue with reports that FSA fighters had regained control  of the national hospital in the Jouret al-Shayah district of Homs.

Human rights groups and the opposition have accused government forces of abusing and torturing wounded activists in the hospital over the preceding months and fighters who entered the hospital discovered 70 unidentified bodies in the refrigerators.

SYRIAN ARMY HUNTING DOWN ACTIVISTS, EXECUTING THEM AND BURNING DOWN THEIR HOMES:

The Syrian Army also seems to have adopted new tactics in its rush to complete its purge of opposition forces before the April 10th deadline.

One activist, Fadi al-Yassin,  speaking on Skype, said,  “The regime forces have pretty much stopped arresting people. They either kill them right away or keep them for one day to get information and then kill them”.

In southern Syria dozens of tanks surrounded the town of Dael yesterday, Monday, and troops shot holes in rooftop water tanks and targeted dozens of activists’ houses, torching some and bulldozing others, according to local people.

In the northern province of Idlib, the Syrian Army adopted similar tactics in the town of Haas, burning down civilian homes and reportedly killing 7 people in one house.

Concern has also been expressed internationally over the whereabouts of Ali Mahmoud Othman, well known over the last few months for running the media centre in Homs and earlier in Baba Amr and assisting the injured international journalists who were trapped in the city earlier this year.

William Hague, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, called on the Syrian authorities to release Mr. Othaman and other political prisoners “immediately”. 

Activists believe that Ali Othman is being held and tortured at a secure intelligence HQ in Aleppo and the whole of the “citizen media network” is now at risk.

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ASSAD “ACCEPTS” UN 6 POINT PEACE PLAN BUT MANY COUNTRIES REMAIN SCEPTICAL ABOUT HIS INTENTIONS:

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER SAYS ONE DAY ASSAD WILL HAVE TO FACE ICC JUSTICE:

HOMS POUNDED WITH SHELLS JUST HOURS BEFORE ASSAD MAKES STAGED VISIT TO BABA AMR:

TIMELINE – 28th March 2012 15.22 GMT:

To many people’s surprise, the Syrian Government yesterday agreed to “accept” the Kofi Annan UN/Arab League 6 point peace plan which includes withdrawing Assad’s troops and heavy weapons from major towns and cities.

Annan, who is in Beijing and has now received support from both China and Russia, has written to President Assad asking his Government “to put its commitments into immediate effect”.

The USA and most other Western nations however, remain sceptical. Their views were aired by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who said, “Given Assad’s history of over-promising and under-delivering, that commitment [to Annan] must now be matched by immediate actions”.

“If he is ready to bring this dark chapter in Syria’s history to a close he can prove it by immediately ordering regime forces to stop firing and begin withdrawing from populated areas”.

Clinton also called on Opposition groups to, “Come forward with a unified position, a vision of the kind of Syria they are wishing to build”. The BBC has a video report, HERE:

As well as a troop withdrawal the 6 point plan also calls on all parties to allow for a daily two-hour pause to the fighting in order for humanitarian aid to reach affected areas.

Additionally, the plan requests that the authorities release those detained in the uprising, though no deadline is in place for the implementation of any of the agreements.  Nor does the plan call on Assad to step down as President.

The news received a lukewarm reception from the Syrian National Council (SNC) which was meeting in Turkey with other anti-Assad groups from Syria in order to find common agreement and to try and form a unified front.

Basma Kodmani, speaking for the SNC said, “A peaceful transition means that the regime needs to be changed. And that starts with the removal of the head of the state”.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER SAYS ONE DAY ASSAD WILL HAVE TO FACE ICC JUSTICE:

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in an interview with the BBC, that there was clear evidence that the Syrian regime had systematically detained and tortured children and that Assad could put a stop to detention and killing merely by issuing an order.

“They’ve gone for the children – for whatever purposes – in large numbers. Hundreds detained and tortured… it’s just horrendous,” she said. “Children shot in the knees, held together with adults in really inhumane conditions, denied medical treatment for their injuries, either held as hostages or as sources of information.”

Ms Pillay said anyone who committed such violations would be held to account. “There is no statute of limitations so people like [Mr Assad] can go on for a very long time but one day they will have to face justice”.

The Commissioner went on to say that the UN had enough reliable evidence to warrant referring Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for further proceedings.

The UN now estimates that 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the protests began last year. The BBC has a video interview, HERE:

HOMS POUNDED WITH SHELLS JUST HOURS BEFORE ASSAD MAKES STAGED VISIT TO BABA AMR:

While the politicians muttered their muted support, Syrian State TV showed footage of President Bashar Assad making a carefully stage-managed visit to the Baba Amr district of Homs. The BBC has video footage, HERE:

Just hours before Assad’s arrival, other districts of Homs were pounded by shell fire. This video from Monday shows the broadcaster coming under shell attack in the city as he speaks, HERE:

And a video from yesterday shows the destruction inflicted on just one family home yesterday, HERE:

Elsewhere in Syria activists reported as many as 60 deaths across the country, though numbers are hard to verify. 13 civilians died in Homs province and 13 Syrian army soldiers were also said to have been killed in both Homs and Idlib provinces in hit-and-run attacks by the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Following a fierce assault by Assad’s troops on the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province there were unconfirmed reports that 21 residents detained by the soldiers had been killed.

Fighting also spilled over into Lebanon, where local people in the mountainous area of Masharia al-Qaa said that 35 Syrian soldiers pursued FSA fighters across the border and started to destroy farmhouses where the fighters had taken refuge.  Lebanese military officials, who are generally sympathetic to the Assad regime, denied the incursion.

Reports this morning say that the Syrian Army has entered the town of Qalaat al-Madiq in Hama province after keeping it under siege for 2 weeks.  The town has an historic castle which was heavily shelled during the fighting as can be seen in this video, HERE:

However, at Rastan, which is still in the hands of the FSA, 3 Syrian Army soldiers were reported killed there this morning in clashes. There are also reports that between 300-600 Syrians fled from Daraa to Ramtha in Jordan last night.

The refugees entered illegally through the border fence and most are now in government custody. Jordanian authorities normally take their passports and IDs a keep them in heavily guarded camps.

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TURKEY CLOSES ITS DAMASCUS EMBASSY WHILE DIPLOMATS WORLDWIDE JUST DISCUSS THEIR OPTIONS:

MORE THAN 70 KILLED AS ASSAD CONTINUES POUNDING HOMS AND FSA REGROUPS TO CO-ORDINATE RESISTANCE:

CARTOONIST, WHOSE HANDS WERE BROKEN BY ASSAD’S THUGS, DEFIANTLY GIVES BASHAR “THE FINGER”:

TIMELINE – 26th March 2012 11.59 GMT:

While Assad’s Army continues its assalt on towns and villages across Syria, the UN/Arab League special envoy, Kofi Annan, held talks with Russia’s President Medvedev in Moscow over the weekend.

Russia is gradually shifting its position as Assad’s increasingly bizarre and brutal behaviour continues in the face of almost total international condemnation.

“This may be the last chance for Syria to avoid a protracted bloody civil war,” Medvedev told Annan.

“Therefore we will provide any assistance at any level.” 

Annan is now due in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday for talks with the Chinese leadership, until now firm supporters of Assad.  The BBC has a video report, HERE:

Turkey, which is now housing in tented camps more than 16,000 Syrian refugees, this morning closed its embassy in Damascus because of the “worsening security situation”, though its consulate in Aleppo remains open.

Turkey has also given its backing to the US and its allies to supply “non-lethal aid” to the Syrian opposition, including communications equipment and body armour. The capital Ankara will also be host to the next “Friends of Syria” meeting on April 1st.

Prior to that meeting the fragmented Syrian opposition parties have been urged to get their act together and speak with one voice. 

The Syrian National Front (SNC), itself fragmented, has been accused of just being a mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood, but the Brotherhood’s leader, Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, insists that they are committed to “a civil and democratic republican state with a parliamentary system, in which all the people are treated equal regardless of faith or ethnicity.”

The SNC has called a meeting in Turkey of all anti-Assad opposition groups in order to try and find a unified position against the Syrian Government, to which they can all subscribe.

MORE THAN 70 KILLED AS ASSAD CONTINUES POUNDING HOMS AND FSA REGROUPS TO C0-0RDINATE RESISTANCE:

After a weekend of bloody violence in which more than 70 were reported killed on Sunday alone, reports are coming in this morning, Monday, of shelling on the central Homs district of Warsheh with 5 people reported seriously injured and frequent shelling during Saturday and Sunday of  the Bab al-Sebaa, al-Khalidiya,  Bustan al-Diwan and Safsafah neighbourhoods. 

Their are brief videos of the attacks on Homs, HERE:  and HERE:

Homs continues to take the brunt of the attacks but Assad’s forces have also shelled Hama and Nawa near Daraa and Deir Al-Zour. 

Despite this 18 demonstrations against the Government were recorded around the country at the weekend, including in the suburbs of Damascus where protesters quickly came under sniper fire.

While the Free Syrian Army (FSA) seems to have been driven out of main towns and cities, it is now re-consolidating itself as a guerilla fighting force. 

To this end the joint leadership of the FSA, Colonel Riad Al-Asaad and General Mustafa Sheikh, issued a statement calling on all armed fighting groups to come together and unite under the FSA banner.  Al Jazeera has a video report, HERE:

CARTOONIST, WHOSE HANDS WERE BROKEN BY ASSAD’S THUGS, DEFIANTLY GIVES BASHAR’S REGIME “THE FINGER”:

There are also other ways of opposing the Assad regime, as cartoonist Ali Ferzat knows to his cost.

Ferzat, who drew and published a number of cartoons critical of President Assad, was abducted by masked men, beaten severely and dumped by the side of the road. 

The abductors paid particular attention to mutilating his hands.

Ferzat, who now lives outside Syria and who says his hands are “90% back to normal”, has just opened an exhibition of his caricatures in an art gallery in London.  The artist, who also ran a satirical magazine in Syria that the Government eventually closed down, remains defiant.

The big thing he notices is that the people inside Syria have broken through the fear barrier but that Syrians outside still remain afraid.

“Everything that has been done to the country – however negative – will have to come to the surface in order for us to deal with what has been done to us over the past 50 years. Things will have to take their course, but that is not a reason to be afraid”.  You can read the full report from the BBC, HERE:

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SYRIAN ARMY RENEWS ATTACKS ON HOMS’ SUNNI SUBURBS AND HAMA:

FSA FIGHTING BACK BUT DESPERATELY SHORT OF WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION:

RUSSIANS SUPPORT ANNAN 6 POINT PLAN AS THEIR PATIENCE WITH ASSAD STARTS TO RUN OUT:

TIMELINE – 23rd March 2012 10.48 GMT:

Despite  more words from the UN, President Assad relentlessly pursued his drive to eliminate opposition to his regime across Syria.

Not content to drive army defectors out of the Baba Amr district of Homs, he is now attacking other areas in the city, including al-Khalidiyeh and Old Homs, both areas where Sunni refugees are sheltering.

Attacks were also reported yesterday in al-Qusair, close to the Lebanese border, heavy shelling on the Arbaeen quarter of Hama and assaults at Sarmin and Daraa. 

Altogether, Opposition groups reported as many as 60 more dead across the country.

A fierce clash between the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is also being reported at Azaz in Aleppo province and at one point shell fire against dissidents in the west of country crossed over the border into Lebanon hitting the village of al-Qaa, though no-one was hurt.

In the worst incident, a bus carrying refugees to safety in Turkey was hit by gunfire near Sermin and 10 people killed, at least half of them women and children.  An army assault on Sermin itself left a 17 year old dead and dozens wounded.

FSA FIGHTING BACK BUT DESPERATELY SHORT OF WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION:

The FSA continues to strike at Syrian Army tanks and command posts where it can and has announced a command and control structure for strikes within the capital, Damascus, against the regime.  Loud explosions in the Douma suburb of Damascus are being reported this morning.

The FSA is also reported to have killed 5 soldiers in a raid on a military checkpoint in Latakia province and killed 1 soldier and wounded 4 others near the village of Saida near Daraa. 

The head of Assad’s Ba’ath Party in Idlib province has defected as well according to a video in Arabic on the Internet.

However, Opposition fighters are reported to be desperately short of weapons and particularly short of ammunition. With AK 47s now being sold on the black market at $2,000 a piece and bullets costing as much as $8 each, arms to fight against Assad are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

The FSA command in Turkey tries to supply defected soldiers with money when it has funds from Opposition groups abroad but promised funds from Qatar and Saudi Arabia have yet to materialise.

Weapons obtained from Iraq, the easiest border to smuggle them across but some of which have been buried for years since the Sadam Hussein era, are notoriously unreliable, sometimes exploding or failing to fire.

Even the supply of weapons that defecting soldiers brought with them is drying up as the Assad Government is now reluctant to distribute rifles to the Sunni rank and file in its brigades. The Washington Post has a fuller article, HERE:

RUSSIANS SUPPORT ANNAN 6 POINT PLAN AS THEIR PATIENCE WITH ASSAD STARTS TO RUN OUT:

In New York, the UN Security Council obtained some sort of unanimity when all members, including Russia and China, agreed on a joint Presidential statement (which unlike a resolution, is non-binding) calling on Syria to comply with a 6 point agreement prepared by the joint UN/Arab League envoy, Koffi Annan.

The Annan plan calls for humanitarian access, an end to all violence on both sides, withdrawal of the army from towns and cities and a political transition.

The Syrian National Council (SNC), the main Opposition group, said that the UN statement would simply give the Assad regime more time to continue killing its own people and SANA, the Syrian state news agency, dismissed it by saying there were no “threats or signals”.

Russia’s increasing impatience with the Assad regime was indicated this week when Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the foreign relations committee in the Upper House, said, “Syrian President Bashar Assad must urgently fix numerous mistakes that he has made”.

Margelov also added that,  ‘Assad must take the first step. He must pull out the Syrian army from big cities”.

Russia has also backed an International Red Cross call for a daily humanitarian cease fire to allow emergency supplies into deprived areas.

In the EU the 27 nations meet today, Friday, to impose further sanctions on the Syrian regime, including Assad’s wife Asma, a number of his other relatives and 2 more companies or organisations.

The usual formula is an asset freeze and a travel ban, though whether this will prevent Asma Assad travelling to the UK where she grew up and where her parents still live, remains to be seen.

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ASSAD’S SUPPORTERS BIZARRELY “CELEBRATE” 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF UPRISING AS NUMBERS OF DISPLACED SYRIANS REACHES 230,000:

SYRIAN ARMY CONTINUES CRACKDOWN ACROSS IDLIB PROVINCE WITH AT LEAST 23 EXECUTED:

EMAILS REVEAL TREACHEROUS DOUBLE-SPEAK OF ASSAD’S LONDON BASED FATHER-IN-LAW:

TIMELINE – 16th March 2012 11.37 GMT:

One year after the start of the uprising against President Assad, there appears to be no let-up in the conflict on either side.

Assad’s forces are attempting to enforce control of Idlib city and province and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) attempts to hit back where it can. Caught in the middle are tens of thousands of refugees, including 1,000 that fled to Turkey in 24 hours yesterday to escape the clampdown in Idlib.

Turkey says it is housing more than 14,700 Syrian refugees in camps along its borders and is preparing more tented cities to accommodate the thousands still expected.The Independent has an article about refugee children, HERE:

The Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Besir Atalay, implied in an interview that Turkey is working on the idea of a “buffer zone” within Syria – but the truth is it has been muttering about this for months without any action. 

The BBC has a video report on the refugee situation, HERE:

The latest wave of refugees included another of Assad’s generals, bringing to 7 the number of senior officers joining the Opposition forces on the Turkish side of the border.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates that 230,000 Syrians have been forced to leave their homes, 30,000 of them crossing into other countries. UN technical experts are scheduled to join a “Syrian Government led humanitarian mission” to visit Homs, Daraa, Hama, Latakia, Aleppo and other cities, but not Idlib where clashes are currently taking place.

This follows on from the visit of Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian agency senior executive, who visited the country last week.

SYRIAN ARMY CONTINUES CRACKDOWN ACROSS IDLIB PROVINCE WITH AT LEAST 23 EXECUTED:

Activists recorded 45 civilians and 5 army defectors killed in Idlib province alone yesterday, including 23 found with their hands tied behind their backs, clearly the result of an execution. Al Jazeera has a video about 2 new recruits, sickened by the violence, who leave Cyprus to join the FSA, HERE:

There were demonstrations across Syria yesterday both for and against Assad, the anti-government protesters being shot at in several places. 

Oddly, the pro-Assad demonstrators were also “celebrating” the anniversary of the uprising against the regime – perhaps President Assad’s ability to “hold on”.

A crowd estimated at 120,000 – 135,000 gathered in Damascus to support the President. 

Robert Fisk, The Independent’s Middle East correspondent gives his knowledgeable view of the situation, HERE:

Fighting in the Qatana, Dumair and Tal suburbs of Damascus took place yesterday between Assad’s Army and the FSA and clashes were still being reported in Tal early this morning, Friday.

Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar yesterday announced that they were joining their other Gulf Co-operation Council colleagues in closing their embassies in Damascus and the EU has said that it will debate next week closing all the embassies of its 27 member states.  France, the UK and the US have already done so.

EMAILS REVEAL TREACHEROUS DOUBLE-SPEAK OF ASSAD’S LONDON BASED FATHER-IN-LAW:

Assad’s Father-in-Law, Dr Fawas Akhras, who is a leading Harley Street cardiologist in London, appears, disappointingly, to be a staunch supporter of President Assad and, according to emails released by the Guardian newspaper, has been acting as close adviser to the president and his regime.

3,000 emails from both the personal email accounts of President Assad and his wife Asma, have been hacked by Anonymous group over a period of several months from June 2011 until the beginning of February 2012 and passed to the Syrian Opposition who forwarded them to the Guardian in London.

Dr. Akhras, who is co-chair of the London Syrian Society appears to have been offering advice to Assad on both how to suppress the uprising and to counter the publicity of a video showing Assad’s forces torturing children that appeared on YouTube.

The 66 year old medical consultant and the father of Assad’s wife Asma, appeared at first to be a moderating influence on the Syrian president, saying at one point that the violence in Homs is “appalling”, but the disclosure of the emails has given the lie to that. 

In one email he refers the President to an article about “British propaganda” which he could use to counter a Channel 4 (UK) programme on the torture of children in Syria and signs it “Warmest with love. xx “.

Akhras also supplied the President with a 13 point rebuttal of criticisms that he could use to defend the regime, signed “Warmest x “, HERE:

He also sent Assad risque jokes, including one about the relative penis sizes of Nicolas Sarkozy, Binyamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama.

When Dr. Akhras was interviewed by the Telegraph in London yesterday and asked about the brutal attack on Homs, he compared it to Mr. Cameron dealing with the recent riots in London. When it was pointed out that the British authorities dealt with the riots without killing anyone, Dr. Akhras’s reply was, “We are not as sophisticated as the Metropolitan Police or Scotland Yard”. 

He also said that the death toll in Syria of “7,000″ was “much better” than in Libya.  You can read the Telegraph article, HERE:

In the original report released by the Guardian, while Syria burned and thousands were killed, tortured and wounded, it appears from the emails that Assad and his wife carried on in their bubble, twilight world of unreality, as normal.

He sent “amusing videos” to his friends (one about the attack on Homs using toy cars and digestive biscuits) and she ordered chandeliers, tables and candlesticks from Paris at a cost of $15,000 and expensive vases from Harrods in London using proxy companies and agents.  Using the same methods Assad also downloaded music from iTunes.

A number of the emails also reveal a relationship between the Assads and the eldest daughter of the Emir of Qatar, Mayassa al-Thani. She offered them advice and friendship on a number of occasions and implied that they should leave and take refuge in Qatar. 

You can read the whole of the fascinating Guardian report, including the toy car/biscuit video, HERE:

For some strange reason the Guardian website was reported “blocked” in large parts of Syria yesterday!  You can read the whole of the fascinating Guardian report, including the toy car/bsicuit video, HERE:

Opposition groups were appalled at the blase attitude of the Assads, revealed in the emails, to the conflict raging around them.  Lord Levy, who was closely involved in diplomatic exchanges between Israel and Assad’s father Hafez, talks interestingly about the Assads and their two faced nature, HERE:

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ASSAD’S THUGS MASSACRE WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHILE UN CONTINUES POINTLESS SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY:

SNC CALLS FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SYRIA AND SAYS FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS ARE ALREDY SENDING ARMS TO THE FSA:

ASSAD USING LANDMINES TO KILL CIVILIANS AND HOSPITALS TO ARREST AND PERSECUTE THE INJURED:

TIMELINE – 13th March 2012 11.49 GMT:

As Kofi Annan, the UN/Arab League special envoy, practices shuttle diplomacy between Damascus, Qatar and this morning, Tuesday, Ankara, the horror in Syria continues unabated.

Horrendous reports emerged yesterday of the massacre of 47 people, 26 children and 21 women, in the Karm al-Zaytoun neighbourhood of Homs.  The victims were mainly Sunni Muslims, though there are reports that some of those killed were Palestinians.

According to local reports the victims were stabbed and executed with knives and all the evidence points to the perpetrators as being from the Shabiya, civilian armed militia working on behalf of the Assad regime. 

The Shabiya are almost certainly from the same minority Alawite sect as President Assad and the conflict is rapidly turning into a sectarian war.

SANA, the Syrian state news agency, unusually, confirmed the killings in Homs but in its normal repetitive style blamed them on “armed terrorists” and showed footage on TV of the dead bodies, though it was not immediately clear if they were the same ones filmed by activist groups.

Confidence in Kofi Annan’s ability to reach a diplomatic solution with the Syrian Government is waining fast.  Yesterday he spoke with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al Thani, who advocates arming the Free Syrian Army and then moved on to a meeting with Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara.

Erdogan has made a lot of critical noises about Assad and called for humanitarian corridors but effectively has done little to resolve the crisis other than give shelter to refugees, which Turkey has done well, and provide a base for the leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The BBC has a video overview, (Warning, graphic images), HERE:

SNC CALLS FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SYRIA AND SAYS FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS ARE ALREDY SENDING ARMS TO THE FSA:

This morning, Tuesday, Annan is due to have a meeting with representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC).

Yesterday, their spokesman, George Sabra, demanded “military intervention by Arab and Western countries to protect civilians… secured humanitarian corridors….[and] a no fly zone over entire Syria.” He also confirmed that they now fully support the FSA and that some foreign governments are already supplying them with weapons.

At the UN, where Britain has taken over the Presidency of the Security Council, the US and EU countries piled in to criticise President Assad and to call once again for the killing to stop.

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Segei Lavrov, who was due to have a one-to-one meeting with Hilary Clinton immediately after the session, admitted in a prepared statement that the “Syrian Government must accept it’s share of responsibility” for the violence but that they were also under attack from outside forces, including Al-Quaeda.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon optimistically called on the Security Council for unity and for it to speak on Syria “with one voice”.  Al Jazeera has a video report overview, (Warning: Graphic Images), HERE:

According to reports from Idlib this morning, the Syrian Army has overrun the city after a 3 day campaign of shelling and intimidation.

Yesterday the Army shelled the Dbeit district and pounded the Ath-Thawra neighbourhood, where several buildings collapsed.

Water, electricity and communications are all cut off.

Other reports from around Syria, including the southern city of Daraa, where the revolt began, suggest that the Assad regime is on the offensive everywhere invading towns and villages where it suspects resistance and going from house to house making arrests.

ASSAD USING LANDMINES TO KILL CIVILIANS AND HOSPITALS TO ARREST AND PERSECUTE THE INJURED:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday issued a report on the laying of anti-personnel mines by the Syrian Government along the borders with both Lebanon and Turkey. 

“Any use of anti-personnel landmines is unconscionable,” said Steve Goose, Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch. “There is absolutely no justification for the use of these indiscriminate weapons by any country, anywhere, for any purpose.”

A number of civilians have already been injured by the mines and Opposition de-miners have discovered and removed both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, all of Russian origin.

You can read the HRW report, HERE:

Amnesty International has also video-taped evidence from Syrian medical staff who say that the hospitals are now controlled by Assad’s military officers and injured Opposition supporters are frequently turned away and prevented from having treatment.

In some cases, the doctors have said that the troops use hospitals to identify regime opponents for execution and they do not hesitate to persecute medical personnel who attempt to treat them.

Doctors Without Borders is collecting similar evidence. One 23-year-old Syrian man, after being shot in the hand and taken to a Damascus hospital, said, “In the hospitals now, the security cadres are more numerous than the medical personnel. Anyone is subject to arrest and even murder inside the hospital”.

Amnesty International in a 39-page report called “Health Crisis: Syrian Government Targets the Wounded and Health Workers”, has accused the Syrian government of “turning hospitals into instruments of repression”.

Amnesty finds it disturbing that people with very serious injuries would rather risk going to poorly equipped Opposition field hospitals than well equipped medical facilities.  You can read a more detailed article, HERE:

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FSA CLAIM TO HAVE DOWNED A SYRIAN ARMY HELICOPTER AND DESTROYED 6 TANKS:

WHILE UN ENVOY KOFI ANNAN HAS COFFEE AND FRUITLESS TALKS WITH ASSAD, REGIME LAUNCHES NEW ATTACK ON IDLIB:

CHAVEZ PREPARING TO SEND 3RD SHIPMENT OF DIESEL OIL, BUT VENEZUELANS OF SYRIAN DESCENT OBJECT:

TIMELINE – 11th March 2012 14.48 GMT:

Yesterday, Saturday, the Assad regime turned its attention to the northern city of Idlib, where indiscriminate shelling started at 6.00am.

Activists reported 42 tanks and 131 troop carriers moving towards the city, while in Damascus Kofi Annan, the joint Arab League/UN special envoy, was sitting down to coffee and talks with President Assad.

Earlier the Syrian Army ambushed 16 Opposition fighters, while the Free Syrian Army (FSA) hit back by killing 4 Government troops and capturing 5. 

In telephone call from Turkey where his is based, Colonel Riad Al-Asaad, the FSA leader, told Al Jazeera that they are making gains against Assad’s forces.

“While dealing with these brute forces and criminals, we managed to hit one of their helicopters and destroy six tanks. Also 30 men from the regime’s armed forces have defected with two tanks,” he said.

A former CIA officer that knows Syria well, also told Al Jazeera that the world has no option but to arm the FSA in order to avoid a massacre. It was clear, he said, that Assad and those surrounding him would go on to the end and destroy anyone who got in their way. You can watch the video interview, HERE:

WHILE UN ENVOY KOFI ANNAN HAS COFFEE AND FRUITLESS TALKS WITH ASSAD, REGIME LAUNCHES NEW ATTACK ON IDLIB:

Annan, in a preview to his meeting with Assad, called for a cease-fire on both sides and for both parties to withdraw their weapons from towns and cities.

Assad in turn reportedly said, “Syria is ready to make a success of any honest effort to find a solution for the events it is witnessing,” but persisted with the line that it was dealing with “armed gangs”.

After talks yesterday, Saturday, in which Assad seems to have rejected any talks with the Opposition at the present time, Annan held a second round of discussions today.

Afterwards, Annan told reporters, “I have urged the president to heed the African proverb which says you cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail”.  Syria needed to embrace change and reform, he said.

Annan added that he had left “concrete proposals” with Assad, including an immediate halt to the killing.

Before his second meeting with Assad, Annan also had meetings with the Grand Mufti, the senior Sunni Muslim cleric in Syria and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, leader of Syria’s Christian community.

The Syrian National Council (SNC), the main Opposition group, have ruled out any talks as long as Assad remains in power, refusing to deal with anyone responsible for so many deaths. Annan is due in Qatar after completing talks in Damascus. The BBC has a video report, HERE:

In Cairo, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, came under heavy attack from Arab leaders over the vetoes which Russia and China imposed on UN Security Resolutions preventing co-ordinated international action on Syria.

At a meeting of the Arab League, Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Al Thani, told  him, “There are no armed gangs, the systematic killing came from the Syrian government side for many months. After that the people were forced to defend themselves so the regime labelled them armed gangs”.

The ceasefire advocated by Russia and China was not enough, Al Thani said, and that those responsible for the violence should be held to account. Al Jazeera has a video report from Syria, including footage from Idlib, HERE:

CHAVEZ PREPARING TO SEND 3RD SHIPMENT OF DIESEL OIL, BUT VENEZUELANS OF SYRIAN DESCENT OBJECT:

Reports coming out of Idlib this morning, Sunday, say that the Syrian Army has taken over the hospital and is preventing injured local residents entering and electricity and all communications have been cut, though in general the level of shelling is less than previously.

In shelling yesterday a number of children were killed and a total of 39 civilians across the country died, plus 39 opposition fighters and 20 government soldiers, in total 98 deaths. 

The FSA are estimated to have no more than 1,000 fighters in Idlib and even they may have retreated this morning to avoid both themselves and residents being annihilated.

The Karm el-Zeytoun district of Homs also came under attack from the Syrian Army yesterday, with a barrage of shells, mortars and rockets falling on the area.

Three soldiers and a civilian were reported killed during fighting around the village of Janoudiya in Idlib province this morning.

Venezuela is reported to be preparing its 3rd shipment of diesel fuel to the Assad regime, but President Hugo Chavez who supports Assad in company with Russia and China, is not without opposition. 

In Venezuela there are around 1 million people of Syrian descent and now they are coming out on the streets to show their displeasure.  Al Jazeera has a video report, HERE:

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HAVING DESTROYED BABA AMR ASSAD’S ARMY MOVES ON TO OTHER CENTRES OF RESISTANCE:

MINOR CRACK IN ASSAD REGIME’S FRONT AS ASSISTANT TO OIL MINISTER CALLS ON COLLEAGUES TO “ABANDON THIS SINKING SHIP”:

ASSAD’S MOTHER APPARENTLY BLAMING HIM AND HIS BROTHER FOR “THE MESS THEY HAVE CREATED IN SYRIA”:

US SAYS IT WILL NOT ACT UNILATERALLY BUT BEHIND THE SCENES PRESSURE FOR MILITARY ACTION GROWS:

TIMELINE – 8th March 2012 12.26 GMT:

Having overrun the Baba Amr district of Homs, Assad’s military have turned their attention to other centres of resistance.

Activists reported heavy fighting in Herak, a town in Daraa province, between the Syrian Army and forces of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), with shells hitting residential areas where some of the army defectors were based.  One report said that an army tank fired at the Abu Bakr al-Saddiq mosque after local residents took shelter there, blowing off the door and shattering its windows.

In return the FSA are reported to have attacked and destroyed an armoured personnel carrier, killing five soldiers and wounding a number of others.

A 15 year old boy in the town is said to have been killed by snipers.

Activists are also reporting 23 people killed in Homs on Tuesday and a further 3 on Wednesday, including 13 members of two families who appear to have been executed with knives.

A further 22 at other locations across the country were reported dead over the same 2 day period.

While the Assad Government keeps the International Red Cross firmly out of Baba Amr (despite telling them they could go in), they did allow the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, to enter the area along with the Syrian Red Crescent organisation for about 45 minutes.

While Amos reported the area as “completely devastated”, it was devoid of residents and clear that it had been heavily “cleansed” and “sanitised” over the last 3 days. The BBC has a video report of the “clear-up” HERE:

Despite being told by Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem,  that she could go “anywhere in the country”, Amos was stopped from going into any areas still held by the Opposition.  Most of the families from Baba Amr have fled it seems to other Sunni districts of Homs or into surrounding villages.  More than 1,500 are reported to have crossed the border into Lebanon.

Those fleeing to Lebanon, a 3 day walk, say that their husbands and sons were taken away as they passed through checkpoints and they do not expect to see them alive again.

The BBC’s Paul Wood has a chilling report from inside Syria, HERE:

MINOR CRACK IN ASSAD REGIME’S FRONT AS ASSISTANT TO OIL MINISTER CALLS ON COLLEAGUES TO “ABANDON THIS SINKING SHIP”:

A video has appeared on YouTube in which Abdo Hussameddin, aged 58, a deputy Oil Minister in Assad’s Government, announces his resignation from both his job and the ruling Ba’ath Party.

In his statement he said, “I am joining the revolution of the people who reject injustice and the brutal campaign of the regime…..I do not want to end my life servicing the crimes of this regime”, adding that he had served 33 years in various government positions.

Advising his colleagues “to abandon this sinking ship,” he said he had made his decision “knowing full well that this regime will burn my home, persecute my family and make up a lot of lies”.

However, while the video is believed to be authentic, it has  been pointed out that Ministers in Syria have several assistants each known as Deputies and there are more than 100 altogether.

Husameddine is not well known and therefore not too much should be read into the defection at this stage, but hopefully it will become a growing trend.

Last August, Muhammad al-Bakkour, the attorney general for Hama also declared his resignation on YouTube in protest against the suppression of street demonstrations and the storming of the city of Hama by tanks, but has not been heard from or seen since. You can see the Hussameddin video with comments by Reuters, HERE:

ASSAD’S MOTHER APPARENTLY BLAMING HIM AND HIS BROTHER FOR “THE MESS THEY HAVE CREATED IN SYRIA”:

Following comments by his Father-in-Law in London (scroll down and see below), there are also reports that Assad’s Mother,
Anissa Makhlouf, has also been giving him an “ear-wigging”.

According to documents released by WikiLeaks and obtained by the US Intelligence company Strafor, Mrs. Assad senior, is disappointed in Bashar and his brother Maher for “the mess that they have created in Syria”, saying things like “had your father been alive things would have never come to such a point”.

Anissa Makhlouf married Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, in 1958. She is apparently very concerned that “her boys will meet the same fate as Gaddafi and his sons,” and has been pressing them to look into “an exit strategy” before it is too late. You can read a fuller report, HERE:

Anissa Maklouf’s nephew and Bashar Assad’s cousin, Rami Makhlouf has also been mentioned again in the last few days.

Rami Maklouf, believed to be the richest man in Syria with controlling interests in mobile phone companies, oil, banking, hotels and other key sectors, announced tearfully last June that “he was giving up his business interests and investing the proceeds in charities to help victims of the unrest”.

Since then little evidence of his “good deeds” has emerged and nothing has been seen of the man himself, although there were reports he had taken up residence in one of the smaller Gulf states and shipped his wealth abroad.

Rumours suggest that in fact he is propping up the ailing Syrian economy, including the Syrian Central Bank and spending most of his time trying to keep his widely distributed wealth out of the hands of US and EU investigators who will impound it anywhere within their jurisdiction.

Their is a longer report by CNN, HERE:

US SAYS IT WILL NOT ACT UNILATERALLY BUT BEHIND THE SCENES PRESSURE FOR MILITARY ACTION GROWS:

On the international front, China has sent an envoy, Li Huaxin, to Syria on a 2 day visit to try and persuade Assad to stop the violence and also met with, it is claimed, “opposition figures” for discussions on the prospect of joint talks.

Kofi Annan, a special envoy jointly representing both the UN and the Arab League, is due to arrive in Damascus for talks with Assad on Saturday.

In the USA President Obama described  the situation in Syria as “heartbreaking and outrageous” but said the US would not take unilateral action.  However, there are also indications that the US military is studying possible military scenarios and that they are already providing some form of non-lethal assistance such as communications equipment to Opposition forces.

One of the problems about mounting a military campaign similar to the one in Libya is that Assad air defences are estimated to be five times more effective than Gaddafi’s and they are protecting a much smaller area.  You can listen to Obama’s comments, HERE:

US Senator John McCain, a well known Vietnam war veteran and a hawk over dealings with Gaddafi, had no hesitation this week in calling for airstrikes on Assad’s regime and the imposition of no-fly zones to protect civilians. 

“If we can’t defeat the air defences of a third rate power then I have a great apology to extend the taxpayers of my state”, he said after pointing out that the US spends $3 trillion on defence. You can hear McCain talking to the BBC’s James Naughtie, HERE:

Lastly, Paul Conroy, the injured British photographer, rescued from Baba Amr in Homs and ferried to Lebanon at great cost by members of the Syrian Opposition, made a moving plea from his hospital bed in London for more help for the Syrian people.

He says the sources of opposition information in Homs are drying up and that for the people in Baba Amr it is already “too late”, even if there was outside military intervention.

“People in Baba Amr have said their goodbyes, they have made their peace with their God and they are expecting to die. I am afraid we are too late. Once again the world has stood by and watched it unfold.”  You can hear Paul’s audio interview with the BBC, HERE:

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DESPITE BABA AMR BEING “TOO DANGEROUS FOR RED CROSS”, SYRIAN TV SHOW DEVASTATION AND (OUT OF DATE!) “MONEY FROM FOREIGN AGENTS”:

SAUDIS STATE  SYRIAN OPPOSITION HAVE A RIGHT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES BUT FSA SAY NO SIGN OF MONEY OR WEAPONS YET:

CONFIRMATION VIDEO FOOTAGE EMERGES OF REGIME DOCTORS TORTURING PATIENTS IN HOMS MILITARY HOSPITAL:

ASSAD’S LONDON BASED FATHER-IN-LAW “HORRIFIED” BY CARNAGE IN SYRIA AMID CLAIMS THAT HIS DAUGHTER HELD AGAINST HER WILL IN DAMASCUS:

TIMELINE – 5TH March 2012 12.10 GMT:

Yesterday, Sunday, the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent were prevented by by Assad’s military from entering Baba Amr for the third day on the grounds that it was “unsafe” and “mines and booby traps” were still being cleared.

Activist sources say that Assad’s troops are “cleansing” the area, executing anyone they believe is involved in opposing the Government and covering up their activities. An estimated 700 people were killed in the 27 day assault on the Opposition stronghold before the anti-Assad fighters beat a “tactical retreat”.

Despite denying the Red Cross access, Syrian and Iranian TV have been allowed in to film the destruction, all caused by “armed gangs” according the official state reporters.

Syrian TV also claimed that foreign “agents” were also largely to blame for the uprising and displayed foreign currencies said to have found on those they captured.

Trouble is, one sharp-eyed activist has noticed that most of the currency shown is way out of date and no longer legal tender, rendering it unusable.

The Turkish 50,000 Lira note was no longer redeemable after 2009 and the Israeli Shequel note ceased to exist in 1986! 

Some Filipino money displayed is worth a grand total of $0.23 cents – the “terrorists” won’t be buying many AK47s with that!  You can read the detail HERE:

SAUDIS SAY SYRIAN OPPOSITION HAVE A RIGHT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES BUT FSA SAY NO SIGN OF MONEY OR WEAPONS YET:

However, in a televised news conference yesterday the Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud al-Faisal, said that while the kingdom welcomed international efforts to broker a ceasefire in Syria they have “failed to stop the massacres.”

“Is there something greater than the right to defend oneself and to defend human rights?”, he continued (EDITOR: Saudi Arabia being well known for its defence of human rights of course!) , adding that the Syrian people want to defend themselves.

Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been vociferous in suggesting that it is time to arm the Opposition in Syria but Colonel Riad al-As’ad who leads the Free Syrian Army (FSA) from a refugee camp in Turkey, said that so far the Opposition forces had received neither money, weapons or equipment from any foreign government.

“There is no practical support from the international community,” Mr. As’ad said. “It’s been all talk.”

Unable to enter Baba Amr the Red Cross has concentrated its efforts on supplying humanitarian aid to people who have fled the district and are now in other areas of Homs or in villages outside.

A 15-strong team had been dispatched to the village of Abel 3 kilometres from Homs and others are assisting refugees in the city districts of Inshaat and Tawzii, distributing food, blankets and hygiene kits. Around 2,000 refugees are reported to attempting to cross into Lebanon.  The BBC has a video report, HERE:

Flushed with its “success” in retaking Baba Amr, the Syrian Army is reported to have started shelling districts in Qusayr, Rastan, Idlib and Hama.

An Opposition army officer said, “They finished with Baba Amr, and now they have turned their attention to [another Homs neighbourhood] Khaldiyeh and the surrounding villages.

They want to finish all of the Free Syrian Army, from Homs to its entirety. They will destroy the whole village just so they can get inside”.

In southern Syria heavy fighting broke out on Saturday night between Assad’s troops and the FSA, whe launched a series of co-ordinated and simultaneous attacks on Army checkpoints and fortifications across the city of Daraa.

“Tanks are responding by firing 14 mm anti-aircraft guns into residential neighbourhoods and army snipers are shooting at everything that moves”, said Maher Abdelhaq, a local activist.

As part of an FSA campaign to draw the Syrian Army’s focus and resources away from Homs, the FSA also launched attacks in Jebel al-Zawiya in northern Syria and, in an unverified report, against a Syrian Army weapons depot near Homs on Saturday, killing and wounding up to 50 Syrian troops.

CONFIRMATION VIDEO FOOTAGE EMERGES OF REGIME DOCTORS TORTURING PATIENTS IN HOMS MILITARY HOSPITAL:

The ongoing brutality of  Assad’s regime has emerged in video footage recorded by a hospital worker formerly at the military hospital in Homs. 

Patients, wounded and blindfolded were shackled to their beds and often beaten and whipped. Some were electrocuted and others beaten until their legs broke.  Some patients were denied water, others had their penises tied so they could not urinate.

The employee says he witnessed abuse being carried out by civilian and military surgeons at the hospital and by other medical staff, including male nurses.

After protesting at what he saw and being threatened himself he left the hospital and never returned.  He has provided the names of the abusers.

“Some of the detainees used to be taken from the hospital to the prison,” the former hospital employee said. “They’d bring them back either dead or with a brain haemorrhage.”

“The youngest I saw was 14 or 15 years old. Many detainees’ names were removed from emergency admissions lists so that no one would know where they were. There were no names. Just numbers. One of the doctors poured alcohol on the pubic hair area of a 15-year-old boy, then set him on fire”.

The report, smuggled out of Syria by the well known photographer “Mani”, gives credence to the refusal of injured citizens of Homs to go to hospital for treatment and begs the question of whether the Red Cross should deliver any wounded patients it finds to the military hospital as they are ordered to do so by the Syrian Government.

You can read further detail HERE:  Channel 4 in the UK will be airing footage in its News programme at 7.00pm GMT, today, Monday 5th March.

Javier Espinosa, the Spanish journalist whose body the Syrian regime claimed to have in Damascus along with that of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, has retold the story of his hair-raising escape from Baba Amr along with 50 others, many of them wounded or disabled by injuries. Somehow their escape was tracked, flares lit up the night sky and bullets ricocheted off nearby  buildings.

Espinosa and 2 others got separated from the main group and hid in nearby woodland, eventually managing to make contact again with the FSA who smuggled them across the border into Lebanon. The bodies of the 2 other journalists were handed over to diplomats at the weekend and flown to Paris on Sunday.  Marie Colvin’s body will be returned to America where she was born.  You can read the whole story, HERE:

ASSAD’S LONDON BASED FATHER-IN-LAW “HORRIFIED” BY CARNAGE IN SYRIA AMID CLAIMS THAT HIS DAUGHTER HELD AGAINST HER WILL IN DAMASCUS:

Lastly, London’s Express has tracked down and interviewed President Bashar Assad’s Father-in-Law, Harley Street cardiologist Dr Fawaz Akhras, who lives in London.

According to reports the father of Assad’s wife, Asma, is “horrified” by the savage suppression of protesters in Syria and at the same time concerned for the welfare of his daughter and her 3 children.

Dr. Akras has, it is said, begged his son-in-law to make serious democratic changes in Syria “before it is too late.” Some suggest that 36 year old Asma, a former investment banker born and educated in the UK, is under virtual house arrest in Damascus, her defection something that would seriously damage the regime’s standing.

People who know the family in the UK, say that Asma “must be horrified by what is happening. She grew up here [London]: her ethics and morality were formed in Britain”. Asma Assad is also known to still have a British passport.

She and Bashar Assad met when he lived in London while studying to be an ophthalmologist. 

He was subsequently recalled to Damascus to take over the family dynasty when his elder brother was killed in a car crash.  You can read the full report HERE:

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