Friday 27 January 2012

Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Centre: Summary (27/01/2012): We wish we could write the names of all the martyrs who have fallen today – around 100 – on the memorial day of the fall of Auschwitz. The UN Security Council is meeting now to bargain with Syrian blood yet again. Meanwhile people have been massacred in Aleppo, Nawa (Daraa), Hama, Homs, Assal al-Ward and the eastern suburbs of Damascus. At least 15 kids have been killed in the last 48 hours – at least 450 since the start of the uprising (UNICEF says 384). Syria – Friday 27/01/2012 – Google Maps

Update (27/01/2012): At least 80 martyrs have fallen among them 6 kids and 4 women. See the map for more info, but we would like to mention 2 points:
1- The placemarks shows the protests which are documented by videos and are put online, a lot of protests took place and are not YET placed on the map either because they have no electricity or internet or both.
2- When we do the map we believe that we are doing our part by placing the videos and we expect you to help by spreading it, it is both our and your duty. Big thanks to those who are always supporting.  Syria – Friday 27/01/2012 – Google Maps

UPDATE (27/01/2012): Welcome to the Friday of the right of self defence. Already several dozen martyrs have fallen – at least 11 in Nawa, Daraa province and many others in both Homs and Aleppo. There are also reports that the regime’s forces have committed a massacre in the village of Assal al-Ward in Damascus Countryside near the Lebanese border. This escalation in violence comes at a time when the UN says it is no longer keeping a count of the killing. The video shows the protest in the town of Suran, Hama province.
Suran, Hama province 27/01/2012

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:

The death toll of civilians who were fallen martyrs today in Nawa, in Daraa district, during the shooting of the mourners of a child killed yesterday has risen to 19 martyrs. The martyrs include 4 women and 2 children; aged 11 & 14 year-old. The Syrian forces were forcing the residents to bury the martyrs without following funeral’s procedures.

The death toll of people who were fallen martyrs today in the neighbourhood of Al-Marjah in Aleppo city has risen to 5 martyrs.

A bomb was exploded in a car at a security barrier at the city-entrance of Idlib which caused the death of 6 members of security forces.

There was a mass protest in the city of Maarat Al-Numaan, in Idlib district, today on Friday of ‘Right to Self-defence’. The protesters called to topple the regime and assure that the right to self-defence is a legitimate right. There were other protests in several towns and villages in the suburbs of Idlib.

Dozens of tanks and personnel armoured vehicles besieged today’s morning the town of Rankoos in Rif Dimashq Governorate. And there was a bombardment that targeted the orchards surrounding the town.

The death toll of people who were killed on Thursday, 26 January 2012, and for whom the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has records was 43 civilians. 33 people were fallen martyrs in Homs in gunfire and bombardment in different neighbourhoods including 9 children. 4 martyrs were fallen in Hama including a 58-year-old woman who was killed by a sniper’s bullet. A young man was killed in the city of Taftanare in Idlib district in gunfire by security forces and a 14 year-old-boy was killed in Nawa in Daraa. 4 more people were killed in Rif Dimashq Governorate, the suburbs of Damascus.

4 people were killed in random gunfire by security forces, 3 in the city of Homs and one in the village of Al-Ghantto near Homs, after midnight on Thursday.There was a heavy military operation in accordance with heavy gunfire by heavy machine guns today, at dawn time, in the neighbourhood of Al-Hamedia in Hama.

Draft document before the UN tonight, according to Foreign Policy: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_documents/120127_syria-res-jan27.pdf

Demonstrators hold up Kurdish and the Syrian independence flag during a protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in Qamishli city January 27, 2012:

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NOW! Lebanon
[local time]   22:00 Syria’s Friday death toll has risen to 102 people, Al-Arabiya television reported.
 20:39 The Syrian troops raided Latakia’s Ramal neighborhood following army defections, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists as saying on Friday.
 18:43 Syria’s Friday death toll has risen to 84 people,  Al-Arabiya television reported.
 17:16 At least 384 children have been killed during 10 months of violence in Syria and almost the same number detained, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
 16:28 Two attacks killed 12 members of the security forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
 16:26 Scores of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime stormed the Syrian embassy in Cairo on Friday before being dragged away by security forces, an AFP reporter said.
 16:26 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the city of Palmyra. Protesters are chanting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 16:25 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Daraa town of Jassem. Protesters are chanting: “We prefer death to humiliation” and “We will not abandon Homs.”
 16:24 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Hasaka town of Derbasiyeh. Protesters are chanting: “Down with the regime, down with the Baath Party.”
 16:20 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Qaminas. Protesters are chanting against late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and calling on his son, Bashar al-Assad, to step down.
 16:19 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Nayrab. Protesters are chanting: “Where are the Arab people?”
 16:13 Members of the Syrian army raided the city of Rankos in the Damascus district, Al-Arabiya television reported.
 16:12 The death toll in Syria has risen to 77 people, who were killed by security forces, Al-Arabiya reported on Friday.
 16:11 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the town of Maleeha in the Damascus district.
 16:10 Al-Arabiya reported on Friday sounds of gunfire and explosions in Douma in the Damascus district,
 16:10 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Homs town of Bab Tadmor. Protesters are chanting in support for the Free Syrian Army.
 16:08 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows thousands of protesters marching in a funeral in the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amro. Mourners are chanting: “We prefer death to humiliation”  and “We will take our revenge.”
 16:05 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the town of Deir Qanoun. Protesters are chanting: “God is greater than the unjust.”
 16:01 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Koreen. Protesters are chanting: “We are not afraid of death.”
 16:00 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Ram Hamdan. Protesters are chanting in support of Homs.
 15:59 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Daraa town of Atman. Protesters are chanting for freedom.
 15:57 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Zamalka, which is near Damascus, shows hundreds of people marching and chanting against the regime.
 15:56 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the town of Hatitat al-Turkman. Protesters are chanting: “We will only kneel before God.”
 15:55 The head of the Arab League monitoring mission in Syria said Friday that violence there rose “in a significant way” in three days, particularly in the flashpoint cities of Homs, Hama and Edleb.
 15:55 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Daraa’s Ghabagheb shows a large group of people chanting in support of the Free Syrian Army.
 15:53 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Bab al-Dreeb shows hundreds of protestors rallying on the street against the regime.
 15:49 The Syrian army and members of the Free Syrian Army are fighting in the town of Kafr Batna in the district of Damascus. (S.N.N.)
 15:42 Syrian security forces killed 11 people in the Houran town of Nawa, Al-Arabiya reported.
 15:33 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Hama’s Latamina shows hundreds of people gathered chanting, 
 15:32 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Bab al-Dreeb shows a large crowd gathered chanting against the regime and saying: “The people have triumphed.”
 15:26 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Taftanaz. Protesters are chanting: “We prefer death to humiliation” and “The people want international protection.”
 15:26 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Masaken al-Moallimeen shows a group of people chanting: “We will only kneel before God.”
 15:25 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Al-Najiyeh. Protesters are chanting in support of Syrian cities.
 15:24 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Saraqeb. Protesters are chanting against the Syrian army and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 15:24 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Al-Tahh area shows a large crowd gathered chanting: “We follow you, God.”
 15:20 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Hasaka town of Ghoueiran.
 15:19 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Kafrtakharim. Protesters are chanting: “We prefer death to humiliation.”
 15:08 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Maalab area shows a large group of people chanting against President Bashar al-Assad’s government and calling for “freedom.”
 15:06 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Shammas shows hundreds of people calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to “leave.”
 15:05 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Sermine shows hundreds of people marching and calling for the toppling of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 15:04 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Bab al-Sibaa shows dozens gathered to protest against the regime.
 15:04 An anti-regime protest began in the Hama neighborhood of Al-Dahiriyeh. (S.N.N.)
 15:03 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Talmans shows hundreds of people rallying against the regime.
 15:03 A protest erupted in the Homs neighborhood of Al-Farqles. (S.N.N.)
 15:00 An anti-regime protest began in the Homs neighborhood of Al-Breij. (S.N.N.)
 14:59 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Daraa town of Om al-Mayadeen. Protesters are chanting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 14:56 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Daraa town of Dael. Protesters are chanting in support of Homs.
 14:55 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the city of Edleb.
 14:54 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Homs town of Al-Midan. Protesters are holding banners saying “We want a civil state” and “Protests are peaceful.”
 14:51 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ neighborhood of Deir Baalba shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting against the Assad family.
 14:50 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Al-Rami shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting in support of freedom.
 14:50 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Mahrat Masreen shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting in support of Homs.
 14:49 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Maarat an-Naaman shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting: “We will only kneel before God.”
 14:49 Russia said Friday it would not support any UN Security Council resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go, warning that an early vote on a new Western-backed text was doomed to failure.
 14:48 A deadly car bomb hit a security checkpoint at the entrance to the northwestern Syrian city of Edleb on Friday, activists said, without providing an immediate casualty count.
 14:48 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Houran’s town of Kherbet Ghazaleh shows people protesting against the regime.
 14:47 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ neighborhood of Baba Amro shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting: “Death and not humiliation.”
 14:46 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Homs’ Masaken al-Moalemeen shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting: “We will only kneel before God.”
 14:45 Snipers opened fire on people in Wadi al-Arab in Homs. (S.N.N.)
 14:44 Security forces attack anti-regime protesters in Qamishli. (S.N.N.)
 14:43 Anti-regime protests began in Houran’s towns of Al-Harak, Samad and Al-Kark al-Sharki. (S.N.N.)
 14:43 Free Syrian Army members clashed with army members in Houran’s town of Tafas. (S.N.N.)
 14:42 Anti-regime protests began in Aleppo’s towns of Al-Safira and Tal Refaat and in Aleppo’s neighborhood of Achrafiyeh. (S.N.N.)
 14:42 Syrian security forces killed 20 people and injured 9 in the Aleppo town of Marjeh, Al-Jazeera reported.
 14:42 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the city of Douma near Damascus. Protesters are chanting, “The people want to announce Jihad.”
 14:40 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Homs neighborhood of Al-Malaab. Protesters are chanting, “Syria’s revolution is a revolution of freedom and dignity.”
 14:39 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Hama’s Bridij shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting, “We are all rebels.”
 14:37 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Hama’s Kazo shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting, “May your soul be cursed Abu Hafez (Bashar al-Assad].”
 14:36 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Hasaka town of Ras al-Ayn. A speaker is saying, “Our protests are peaceful,” while demonstrators are chanting back “Peaceful [protests].”
 14:36 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Hama’s town of Helfaya shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting, “May your soul be cursed Hafez [al-Assad].”
 14:35 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s town of Maar Shmsha shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting, “Arabs, fear God.”
 14:34 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Daraa’s town of Al-Soura shows people protesting against the regime. Protesters are chanting, “The people want to announce the Jihad.”
 14:34 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday shows an anti-regime protest in the Edleb town of Binnish. Protesters are chanting for “freedom, despite the will of [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad.”
 12:43 Free Syrian Army troops are fighting army soldiers in Houran’s town of Nawa. (S.N.N.)
 12:42 Security forces opened fire on anti-regime protesters in Aleppo’s neighborhood of Seif al-Dawla. (S.N.N.)
 12:41 Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters in Abu Kamal, the Syrian Coordination Committee reported.
 12:40 Anti-regime protests began in Homs’ Quaryatayn and Houran’s Dael and Kafr Shams. (S.N.N.)
 12:36 Despite heavy security presence, some people protested against the regime in Latakia. (S.N.N.)
 12:35 Anti-regime protests began in Edleb’s Binnish in support of Homs, Hama, Daraa and Rif Damascus. (S.N.N.)
 12:30 Anti-regime protests began in Houran’s Nemr and Al-Gheryeh al-Sharkyeh and Aleppo’s Kafr Nouran. (S.N.N.)
 12:27 Anti-regime protests began in Koreen near Damascus, Houran’s Naimeh and Al-Maleeha al-Sharkyeh and Aleppo’s Seif al-Dawla and Ratyan. (S.N.N.)
 12:25 Anti-regime protests began in Aleppo’s Ehtymalat, Deir az-Zour’s Bousaraya and Aleppo’s Marea. (S.N.N.)
 12:23 Security forces opened fire on protesters in Enkhel. (S.N.N.)
 12:22 Anti-regime protests began in Aleppo’s Al-Atarib, Houran’s towns of Tafas and Daraa and Deir az-Zour’s town of Al-Joura. (S.N.N.)
 12:18 Anti-regime protests began in Aleppo’s Ming and Daraa’s neighborhood of Al-Kashef. (S.N.N.)
 12:17 Anti-regime protests began in Edleb’s Maarat an-Naaman and Houran’s Sanamayn. (S.N.N.)
 12:15 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Edleb’s Kafr Nabl shows people protesting against the regime. The protesters are chanting that they support Homs “until death.”
 12:15 An anti-regime protest began in Aleppo’s Afreen. Protesters are chanting in support of freedom. (S.N.N.)
 12:13 An anti-regime protest began in Jassem’s neighborhood of Al-Janoubi. (S.N.N.)
 12:11 An anti-regime protests began in Abu Kamal, Hasaka’s Chadadi and Deir az-Zour’s neighborhood of Hamidieh. (S.N.N.)
 12:10 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Friday in Damascus’ neighborhood of Al-Qadam shows people protesting against the regime.
 12:07 Anti-regime protests began in Hasaka’s Amouda, Darbasiya, Ras al-Ayn, Tal Tamr and Ghouerian. (S.N.N.)
 11:35 United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged the UN Security Council on Friday to speak with one voice on Syria, and called on Damascus to listen to the aspirations of its people.
 11:08 Syrian forces raided the restive city of Homs in a predawn assault Friday with explosions and steady gunfire heard in several neighborhoods, activists said.
 10:51 Syrian security forces raided the town of Rankous near Damascus and are arbitrarily shelling houses in the town. (S.N.N.)
 10:35 Republican Guards raided the Al-Hamidiyeh neighborhood of Hama, the Syrian Coordination Committee reported.
 10:03 Security forces are “heavily shelling” Hama’s neighborhood of Al-Hamidieh, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists as saying.
 9:27 Security forces killed 29 people Friday, the General Commission of the Revolution reported on its website Friday.
 8:30 Morning Leader: The UN Security Council will discuss the Syria crisis Friday, and western and Arab nations could make public their draft resolution condemning the government’s deadly crackdown, diplomats said. Meanwhile, activists reported that close to 50 people were killed Thursday in violence across Syria.
 8:06 Syrian National Council executive office member Ahmad Ramadan said in remarks published on Friday that Saudi Arabia will “recognize” the SNC as “the official representative” of the Syrian people.
 8:03 Security forces killed five in Homs and Edleb, Al-Jazeera television quoted the Local Coordination Committees as saying.
 7:50 The UN Security Council will discuss the Syria crisis Friday, and western and Arab nations could make public their draft resolution condemning the government’s deadly crackdown, diplomats said.

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AP: Children among 74 dead in 2 days of Syrian turmoil 

 Two days of bloody turmoil in Syria killed at least 74 people, including small children, as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings and fired on crowds in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday.

Video posted online showed the bodies of five small children, five women and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the city of Homs. A narrator said an entire family had been “slaughtered.”

Much of the violence was focused in Homs, where heavy gunfire hammered the city Friday in a second day of chaos. A day earlier, the city saw a flare-up of sectarian kidnappings and killings between its Sunni and Alawite communities, and pro-regime forces blasted residential buildings with mortars and gunfire, according to activists.

At least 384 children have been killed, as of Jan. 7, in the crackdown on Syria’s uprising since it began nearly 11 months ago, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said Friday. The count, based on reports from human rights groups, included children under age 18.

Most of the deaths took place in Homs and most of the victims were boys, UNICEF said. It said 380 children have been detained, including some under age 14. The United Nations estimates that more than 5,400 people have died in the turmoil.

The U.N. Security Council met in a closed-door session to discuss the crisis, which diplomats said was a step toward a possible U.N. resolution against the Damascus regime.

However, any resolution faces strong opposition from China and Russia, and both nations have veto power. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday that Moscow will oppose any resolution because it does not exclude the possibility of outside military interference.

The Syrian uprising, which began last March with mostly peaceful protests, has become increasingly violent in recent months as army defectors clash with government forces and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves. The violence has inflamed the sectarian divide in the country, where members of Assad’s Alawite sect dominate the regime despite a Sunni Muslim majority.

Activists said at least 35 people were killed in Homs on Thursday and another 39 people were killed across the country Friday.

The video posted Friday by activists showed the bodies of five young children, their faces bloodied, wrapped in orange plastic bags. It said the children were believed to be from two families, the Akras and the Bahadours. Brown cardboard placards with the children’s names written in Arabic were placed on their chests, identifying them: Thanaa, Ali, Najm, Abdul-Ghani and Sidra.

The video could not be independently verified.

Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said the spike in violence was linked to increasing pressure from the international community, the Arab League and the United Nations.

“The regime is trying to finish the matter through military means as soon as possible,” and for that reason the level of violence increased,” he said.

On Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insisted that Damascus will continue its crackdown and said Syria would not accept any international interference in its affairs.

Assad’s regime claims terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy by the U.S., Israel and Gulf Arab countries are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking change.

The head of Arab League observers in Syria said in a statement that violence in the country has spiked over the past few days. Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib have all witnessed a “very high escalation” in violence since Tuesday.

A “fierce military campaign” was also under way in the Hamadiyeh district of Hama since the early hours of Friday, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists. They said the sound of heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions reverberated across the area.

Some activists reported seeing uncollected bodies in the streets of Hama.

Elsewhere, a car bomb exploded Friday at a checkpoint outside the northern city of Idlib, the Observatory said, citing witnesses. The number of casualties was not immediately clear.

Details of the wave of killings in Homs emerged Friday from an array of residents and activists

“There has been a terrifying massacre,” Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the AP on Friday. He called for an independent investigation.

Thursday started with a spate of sectarian kidnappings and killings between the city’s population of Sunnis and Alawites, a Shiite sect to which Assad belongs as well as most of his security and military leadership, said Mohammad Saleh, a centrist opposition figure and resident of Homs.

There was also a string of attacks by gunmen on army checkpoints, Saleh said. Checkpoints are a frequent target of dissident troops who have joined the opposition.

The Observatory said at least 11 people, including eight children, died when a building came under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire in the city’s Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood. Some residents spoke of another massacre that took place when shabiha — armed regime loyalists — stormed the district, slaughtering residents in an apartment, including children.

“They are killing people because of their sect,” said one Sunni resident of Karm el-Zaytoun, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Thursday’s death toll in Homs was at least 35, said the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists. Both groups cite a network of activists on the ground in Syria for their death tolls.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syria tightly controls access to trouble spots and generally allows journalists to report only on escorted trips, which slows the flow of information.

Also Friday, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said gunmen in Syria kidnapped 11 Iranian pilgrims traveling by road from Turkey to Damascus.

Iranian pilgrims routinely visit Syria — Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world — to pay homage to Shiite holy shrines. Last month, seven Iranian engineers building a power plant in central Syria were kidnapped. They have not yet been released.

The Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors fighting the regime, released a video on its Facebook page claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and saying the Iranians were taking part in the suppression of the Syrian people.

AP writer Elizabeth A. Kennedy contributed to this report from Beirut. Associated Press

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THE breezy hilltop resort of Zabadani is usually occupied by rich Syrians in second homes and Gulf tourists enjoying the picturesque mountains on the Lebanese border. It looks like civil war www.economist.com

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 Syrian opposition abroad to boost aid to rebel army www.reuters.com

PARIS (Reuters) – A leading Syrian opposition group based abroad is ready to give money and equipment to rebels in Syria fighting President Bashar al-Assad as they work towards creating an organized command
A leading Syrian opposition group based abroad is ready to give money and equipment to rebels in Syria fighting President Bashar al-Assad as they work towards creating an organized command structure, a senior group member said on Friday.

After months of distant relations, the Syrian National Council (SNC) and rebel Free Syria Army (FSA) struck a deal earlier this month to reorganize loosely-structured units fighting under the FSA umbrella.

Council spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said that with defections from Assad’s forces increasing, the uprising that began with street protests 10 months ago had taken on irreversible military dimensions and it was now the SNC’s duty to assist the rebels.

“The SNC is now mapping who the groups are on the ground in Syria andTurkey,” she said. “We have military experts, former Syrian military, who are mapping where they are and linking them into some form of command chain.”

The SNC will not help provide arms since it opposes attacks on individual targets or buildings, but will contribute funds or find financiers to keep the FSA afloat, Kodmani said, without specifying how much money would be offered.

Kodmani was speaking to reporters in Paris, where she is a lecturer and runs the Arab Reform Initiative think-tank. The SNC has no single base, but has most often held talks and meetings in Paris and Istanbul.

She said the rebels numbered between 20,000 and 30,000 in Syria and about 300 in neighboring Turkey. “They need communications equipment, bullet-proof vests and non-offensive equipment to make sure they are integrated with each other. If they are left isolated, they will transform into militias.”

INTERNAL REBEL TENSIONS

Kodmani said one of the main problems in making the FSA a coherent force would be managing tensions between those that had defected early on in the uprising such as Colonel Riad al-Asaad and more senior officers such as General Mostafa al-Sheikh, who defected this month. She said another high-ranking general had also defected to Turkey but his identity had yet to be revealed.

“It’s necessary to make sure the FSA’s action can be organized with a strategic objective,” said Kodmani, one of several candidates in an SNC leadership contest to be decided next month.

“The main weakness is that it has no territory. There is no Benghazi, but there are pockets,” she said, referring to last year’s Libyan insurgency that swept to Tripoli, toppling dictator Muammar Gaddafi, from a rebel bastion in the east.

Fighting edged closer to Damascus this week. Clashes between rebels and security forces in the Damascus suburb of Douma raged throughout Thursday, and violence erupted anew in Homs on Friday after reports of a sectarian massacre.

Kodmani said the Syrian government was losing its grip in some regions and would struggle to reassert it in cities such as Hama and Homs, twin pillars of the anti-Assad uprising.

The U.N. Security Council was to meet on Friday to weigh the next move on Syria with a Western-Arab draft resolution to be circulated among members for a vote foreseen next week.

The draft, obtained by Reuters, calls for a “political transition” but not for U.N. sanctions against Damascus, something Russia has said it would not support.

“We need a serious Security Council resolution that says the council looks to blame the regime and then sets a period of time after which it will take other measures,” Kodmani said.

She said the SNC had asked U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to allow it to represent the Syrian people at the talks.

“I think the Arab League has the clout to convince the Russians to change their position,” she said.

Syria violence kills 37, U.N. Security Council to meet

Security forces killed 37 people in Syriaon Friday, activists and residents said, as people in Homs mourned 14 members of a family they said were slain by militiamen in one of the worst sectarian attacks in a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

The U.N. Security Council was to meet later in the day to discuss Syria before a possible vote next week on a new Western-Arab draft resolution aimed at halting 10 months of bloodshed.

Russia, which joined China in vetoing a previous Western draft resolution in October and which has since promoted its own draft, said the Western-Arab version was unacceptable and vowed to block any text calling for Assad’s resignation.

There was no let-up in violence on Friday, when anti-Assad protests again erupted after weekly Muslim prayers.

Tank and mortar fire killed 15 people in Hama, a resident said, on the fourth day of an army assault on rebellious districts of the city, where Assad’s father crushed an armed Islamist uprising in 1982, killing many thousands.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 22 people killed elsewhere in Syria, including 12 when security forces fired on a funeral march in the southern town of Nowa, five in the normally peaceful city of Aleppo, and four in Homs.

Machinegun fire wounded five people in the Qusour district of Homs, one activist there said, adding that the city was calmer than it was at the height of Thursday’s violence, when 16 people were also killed by mortar fire from security forces.

The state news agency SANA said “terrorists” killed a security man in Homs on Friday and a bomb killed a child and wounded several civilians and security personnel in the Damascus district of Midan.

SANA also said a bomb wounded three civilians and three security men in the northeastern town of Albukamal and that a suicide bomber had wounded two security men at a checkpoint in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Arab League observers headed for the Damascus suburb of Douma, where government troops battled rebel fighters the previous day as the struggle to topple Assad rumbled close to the Syrian capital.

TRANSITION PLAN

The Arab League has demanded that the Syrian leader step down as part of a transition to democracy, a call rejected by Damascus. The government says it is fighting foreign-backed armed “terrorists” who have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.

“Any decision about a future political settlement in Syria must be made during the political process without … preliminary conditions,” Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying.

He stopped short of saying Moscow would veto a Western-Arab draft if the call for Assad to hand over power was not removed.

The text calls for a “political transition,” but not for United Nations sanctions against Assad’s government, which Moscow, an old ally and arms supplier of Syria, opposes.

Russia and Iran are among Syria’s few remaining allies.

In another sign of Assad’s isolation, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has effectively abandoned his headquarters in Damascus, diplomatic and intelligence sources said.

“He’s not going back to Syria,” a regional intelligence source said of Meshaal, who has long been based in the Syrian capital. He heads the Palestinian Islamist group which rules Gaza and is an armed offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Analysts say Meshaal was embarrassed by Assad’s crackdown, in which more than 5,000 people have been killed, many of them Sunni Muslim sympathisers of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Homs, a mostly Sunni city with minority Alawite enclaves, has become a battleground since protests against Assad began in March, inspired by pro-democracy revolts elsewhere in the Arab world. Armed rebels have joined the fray in recent months.

GRISLY FOOTAGE

Residents and activists said militiamen from Assad’s Alawite sect had shot or hacked to death 14 members of the Sunni Bahader family in Homs’s Karm al-Zaitoun district on Thursday, including eight children, aged eight months to nine years old.

YouTube video footage taken by activists, which could not be verified, showed the bodies of five children with wounds to the head and neck, three women and a man in a house.

There was no comment from Syrian authorities, which enforce tight restrictions on independent media.

At least 384 children have been killed since the uprising began in March and a similar number have been jailed, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

The British-based Observatory said 43 civilians were killed on Thursday, including 33 in Homs, of whom nine were children.

Hamza, an activist in Homs, said the militiamen who attacked the Sunni family were avenging deaths inflicted on their ranks by army defectors loosely grouped in the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Tit-for-tat sectarian killings began in Homs four months ago. Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, has dominated the political and security apparatus in Syria, a mostly Sunni nation of 23 million, for five decades.

“The Assads are the dirtiest of families,” shouted crowds in Deir Balba, on the edge of Homs, according to a YouTube clip that showed people waving pre-Baath party Syrian flags.

In the city’s Bab Amro district, demonstrators carried the body of a youth who had been shot in the head. “Bashar, your mother will bury you,” they chanted, YouTube footage showed.

It was not possible to verify the footage, which anti-Assad campaigners had posted on the Internet.

The opposition Local Coordination Committees said security forces had fired on an anti-Assad protest by refugees from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights who live in Thiabieh near Damascus. It said several protesters were wounded.

Activists in the Damascus suburb of Irbin said 15,000 people had turned out to demonstrate against Assad.

Several thousand also gathered in the rain in the ancient, eastern desert town of Palmyra, clapping to anti-Assad anthems. “Bashar, God is greater (than you)!” they sang.