Spring doesn't come very often in our region, but when it
does, the accompanying cleaning process tends to be onerous, long and thorough.
Taking out centuries-old trash in particular is a thankless job, but one that needs
to be done. Sweeping things under our famous carpets and rugs is exactly what
brought us to this point in time when drastic measures are needed. As we go
about cleaning our ‘hoods, it doesn't help of course that bystanders keep
littering rather than lending a hand. It’s simply not enough to come up with
Universal Declaration of Human Rights to teach people manners, and about their
mutual obligations. That requires a sense of common destiny we have yet to
develop. For now, we are not one, although we are the same.
Sunday January
13, 2013
Today’s
Death Toll: 141, including
17 children and 4 women. 51 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs,
including 10 martyrs in Douma and 9 martyrs in Hazzeh. 34 martyrs were reported
in Aleppo including 20 in Izaz, 16 in Deir Ezzor, 14 in Daraa, 8 in Homs, 5 in
Idlib. One martyr was also reported in each of Lattakia and Hama (LCCs).
Points
of Random Shelling: 374: 24 points using airstrike bombardments and 6 areas bombarded
using cluster bombs. 2 points were bombarded using explosives barrels, one
point using thermobaric bombs and one point using phosphorus bombs. 170 points
recorded from artillery shelling, 134 points were recorded from mortar
shelling, and 44 points were recorded from rocket shelling in various parts of
Syria (LCCs).
Clashes: Free Syrian Army clashed with regime forces in 110 points during
which a warplane was shot down in Taybat al-Imam in Hama and damaging another
one near Kweiris Airport in Aleppo, after FSA had stormed into the airport and
shelled it with local bombs (LCCs).
News
Clashes
flare up in strategic Syria suburb Syria government tanks try to
enter Dariya, which is also attacked by air. Rebels say a stalemate continues.
Syrian
Warplanes Bomb Damascus Suburbs Syrian fighter jets bombed the Damascus
suburbs Sunday, killing at least nine people, including a number of children,
in a government offensive to dislodge rebels from strategic areas around the
capital.
Russia
rejects Assad exit as precondition for Syria deal U.S. insists
the Syrian president must step down in order to end the civil war. Russia is
Assad's main backer during 22-month-old crisis, blocking resolutions aimed to
push him from power.
Russia
tells Syria rebels: Seek dialog with Damascus "President Assad
came out with initiatives aimed at inviting all opposition members to dialog.
Yes, these initiatives probably do not go far enough. Probably they will not
seem serious to some, but they are proposals," the Interfax news agency
quoted Lavrov as saying. "If I were in the opposition's shoes, I would
come up with my ideas in response on how to establish a dialog."
Senior
Officer Defects As Battles Rage For Airports, Damascus Suburbs Jumaa
Farraj Jassem, a section chief in Syria's General Intelligence Directorate,
announced his defection and described Assad's regime as "criminal."
Report:
Iran Spying on Israel from Syria Iran has been establishing
intelligence stations in several parts of the Middle East, including the Golan
Heights, U.S. report indicates.
Special
Reports
That appears to be Assad’s strategy —
to wreak enough havoc that the rebels can’t win, even if he can’t win, either,
a scenario that threatens even greater bloodshed than has gone before, said
Fred Hof, a former State Department official who was deeply involved in
formulating Syria policy before he joined the Atlantic Council last year.
“Basically what he’s saying is that the cost of removing me is the destruction
of Syria,” Hof said — an outcome many Syrians increasingly fear is the most
likely one of all.
After countless meetings and
conferences in the Middle East and Europe, there is no clear international game
plan.
Some experts suggest that Turkey has
gone too far and acted too ambitiously during this crisis. For example David
Gardner from the Financial Times claims that “Turkey...may have bitten more
than it can chew”, an opinion shared by opposition political movements in
Turkey. The AKP government has also been criticized because of Kurdish
involvement in Syria, since Turkey’s political struggle against the Assad
regime is claimed to be positive for Kurdish groups. Sinan Ülgen summarizes the
Kurdish dimension of Syrian crisis by saying: “The fear in Turkey is of Syria’s
disintegration into ethnically and religiously purer mini-states, with a
Kurdish entity in the north, an Alawite entity in the west, and a Sunni entity
in the rest. The Kurdish opposition’s recent unilateral power grab in
northeastern Syria rekindled Turkish concerns about the emergence of an
independent Kurdish entity linking the north of Iraq to the north of Syria”.
Syrian activists based in the United Arab Emirates report that they are
being prevented from using services like Western Union to send funds to support
refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. This is happening despite the fact that
no clear written instructions have been issued by Western Union and similar
services, the move, it seems, came as a result of oral instructions from UAE
police.
Video Highlights
The aerial bombardment of restive towns in Eastern Ghoutah, Damascus, resumes:
Saqba http://youtu.be/gJX4kvqON-0
Jisreen http://youtu.be/dqjMc8D6W1o
, http://youtu.be/ICH-sJo1V1A People
run for cover http://youtu.be/G-YsiRgiJiE
, http://youtu.be/JBdUuzEv9GY Scores
were killed and injured in Douma http://youtu.be/lV9A5vULoD0
Trying to rescue a child dying of exsanguination http://youtu.be/K_tLAcRDYgc Many
children were killed in Hizzeh http://youtu.be/Mw7RtMC5zXo
Meanwhile, the siege and pounding of the suburb of Daraya continue
http://youtu.be/pMsx5KxxlhE , http://youtu.be/dCvavXR76hs , http://youtu.be/LxgNcxP0iK4
Leaked video (English subtitles): member of a pro-Assad militia executes
a captive while talking to his Mom on the phone so she could listen in. Mama’s
boys come in all different shapes I guess http://youtu.be/11rCIwZBGzw
But this video shows how one young Syrian is using empty shell
casings to create functional art http://youtu.be/qxXr_LsbkBE
The town of Deir Sanbil, Idlib, comes under heavy aerial bombardment
http://youtu.be/s9-lkhs7AZ4 People
run for cover http://youtu.be/Fs694NSFS2I
Many children were killed http://youtu.be/KB5QM23ZhfY
Rebels storm the military airport in Deir Ezzor http://youtu.be/2M_4NBkHlpo , http://youtu.be/uMArrtV7xfk Meanwhile,
aerial bombardments against Deir Ezzor City continues http://youtu.be/w8RpeFFFOmw
Clashes between rebels and loyalists in Basr Al-Harir, Daraa, continue
http://youtu.be/_KrQZPJfAQM , http://youtu.be/E0VkeW0uFZQ , http://youtu.be/4wWrVNeh0Cs , http://youtu.be/g8n6hdJajGM , http://youtu.be/Kq0la9EsR-Q , http://youtu.be/nMHiStmPWtI , http://youtu.be/cxOhd9dMXBA , http://youtu.be/9Abj15MJoaQ , http://youtu.be/CpuPCKUGC0I
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