Thursday 5 July 2012
July 6, 2012 by sks
Filed under News, Syrian Revolution
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: 90 Syrians killed today: The reported, and documented, number of civilians killed in Syria today (Thursday 6/7/2012) has risen to 66.
63 unarmed civilians:
-In Idlib province 28 civilians were killed. 6 civilians, including a father, mother and their son, were killed after midnight wednesday-thursday by bombardment on the town of Ma’aret Alnu’man, reef Idlib. A civilian died under torture afterbeing detained earlier in the town of Saraqeb. 11 civilians, including a woman and child, were killed in the town of Khein Sheikhoun that’s witnessing gunfire and mortar shells by regime forces. A civilian was shot by sniper fire in Ariha city. The Syrian observatory documented 5 civilians who were killed by mortar shells on the Altah town, reef Idlib. 1 civilian was killed from excessive torture in Saraqeb. 3 civilians were killed by security forces in Balshin, 2 young girls were also killed by security forces fire.
-In Reef Dimashq 11 civilians were killed. A young man and his mother were martyred by regime fire in the Hamourieh town that witnessed bombardment and gunfire. A woman was killed by regime forces while trying to escape from the city of Harasta. 3 names were documented, 2 of them women, were killed when regime forces raided the town of Mesraba yesterday. A civilian was shot dead in the city of A’rbin. 1 civilian was killed by a sniper in Douma, by the military hospital. 3 civilians were martyred by the bombardment on the village of al-Qais.
-In Homs province 6 civilians were killed. A child was killed by the overnight bombardment of the city of Tadmur. A young man was killed by pro-regime gunmen, shabiha, 2 days after they kidnapped him from the village of al-Buweida al-Sharqiya. 2 were killed by the violent bombardment on al-Rastan. 2 were shot in the neighborhoods of Alkhaldieh and Jouret Alshayah.
-In Suweida province 2 civilians were killed overnight when an IED went off, in a car, in the city of Suweida.
-In Dera’a province a civilian was killed by the regime bombardment of Tafs.
-In Aleppo province 10 civilians were killed. A child died of wounds received earlier when he was shot in the Alsakhour neighbourhood. 7 civilians, including a girl, were killed in the city of A’zaz, reef aleppo. they include the bodies of 2 civilians, 1 yet to be identified, who were found by the Mengh military airport, they seem to have been killed by extreme torture. 1 civilian was killed in the village of Darat Izza, from wounds he received when the Hameeko factory was shelled several days age, he was receiving medical attention in turkey. A civilian was killed by unknown gunmen in Ifrin.
-In Hama province 5 civilians were killed. 2 civilians were summarily executed by the eastern checkpoint to the village of Kawkab, activists report that they were passing by the checkpoint on their way to the village. A jeweler, and his 10-year-old son, were shot and killed when on their way home from the village of al-Hamra. A woman was killed when Syrian forces stormed the town of Qastoun and began firing randomly.
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3 Armed rebels:
Reef Dimashq: A fighter was killed during clashes with regime forces in the Qatana town, reef Dimashq.
Dera’a: The leader of a rebel battalion was killed during clashes, after midnight, with regime force by the Jordanian border.
Idlib: A rebel leader was shot and killed by a sniper in Ariha.
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At least 24 regime forces were killed when military checkpoints were targeted in the provinces of Deir Izzor, Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and reef Dimashq. The number includes the assassination of officer with the rank of brigadier-general, killed when his car was targeted near the Shenshar town, reef Homs.
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NOW! Lebanon
[local time]
19:44 Thursday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 52 people, the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution said.
16:12 Russia on Thursday confirmed that some of its Western partners had asked Moscow to offer Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asylum but said it had dismissed the idea as a joke.
16:11 German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she regretted decisions by China and Russia to boycott a “Friends of Syria” group meeting but that other world powers should not fall silent as a result.
16:11 Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Thursday that a Yemen-style power transfer was unlikely in Syria because its President Bashar al-Assad would refuse to step down.
15:49 The chief UN military observer in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, said on Thursday that he is opposed to his 300-strong team being armed.
15:45 An AFP feature story details how Syrian rebels defending the Crac de Chevliers castle are engaged in pitched fighting with regime forces.
15:45 Up to 5,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Jordan over the past week from the bloodshed in their country, in a possible prelude to a large-scale influx, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.
14:19 Manaf Tlass, the son of former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass defected from the army and fled to Turkey, Al-Arabiya reported.
14:02 Syrian security forces killed 28 people on Thursday, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
13:18 Seven people were killed and several others were injured by the security forces’ shelling of the Edleb town of Al-Tehh, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
13:16 WikiLeaks said Thursday it was publishing over two million emails from Syrian political figures dating back to 2006 but also covering the period of the crackdown on dissent by Syria’s ruling regime.
12:09 Al-Jazeera is broadcasting live images on Thursday showing continuous shelling of Homs by Syrian forces.
11:52 Syrians must be able to decide their own fate free of impositions by other countries, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, according to a statement posted on his official website on Thursday.
10:33 China said Thursday it would not attend a “Friends of Syria” meeting in Paris that is aiming to coordinate Western and Arab efforts to stop violence in the country.
10:08 Gunmen have shot dead a Syrian general and two other senior officers in a day of violence that resulted in nearly 100 deaths across the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.
8:00 MORNING LEADER: Russia denied on Wednesday talking with Washington about offering exile to Syria’s president, as the chief UN observer said world powers are talking too much and not doing enough to end the Syrian conflict.
7:36 The Swiss government suspended arms shipments to the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday amid a report that hand grenades made in Switzerland had found their way to Syria.
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Reuters: Defection cheers anti-Assad coalition at Paris meet …
Iraq says al Qaeda members crossing into Syria: BAGHDAD – Iraq has “solid information” that al Qaeda militants are crossing from Iraq into Syria to carry out attacks and has sent reinforcements to the border, the foreign minister said on Thursday…
Syrian general breaks from Assad’s inner circle: ANTAKYA, Turkey – He is a Republican Guard brigadier and son of Syria’s longest-serving defense minister. But most of all Manaf Tlas is a friend of President Bashar al-Assad, a member of his inner circle and a prominent figure in the Damascus “young guard”…
WikiLeaks says starts releasing hacked Syria emails: LONDON – The WikiLeaks website said on Thursday it had begun publishing more than 2 million emails from Syrian government officials that would embarrass not only Damascus, which is trying to crush a 16-month rebellion, but also its opponents.
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BBC: Syria files: Wikileaks releases 2m ‘embarrassing’ emails
The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks says it is releasing more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and corporations.
“Ground-breaking” news stories derived from the “Syria files” will be published over the next two months, Wikileaks said.
Its founder Julian Assange was quoted as saying the material was embarrassing – not only to Syria but its opponents.
The emails are said to date from August 2006 to March 2012.
Syrian authorities have been fighting an internal rebellion for some 16 months. Some 15,800 people have died, activists say.
Intimate correspondence’Emails from the Syrian ministries of presidential affairs, foreign affairs, finance, information, transport and culture are all represented among the data to be released, Sarah Harrison from Wikileaks told reporters in London.
“The range of information extends from the intimate correspondence of the most senior [governing] Baath party figures to records of financial transfers sent from Syrian ministries to other nations,” she said.
Mr Assange remains in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he is trying to avoid extradition to Sweden over accusations of rape and sexual assault.
But Ms Harrison quoted him as saying that this material “helps us not merely to criticise one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it.”
Some of the 2,434,899 emails would reveal, Wikileaks promises, “how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another”.
News stories based on the emails will be published by news providers including US news agency Associated Press, Spain’s Publico.es and Egypt’s al-Masry al-Youm.
Some stories which have already appeared seem to concern communications between Syrian representatives and Western suppliers of equipment that could be used for military purposes.
Top Syrian general ‘defects to Turkey‘: 5 Jul 2012: Reported escape of Manaf Tlass, leading member of Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, does not mean anything, official saysOn 6 July many countries will meet in Paris for the third Friends of Syria meeting aimed at supporting Joint Envoy Kofi Annan’s efforts to try to end the violence and make progress on a political transition in Syria.
In advance of the meeting, the Foreign Secretary answered your questions on the UK’s policy towards Syria via Twitter live on 5 July. Questions were submitted to the Foreign Secretary using the hashtag #askFS.
The Foreign Secretary said:
“Nearly a hundred nations will come together in Paris this Friday at the meeting of the Friends of Syria. We will be focused on increasing the pressure on the regime to stop the killing, on ensuring that the Annan Plan for a political transition is implemented, and on alleviating the appalling humanitarian situation in Syria. These efforts are an absolutely top priority in British diplomacy.”
