Russian FM cannot make head or tail of that “obsession” prevalent
in rebel circuits with Assad’s removal. His own obsession with defending kleptocratic
regimes, on the other hand, makes perfect sense, being a card-carrying member
of one such regime himself. And that’s a far greater obstacle to peace than our
insistence on Assad’s removal.
Wednesday
January 23, 2013
Today’s
Death Toll: By end of
Wednesday, the LCC documented 146 deaths, including 15 children and 13
women: 74 martyrs fell in Aleppo, 23 martyrs in Damascus and its Suburbs, 12
martyrs in Homs, 11 martyrs in Daraa, 9 martyrs in Hama, 6 martyrs in Hasakeh,
2 martyrs in each of Deir Ezzor and Lattakia, and one martyr in each of Raqa
and Swaida (LCCs).
Points
of Random Shelling: The LCC also
documented 253 different points of shelling, 19 of which were hit by aerial
strikes from war planes and choppers, 2 were hit by thermobaric bombs, and one
area was hit by both thermobaric and phosphorus bombs. Artillery shelling
targeted 112 points: 75 of which were hit by mortars and 66 by missiles (LCCs).
Clashes: Free Syrian Army rebels clashed with regime forces in 109
different points, liberating police station No. 25 at the Jordanian borders, and
seizing the Samad and Mothalath checkpoints in Daraa. They also managed to push
back a military attack on Mleiha town in Damascus Suburbs (LCCs).
News
Syria
rebels accused of looting churches Rights group says fighters have
burned and looted Christian and Shia places of worship, increasing sectarian
fears.
Walkie-talkies
as lifeline in wartime Syria Hand-held transceivers help residents to
communicate and also keep track of impending attacks in absence of other means.
Special
Reports
Syria's economy is buckling under the
twin strains of violence and sanctions that have sapped the government's
finances, devastated the nation's cities and left its industry and
infrastructure in ruins… With the economy in tatters and work hard to come by
as the war grinds on, many families don't have the deep pockets for anything
other than the cheapest option. One woman said she waited for four hours to get
a pack of subsidized bread.
Almost two years into Syria’s
uprising, now a full-blown civil war, misery and despair are growing across the
land. Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint envoy of the UN and Arab League who is trying
to mediate, is making no progress. A military solution looks far off too.
Though rebel fighters continue to make advances in the north and east of the
country, Mr Assad’s forces are consolidating along the north-south axis from
the capital, Damascus, to the coastal heartland of his Alawite sect. “This is
never going to end,” says a usually hopeful rebel commander from the eastern
province of Raqqa.
More and more groups are being dragged
into a conflict that no-one is destined to win… The Christians and Druze
minorities would have preferred to stay on the side lines, but the lines have
been crossed and the war taken to them.
We can’t say that helping the Syrian
rebels didn’t work, because it has never really been tried.
Video Highlights
Russian TV shows a reportage on the training of an all-female
pro-Assad militias “We will only choose: God, Syria and Bashar.” http://youtu.be/f8q5ocsksuY
Regime tanks pound rebel strongholds and residential neighborhoods in Daraa
City http://youtu.be/NZw3i6y_lzY ,
http://youtu.be/6WHM5BK-ggA Still,
local rebels managed to destroy this loyalist headquarters http://youtu.be/uBLCp_L0fH0
Meanwhile, pro-Assad militias pounded mercilessly the nearby town of Basr
Al-Harir http://youtu.be/dQFSv99Anmg
But rebels remained dug in http://youtu.be/UXiDOoVvMEY
Elsewhere in the province, rebels manage to liberate huge sections of the
town of Bosra Al-Sham http://youtu.be/kmE6pVgtc7g
The pounding of the towns of Eastern Ghoutah in Damascus Suburbs
continues: Dhiabiyeh http://youtu.be/b5efuotQMiI
Hamouriyeh http://youtu.be/fuVZ2BfRU-0
To the West, the pounding of the town of Daraya with MiGs continues
http://youtu.be/rM76SwIF8Ow
To the north, the town of Yabroud was also pounded http://youtu.be/MyonpSp3VOg
MiGs continue their pounding of the restive neighborhoods in Homs City,
including Jobar http://youtu.be/IhukvvlOB74
, http://youtu.be/36T4DaoJgMI Elsewhere,
activists carry out a series of interviews with the older generation still eking
out a haphazard subsistence in the city despite all the violence taking place http://youtu.be/_YuMLfLa9m0
In Aleppo City, rebels and loyalists clash in Sheikh Saeed
neighborhood http://youtu.be/nQHyZgtaSMY
, http://youtu.be/3X4xFgraTTI A rocket falls on the inhabitant of Al-Sukkari
Neighborhood http://youtu.be/CgyZQT02x2k
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