With all the focus on Aleppo, the real story is still
unfolding in Damascus City and Suburbs, as the daily death toll and the military
operations which continue to spread to more and more neighborhoods clearly show.
Sunday August
5, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 139 (Saturday) 125 (Sunday). The Breakdown: the toll includes 6 women and 9
children. 59 killed in Damascus and Suburbs (including 20 in a massacre in
Irbeen), 25 in Aleppo, 14 in Idlib, 11 in Daraa, 5 in Homs, 5 in Deir Ezzor and
5 in Hama.
Cities
& Towns Under Shelling: Harasta, Arbeen, Moadamiah, Harran Al-Awameed, Deir Al-Asafeer, Ain
Terma, Zabadani, Madaya, Eltal, Dmeir, Hameh, Yelda, Rankous, Qarrah (Damascus
Suburbs), Sit Zeinab, Al-Qadam, Midan,
Tadamon, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Yarmouk, Kafar Sousseh, Mazzeh, Qaboun, Barzeh,
Salhiyeh, Ruknaddine, Dafelshawk (Damascus City), Daraa City, Khirbet Al-Ghazaleh, Tafas, Bostra Al-Sham, Na’eemah,
Mseifrah, Jimreen, Hraak (Daraa), Rastan, Talbisseh, Houla, Tal Kalakh, Al-Qusayr, Al-Hosn, Al-Ghanto,
Al-Bouaydah, Old Homs (Homs Province), Hreitan, Elbab, Eizaz, Marei, Bayanoun (Aleppo
Province), Haffeh, Jabal Al-Akrad (Lattakia), Deir Ezzor City, Mouhassan, Albou Kamal (Deir
Ezzor Province), Kafar Zeiteh, Hawash,
Shahshabo, Hama City (Hama Province), Jabal Al-Zawiyeh, Ma’rrat Al-Nouman, Saraqib, Maar Shoureen,
Ariha, Kafroumah, Al-Rami, Khan Shaikhoon (Idlib).
Newsflashes: *** Syria first and only cosmonaut, Major General Muhammad
Faris, defects and crosses the border into Turkey http://youtu.be/jAEKtby9Ymk Gen. Faris has lived in Aleppo City. He went as Research Cosmonaut
on Soyuz TM-3 to the Mir space station in July 1987 *** Reports by The Daily
Telegraph that the Muslim Brotherhood is forming and arming its own militias
inside Syria have been confirmed by spokesman for the Brotherhood, Molham
Aldroubi, in an interview
with Asharq Al-Awsat (Arabic). Activists on the ground have making
similar claims for months saying that Brotherhood members and supporters have
been stockpiling weapons, saying they are meant for use to maintain order after
the fall of the Assad regime.
News
Muslim
Brotherhood establishes militia inside Syria The Muslim Brotherhood
has established its own militia inside Syria as the country's rebels fracture
between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have
told The Daily Telegraph.
Syria
looks bleak, admits William Hague William Hague has described the
situation in Syria as 'bleak' and said that a peaceful solution to the 17
month-long crisis is now unlikely.
Iranian
pilgrims kidnapped on trip to Syria Dozens are seized by
gunmen in the Damascus area, prompting Iran's foreign minister to ask Turkey to
intervene. Meanwhile, fighting continues in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Syrian
leader Assad's planes pound vital prize of Aleppo President Bashar al-Assad's
forces used artillery, planes and a helicopter gunship to pound rebel positions
in Syria's biggest city, witnesses said, in a battle that could determine the
outcome of the 17-month uprising.
Equestrian:
Syrian rider says Olympic effort for "all Syrians" His father Mohamed Hamcho
was added to the European Union sanctions list in March and the U.S. Treasury
Department sanctions list a month later.
Rebels
fill Aleppo power vacuum, some disapprove …those found guilty of
killing civilians or rebel fighters will be sent to "courts" in Azaz
to be judged by the top commander of the Amr bin al-Aas brigade, identified
only as Ahmed. "We use Sharia (Islamic law) to judge our prisoners,"
Ahmed says in Azaz. "We use a number of judges who are have studied
Islamic law and a number of witnesses and judge them accordingly."
Photojournalists
captured by Islamist militants in Syria feared beheading John Cantlie and Jeroen Oerlemans faced constant death threats
and were shot while trying to escape.
Turkey
training rebels, says FSA fighter There is a special training programme based in Turkey at secret
camps run by the Turkish military, she says. "The Turkish people are
really helping us. Lots of people are getting training in those camps."
"The training is really professional. You can only sleep four hours a day.
"You have to climb mountains, you get weapons training. It's hard
work."
Dozens
reported killed in Damascus as Syria rebels try to halt advance on Aleppo Free Syrian Army fighters
told CNN that two large columns of government troops were heading toward
Aleppo, the Middle East nation's most populous city. One is moving from Latakia
on the Mediterranean coast and the other from Damascus.
Op-Eds
& Special Reports
State
Department and Pentagon Plan for Post-Assad Syria The administration’s
efforts have been driven by a bleak prognosis shared by most officials: Mr.
Assad’s fall would be likely to set off a grave, potentially violent and
unpredictable implosion in a country strained by even more tribal, ethnic and
sectarian divisions than Iraq, possibly in the midst of a presidential election
campaign at home.
Turkish
bloggers divided over policy on Syria Secular and
nationalist critics accuse the government of openly supporting the Syrian
opposition, risking a regional war, a new rift between Sunni and Shiite sects
and opening the way for the creation of Islamist and Kurdish states in Turkey’s
neighborhood. The AK Party government, on the other hand, blames the opposition
for supporting the atrocities of the Assad regime.
As
Syria War Roils, Unrest Among Sects Hits Turkey As
Syria’s civil war degenerates into a bloody sectarian showdown between the
government’s Alawite-dominated troops and the Sunni Muslim majority, tensions
are increasing across the border between Turkey’s Alawite minority and the
Sunni Muslim majority here.
Victory
closer, divisions deepen in Syria opposition "Several
opposition groups have adopted an increasingly fundamentalist discourse and
demeanour, a trajectory that mirrors the conflict's gradually deadlier and more
confessional turn (and) popular loss of faith in the West," the
International Crisis Group said in a report.
Russian rubles for
Damascus? Like China, Russia wants to lessen the
influence in the region of the West and its allies such as Saudi Arabia. That's
why Moscow not only supports Syria, it also cooperates with Iran, Syria's
closest ally. Russia quite obviously doesn't have a problem with the human
rights violations perpetrated by the Assad regime, so it seems plausible that
Russian rubles will continue to flow to Damascus.
Robert
Fisk: Syria's ancient treasures pulverised So
the looting and destruction lies at the door of all sides in the Syrian
conflict, along with the thieves who move in on all historic sites when the
security of the state evaporates. In truth, Syria has always suffered – and the
regime always tolerated – a limited amount of theft from historical sites, to
boost the economy in the poor areas in the north of the country and to enrich
the regime's own mafiosi. But what is happening now is on an epic and
terrifying scale.
The
likelihood of a prolonged stalemate, however, does not mean that we should
cease thinking about possible outcomes in a post-Assad Syria. And it is
important for policy makers in Washington and in other capitals to divest
themselves of what might be called the “Bosnia fallacy.”
As
Yugoslavia was imploding, the Bosnia fallacy was the belief that the various
ethnic and sectarian groups in Bosnia still would give their first loyalty to
an amorphous idea of “Bosnia” and would trust “national” institutions to
represent them and protect their interests. …
Some
believe that in the event of Assad’s death (or a significant weakening of his
power), different groups in Syria might reach out to the opposition to discuss
a transition of power. One easily could envision a future meeting in Istanbul
that would lay the groundwork for replacing the current Syrian Republic with a
Syrian Union, based on resurrecting some of the entities that existed during
the first part of the French mandate (1920–1936), including separate Alawite
and Druze states as well as regional cantons based on Aleppo and Damascus.
Saudi
Arabia helped broker an end to the devastating civil war in Lebanon with the
Taif Accords in 1989; in principle, a similar agreement, which would recognize
Sunni ascendancy in Syria but institutionalize a series of protections for other
groups, could be viable and in line with stated Saudi interests and concerns.
A
Lisbon-style agreement such as the initial plan for Bosnia might not satisfy
the Sunni majority—which might hope to exercise control over all of Syria based
simply on sheer numbers—and minorities might have to accept smaller cantons and
less influence in a post-Assad Syria. But given that similar results emerged in
places such as Bosnia and Iraq only after years of fighting, might not Syrians
themselves be willing to accept such compromises, albeit reluctantly?
The
success of any such agreement also would require the outside powers—including
the West, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States—to support such a process.
If a deal can be facilitated along these lines—however imperfect it may be—then
it may be possible to minimize the problems that inevitably will arise in a
post-Assad Syria.
We
are hopeful the rebels will ultimately prevail, but it remains a deeply unfair
and brutal fight, and the speed and manner by which it is won matter
enormously. All evidence suggests that, rather than peacefully surrendering
power, Assad and his allies will fight to the bitter end, tearing apart the
country in the process. America’s disengagement from this conflict carries
growing costs — for the Syrian people and for U.S. interests…
The
U.S. reluctance to intervene in Syria is, first of all, allowing this conflict
to be longer and bloodier, a radicalizing dynamic. Contrary to critics who
argue that a greater U.S. role in Syria could empower al-Qaeda, it is the lack
of strong U.S. assistance to responsible fighters inside the country that is
ceding the field to extremists there…
First,
we can and should directly and openly provide robust assistance to the armed
opposition, including weapons, intelligence and training. Whatever the risks of
our doing so, they are far outweighed by the risks of continuing to sit on our
hands, hoping for the best. American help should go to those groups that reject
extremism and sectarianism in both word and deed. As in Libya, the
relationships we build with armed groups inside Syria now will be indispensable
going forward.
Second,
since the rebels have increasingly established de facto safe zones in parts of
Syria, the United States should work with our allies to reinforce those areas,
as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested last week. This would
not require any U.S. troops on the ground but could involve limited use of our
airpower and other unique U.S. assets.
Video Highlights
The Battle for Damascus continues despite regime’s claims of “victory.”
Now, parts of Damascus City are being shelled at night from positions on
top of Mount Qasayoun http://youtu.be/t97sWAEQc60
On Saturday, nighttime shelling touched the neighborhoods of Salhiyeh
(where the tomb of medieval Sufi master Ibn Arabi is located) and Ruknaddine
http://youtu.be/CLlAhr1mKbg , http://youtu.be/Mt9FSETTU2g
Pro-Assad militias stormed the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk in
Damascus City and carried out a number of Summary executions http://youtu.be/CoJw_kLkC4U , http://youtu.be/9e_bv2hrkqo In nearby Tadamon,
locals keep finding bodies in the streets http://youtu.be/fSkbR-2gXjc
, http://youtu.be/n9YIHKDkX8Y , http://youtu.be/0lSllhyzlu0 , http://youtu.be/njzfuUVNLfE Most are
obviously the victims of summary executions http://youtu.be/GujCHFd64h8
And suburbs around Damascus are under constant pounding: Artouz http://youtu.be/w7kwYJ2ckFE Deir
Al-Asafeer http://youtu.be/cY2m2Gcf0qM
Kafar Batna http://youtu.be/hjp0xoIO-zc
, http://youtu.be/iibnM94Ek0w Hamouriyeh
http://youtu.be/kf9Ov2vHoMg
Helicopter gunships continue to be deployed: Deir Al-Asafeer http://youtu.be/M5SLd1gC7iY
Al-Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo succeeds in destroying a fighter jet
as it was landing in Aleppo’s Airport. But we only see thick black smoke
rising up in the background http://youtu.be/2QpDuQaub3s
Local activists report that in addition to MiGs, the regime is also using Czech
made L-39 fighter jets. The make of the fighter jets notwithstanding, they are
still being deployed in the fight against rebels in neighborhoods around the
city http://youtu.be/e2qAiVCbQh4 , http://youtu.be/eY3mjVUx-hQ
Meanwhile, back in Aleppo City, Assad’s fighter jets targeted
areas near the ancient citadel http://youtu.be/egdEUMm2CiM
Clashes took place in different parts including: Hanano http://youtu.be/UqKPPlQEnms , http://youtu.be/QMGUaK98l28 Shaar
http://youtu.be/er-NndilDmU , http://youtu.be/369wkLwCM3s , http://youtu.be/BV4Qk3Lzy3w Buildings
catch fire http://youtu.be/18M1uQNG0tY
Sukkari http://youtu.be/STHrDdAekxs
Bab El-Hadid http://youtu.be/ip-GxscqWRY
The neighborhood of Salaheddine gets pounded as well http://youtu.be/URuv7xWiIZs , http://youtu.be/BqL4ayUIlZk Members of
the FSA patrol the neighborhood http://youtu.be/GrVHXs1eqYE
, http://youtu.be/KLTTTK07zJM Elsewhere
in the neighborhood, other rebel fighters raid a supply center for the local
security forces and mange to get some much needed supplies http://youtu.be/GrVHXs1eqYE Rebel
reinforcements arrive http://youtu.be/NYvxfKaebSg
, http://youtu.be/kMldbkfQFJI Clashes
ensue http://youtu.be/U4oYSXtLVsc A
report from the first line of battle http://youtu.be/lmIgF1Dzgio
When needed rebels become firefighters http://youtu.be/Q0Bt_4z24Y4
An eight-minute drive through the neighborhood of Bab El-Hadid,
Aleppo City http://youtu.be/lnjvJ5bDsCw
An FSA convoy drives through http://youtu.be/oiznlM8zKYs
Brigadier General, Mustafa Al-Shaikh, head of the High Military
Council, pays a visit to the liberated town of Dar Azzah http://youtu.be/gWBHC55PHhE Earlier,
Brig. Gen. Al-Shaikh, paid a visit to the town of Taftanaz, Idlib
province, deeper into Syrian territory http://youtu.be/hi4RFp0ilGA
An FSA unit based in the Province of Qunaitra managed to arrest
the local security chief, General Hussam Haidar. Here, one of their members
conducted an interview with him, I which the General says that he hasn’t done
anything wrong, and that he was unable to defect on account of his bad health.
He then, encourages his family members to refrain from doing wrong http://youtu.be/Bsbp2jBcpis
In Homs City, parts of Baba Amr Neighborhood catch fire
on account of the constant shelling http://youtu.be/YlPmYNo8JB0
In Khaldiyeh, local activists find 6 unidentified bodies in the nearby
fields, obviously the victims of summary executions http://youtu.be/WxvN7RF_E3U And the
pounding continues http://youtu.be/rSZBXaDAGbY
The pounding of the nearby town of Talbisseh continues http://youtu.be/1dM00D61ohg And Rastan
http://youtu.be/c5L2GmnoE9Y , http://youtu.be/wn7mckWHU-A , http://youtu.be/iQg5intEL90
In Lattakia, tanks taking part in the indiscriminate pounding of
Al-Akrad Mountain http://youtu.be/KW6L5dbQ-tY
, http://youtu.be/0jdrjP0A490
The siege and pounding of Deir Ezzor City continues http://youtu.be/gWfW8wR33KQ
In Hama Province, the pounding of the village of Zor Al-Heesah http://youtu.be/Xq__MxPgIr4 leaves many
dead http://youtu.be/kCuyTfYgvpw In
Hama City, clashes took place in Hadir http://youtu.be/pJ0_ulZmGYo Qoussour
http://youtu.be/atW5YfHuDYw Hamidiyeh
http://youtu.be/IapCryjx83I
The heavy pounding of the town of Marribeh, Daraa Province, continues
http://youtu.be/DVEqli0n_R0
By Syrian Cartoonist
Ai Ferzat
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