Friday 28 September 2012

Some FSA invades the Kurdish area in Aleppo, and Kurds die. The FSA accuse the Kurds of being aligned with the regime. The Kurdish funerals were held in Afrin, and on the way back to Aleppo the Syrian airforce fired at the mourners.

Can you wonder why the Kurds do not align themselves with anyone and want to look after their own area?

This misinformation about Kurds is to serve Turkey’s situation, and does nothing to work for positive change in Syria.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Final death toll for Friday 28/9/2012: More than 160 Syrians were killed.

The dead include: 104 unarmed civilians (9 were children) , 20 rebel fighters, 4 defected soldiers ( including a defected lieutenant and a defected captain) , and 31 regular soldiers:

- 27 were killed in Aleppo (20 were killed in the city of Aleppo. 7 rebel fighters, 6 children and 6 women were killed in the province).

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NOW! Lebanon
[local time]  21:55 Syrian forces shelled Tal Chehab in Daraa, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 21:47 Friday’s death toll has increased to 144, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 21:10 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday warned Iran would do its best to prop up the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as she opened talks on helping the Syrian opposition.
 20:28 Renowned former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is to join the UN probe into rights abuses during the increasingly brutal conflict in Syria, the UN Human Rights Council announced Friday.
 20:05 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday unveiled a total of $45 million dollars in new funding for humanitarian aid and to help the civilian opposition in Syria.
 19:51 Syrian grassroots activists preparing for the fall of President Bashar al-Assad appealed Friday to world leaders for help in building a democracy, as armed rebels unleashed a “decisive” battle for Aleppo.
 18:34 The Free Syrian Army took over Aleppo’s neighborhood of Sheikh Maksoud, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 18:32 Friday’s death toll has increased to 118, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 18:25 A Syrian shell crashed Friday into a town on the Turkish side of the border, wounding a Turkish national, as fighting raged in a nearby Syrian town, a local official said.
 18:21 Syrian forces shelled Damascus’ neighborhood of Baraza, Al-Jazeera reported.
 17:48 The Syrian regime has moved some chemical weapons to safeguard the material as it wages war against rebel forces but the main storage sites for its arsenal remain secure, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday.
 17:47 The US said Friday that the Syria government moved some of its chemical weapons, but that the regime’s main chemical weapons sites are secure, AFP reported.
 17:43 Syrian writer Ibrahim al-Kharit and his son Sumar were killed by government troops in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, opposition activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
 17:35 Friday’s death toll has increased to 110, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 17:16 Syrian rebels advanced on several fronts in their campaign to seize Aleppo, but without a significant breakthrough after hours of fierce fighting, commanders in the northern city told AFP on Friday.
 17:15 Syrian rebels surrounded on Friday the Aleppo area of Bab Jenin, Al-Jazeera television reported.
 17:14 Syrian rebels took control of the neighborhoods of Al-Amriya and Bab Antakya in Aleppo, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists as saying.
 16:14 War crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte appears set to join the UN probe into rights abuses in Syria, the US ambassador to the Human Rights Council said Friday.
 15:44 Friday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 81 people, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.
 15:34 Syrian shelling of Aazaz near Aleppo killed at least nine people, Al-Jazeera reported.
 15:25 The Syrian army shelled Qudsaya near Damascus, killing some and injuring others, Al-Jazeera reported.
 14:51 Syrian regime forces raided the neighborhood of Barza in Damascus and executed five people, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.
 14:49 Friday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 72 people, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists as saying.
 14:36 Some Turkish citizens were wounded after a shell from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad fell on Turkish territories neighboring Syria.
 14:25 The UN Human Rights Council on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the mandate of its probe into rights violations in Syria, condemning the “increasing number of massacres” in the country.
 14:20 Syrian security source denies an explosion took place near the army HQ in Damascus’ Umayyad Square, Al-Manar reported.
 14:10 Syrian regime troops set fire to houses in villages bordering Turkey, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 14:02 A huge explosion rocked the army headquarters building in Damascus’ Umayyad Square, Al-Jazeera TV quoted activists as saying.
 13:50 Several people were killed and others were injured by the army’s shelling of the Latakia town of Ghamam, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 13:41 Al-Jazeera television is broadcasting live footage of anti-regime protests across Syria.
 13:37 Clashes broke out between rebels and Syrian regime forces in the area of Reqqa, activists said.
 13:03 Friday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 60 people, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.
 12:38 Syrian regime forces summarily executed 25 people in the Aleppo town of Al-Rashideen, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 10:58 Government troops launched assaults on several rebel areas in the north of the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
 9:42 Syrian regime forces have so far killed 32 people on Friday, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 9:40 There is unprecedented fighting in Syria’s second city of Aleppo, residents and activists told AFP on Friday.
 9:29 Jihadist groups in Syria, although limited in numbers, play a key role in motivating rebel fighters and boosting their technical expertise, sources in the Syrian rebellion say.
 9:00 MORNING LEADER: Rebels claimed to have launched a major assault on Syria’s second city Aleppo Thursday as the UN refugee agency warned that up to 700,000 refugees could flee the country by year’s end. UN and Arab League leaders meanwhile expressed fears the country could become a “regional battleground.”
 8:18 The United States will unveil more aid to Syrians battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, aiming to help a growing refugee crisis and train local leaders inside the war-torn nation.
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Reuters: U.S., France boost Syria support, less than rebels hoped

NEW YORK – The United States and France announced increased support for opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, but there was no sign that the direct military aid the rebels want to create safe havens for civilians is on the way.

Syria rebels struggle to advance in Aleppo offensive:

BEIRUT – Syrian rebels said they were struggling to make headway against a barrage of government jet and artillery attacks in their latest attempt to take control of the country’s largest city Aleppo after weeks of deadlock.

Syrian rebels said they were struggling to make headway against a barrage of government jet and artillery attacks in their latest attempt to take control of the country’s largest city Aleppo after weeks of deadlock.

On the second day of an offensive they had billed as a “decisive battle”, rebels also threatened to start fighting local Kurdish militants – a move which would further complicate a war that has already spilled over Syria’s borders.

Fighters reached by telephone said they had been locked in hours of fierce combat in several neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub, on Friday.

Rebels armed with machineguns and homemade rockets said they faced a difficult task against a better-equipped enemy.

“We reached the middle of Suleiman al-Halabi and liberated some neighborhoods so I am still optimistic. But I’m worried about our organization. We can’t force the regime out. At best, I think we can advance some of our positions,” one fighter said, requesting anonymity.

Other rebels told Reuters one of their units had been surrounded. One fighter said some insurgent battalions were pulling out of the front line or had never joined the battle.

The 18-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began as peaceful protests but has descended into a civil war. More than 30,000 people have been killed, say activists.

Syria’s government says it is fighting Islamist hardliners, adding that thousands of Arab and foreign fighters have entered the country fromTurkey.

MORE TALK, LITTLE ACTION AT U.N.

World powers have been meeting at the United Nations this week but are divided over the crisis.

Russia, China and Iran back Assad and oppose any UN sanctions on Syria’s leader.

Western countries and Arab states supporting the opposition remain unwilling to take forceful action, despite Qatar’s calls for Arab intervention. Some western diplomats say they have been frustrated by what they see as a lack of clear command structure and coordination among the rebels.

One group of countries sympathetic to Syria’s opposition is planning to hold another “Friends ofSyria” meeting, but there was little prospect of that resulting in action against Assad.

“I just expect ideas to be presented. There will be no concrete plans,” Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told Reuters at the conference in New York.

Diplomats on Friday said that Carla del Ponte, the International Criminal Court’s former chief prosecutor, will be named to join a UN investigation into abuses in Syria. Del Ponte was known for doggedly pursuing former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the ICC. [ID:nL5E8KS58C]

Human rights investigators say state forces and some rebel groups have committed war crimes in Syria.

Inside Syria, neither side seems ready to put down its arms. Assad’s forces have pounded rebel-held areas across the country, and clashes erupt daily. Yet both sides appear incapable of striking a decisive military blow.

A main international concern has been the security of Syria’s chemical weapons sites. But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cited U.S. intelligence on Friday suggesting that the chemicals remained secure.

The rebels appear to be improving their reach. A bomb attack on Wednesday wrecked the army’s command headquarters in the heart of Damascus, though no major officers were killed.

FIGHTING THE KURDS

The rebels also threatened to confront locally-based Kurdish militant groups who they said they suspected of supporting Assad.

They said the groups were linked to Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) which has been fighting for autonomy in neighboring Turkey.

One rebel leader issued a warning to the Kurds through the Facebook page for the Tawheed Brigade, the largest rebel unit in Aleppo.

“Tawheed Brigade leader Abdelqadir al-Saleh made a final request by phone to the PKK gangs, to drop their weapons immediately and not drag themselves into a losing battle that is not their fight,” it said.

“Whoever carries arms in the face of the opposition battalions will find themselves under fire.”

In Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, rebels said they had captured at least eight men from the shabbiha – as the pro-Assad militias are known. Some of the captives were killed, they said.

It was unclear if the victims were Kurds, a stateless ethnic group who stretch over much of the region and have so far been split over their support for the uprising.

[SKS comment: the Kurds are being threatened from all sides, as usual]

(Reporting by Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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BBC: Syria ‘moving chemical weapons’

The US says it has intelligence that Syria has moved some of its chemical weapons to safety, as the government continues to battle rebel forces…