Syrian Civil War sees increase in combat

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Syrian activists say security forces have attacked rebels in the capital Damascus with helicopters and tanks, while rebels launched an offensive against the government in the northern city of Aleppo.

The activists say government troops used helicopter gunships and tank fire to try to drive rebels out of the Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh and Mazzeh. Syrian state news agency SANA denied that helicopters were deployed and insisted the capital was “normal” as security forces chased what it called “terrorist” remnants from the streets.

Meanwhile, a rebel commander appeared in an Internet video, announcing that the battle to liberate the commercial hub of Aleppo has begun. Witnesses reported street battles in several districts including Salaheddine and Sakhour.

Elsewhere, Turkish officials said Syrian rebels seized another border crossing between the two countries on Sunday, taking control of the Bab al-Salama complex from Syrian troops. Rebels captured the Syrian side of another crossing (Bab al-Hawa) on the Turkish border last week.

But, Iraqi officials said Syrian insurgents withdrew from the Rabiya border crossing with Iraq overnight, allowing Syrian troops to reclaim it. Rebels remained in control of the Syrian side of the Albu Kamal crossing with Iraq.

Aleppo had been largely untouched by the 16-month uprising against Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad. It is home to Syrian elites and merchants who have benefited from Mr. Assad’s authoritarian rule, but recently has seen an increase in protests against his deadly crackdown on the rebellion.

Syrian state television broadcast an image of Mr. Assad meeting with his new army chief of staff. It said the Syrian president met General Ali Ayyoub on Sunday and gave him instructions. Mr. Assad promoted his previous army chief of staff to defense minister last week, after a Damascus bomb attack killed the sitting defense minister and three other top security officials.

10 Questions and Answers: What the U.S. Should Do About Syria

Morgan Roach February 16, 2012 at 4:08 pm

 

An armed Free Syrian Army rebel stands inside a house in the north Syrian city of Binnish on February 15, 2012.

As the violent government crackdown continues in Syria, the United States is faced with a series of questions about what role it should play in the international response. Here are ten questions and answers about the road forward:

Does the U.S. have an interest in the Syrian uprising?

The Assad regime has supported numerous Palestinian, Lebanese, Iraqi, and Kurdish terrorist groups in attacks on Americans and U.S. allies. Furthermore, it has subverted Lebanon’s independence, assassinated its leaders, and blocked Arab peace efforts with Israel, and it remains both a state sponsor of terrorism and Iran’s most important ally. The United States has a strong interest in reducing terrorist threats to Americans and U.S. allies, containing Iran, and shoring up regional stability.

Should the U.S. participate in U.N. peacekeeping?

Earlier this week, the Arab League issued a vague proposal for a joint Arab League/United Nations peacekeeping force to be deployed to Syria. However, there is little peace to keep. As long as the Assad regime and the myriad of opposition groups that it has spawned are locked in a power struggle, no outside force is likely to bring peace. Rather, any outside peacekeeping force would become embroiled in the conflict as a combatant and thereby increase the suffering of the Syrian people.

Talks explore prospects for al-Assad exile

Assad Pictures (Photo credit: upyernoz)”]

[slideshow

03/02/2012– Source
By Caroline Akoum and Sawsan Abo-Husain
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – Following news reports that the US, European and
Arab states have begun discussing the possibility of exile for Bashar al-Assad, Syrian National Council [SNC] Executive Committee member, Ahmed
Ramadan, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that such talks are nothing new, but that
the timing of these talks now – with large parts of the country outside of
al-Assad regime control – will ensure they have a greater impact upon the
Syrian regime and Bashar al-Assad personally.Ramadan told Asharq Al-Awsat that “during the first months of the
revolution, there were at least two countries – one Arab country and one
European country– in talks with al-Assad, and they put forward the idea of
him handing over power and leaving the country. This proposal was previously
discussed by the military leadership affiliated to the regime, most
importantly Maher al-Assad and Assef Shawkat, who opposed this proposal.”
Ramadan added that it is therefore not surprising that similar proposals
should be put forward to the Syrian regime today, particularly as al-Assad
is seeing his forces retreat day after day.
The SNC Executive Committee member also revealed that the SNC has received

Factbox: Syria’s city of Hama, site of new assault

Image via Wikipedia

Fri, 30 Dec, 2011

(Reuters) – Arab League monitors head to more cities in Syria on Thursday, including Hama which has a particular resonance to Syrians opposed to President Bashar al Assad‘s rule.

Here are some details about the city, the site of a bloody massacre in 1982:

* 1982:

– In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood sought to destabilize and unseat President Hafez al-Assad and his government through political assassinations and urban guerilla warfare. In February 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood ambushed government forces searching for dissidents in Hama.

– Syrian government forces attacked the city, razing the old quarters of Hama to crush the armed uprising by Brotherhood fighters who had taken refuge there.

– Estimates of the death toll in the three weeks of operations in Hama vary from 10,000 to more than 30,000 out of a population of 350,000. Syria then imprisoned much of the membership of the local Islamist group.

– Syrian human rights groups said women, children and the elderly were among those killed in the crackdown and thousands were forced to flee the city.

* 2011:

– Nearly 30 years on Hama demonstrators demanding Assad’s overthrow still revile the memory of his father, who died in 2000 after ruling Syria for three decades.

– In June, activists said Syrian forces killed at least 60 protesters in the city. Residents said security forces and snipers had fired on crowds of demonstrators.

Syrian Resistance Increases Along With Efforts To Unite It

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Antigovernment activists gesticulate as they gather on the streets of Deraa, Syria.

By Dorian Jones

December 06, 2011

ISTANBUL — Efforts to unite the Syrian opposition in their struggle against President Bashar al-Assad‘s regime are intensifying. But for that to happen a number of political and ideological differences must be overcome.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will get a firsthand view of the status of the Syrian opposition on December 6 in Geneva, where she will meet with a group of seven Syrian exiles to discuss the situation in their homeland.

Among those assembled will be representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella organization of Syrian opposition groups — most of them based outside Syria — that calls for direct international intervention and the creation of safe havens for the opposition.

Noticeably absent will be representatives of the Damascus-based National Coordinating Committee (NCC), made up of opposition groups inside Syria itself and staunchly opposed to outside intervention or the use of violence against the Assad regime.

Abdul Aziz al-Khair, a spokesman for the National Coordinating Committee, told RFE/RL that the group was approached by a British Foreign Office intermediary and invited to attend the meeting with Clinton, but declined the offer. Khair, who claimed he was “disappointed,” said only a formal invitation from the secretary of state would be acceptable.

A Developing Relationship

The meeting comes a week after the SNC held formal talks in Turkey with the Syrian Free Army, an armed rebel group that is taking on Assad’s forces on Syrian soil.