Monday 19 March 2012

SYRIAN ARMY GAINING CONTROL


Heavy firefights erupt in Damascus


Syrian security forces have raided a den of armed terrorists in a house in western Damascus, state media reports. The fighting lasted for two hours with grenade blasts and machine gun fire being heard from the district of al-Mezzeh, witnesses say.
Local civilians had been evacuated to safety before the raid, state news agency SANA reported. Two insurgents have been killed while another one captured as government security forces stormed the building. According to the independent Al Ekhbariya tv channel, three terrorists were killed in the operation.
The clash resulted in at least one death of a law enforcement officer, while three more were injured in a shoot-out, reports say. 
According to earlier eyewitness reports, fighting broke out between opposition groups and state security forces in the Syrian capital on Monday morning.
The embattled neighborhood is heavily guarded and holds several government security installations. It has previously paid host to large anti-Assad protests.
"There is fighting near Hamada supermarket and the sound of explosions there and elsewhere in the neighborhood. Security police have blocked several side streets and the street lighting has been cut off," a housewife who lives in the area said to Reuters earlier. 
Damascus has been largely free of daily fire fights since the uprising against Assad began a year ago. Rebels, who are active in the suburbs, rarely attack in the capital where Assad’s troops are deployed.
Free Syrian Army leader, Colonel Riad al-Asaad, refused to comment on the fighting in Damascus when contacted by AP. “This is a sensitive military matter that we cannot comment about,” he said from Turkey.
The fighting comes off the back of several bomb blasts in the Syrian capital and the country’s second city Aleppo over the weekend.
A car bomb exploded in a residential district of Aleppo on Sunday, killing two people and wounding a further 30. Meanwhile, in Damascus 27 people were left dead on Saturday after twin explosions targeted security installations in the city.
The Syrian government has branded the explosions as “terrorist attacks”, whereas opposition rebels point the finger at Assad’s regime, accusing them of trying to discredit rebel groups.
Funerals were held in Damascus on Sunday to mourn the deaths of those who perished in the explosions. Police reportedly intervened in the event, beating and arresting people when activists started shouting "the people want to topple the regime".
In response to the bombings, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire and offered his condolences to the bereaved families.
A UN technical mission entered Syria on Friday to assess the humanitarian situation and discuss the establishment of international monitors in the violence-torn country. The mission will cover 15 cities, and the subsequent report on the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people will be submitted to the United Nations.
The international community’s efforts to curtail the spiraling violence in Syria have yet to yield palpable results, with both the regime and opposition leaders refusing to open a dialogue.
The year-long conflict in Syria has claimed more than 8,000 lives according to UN estimations. Assad’s regime blames terrorists and armed groups for the unrest and says that 2,000 security forces have been killed since the conflict began.



Syrian soldier, 3 terrorists killed in Damascus gun battle: State media 


A Syrian soldier and three members of a “terrorist” group have been killed during a clash in the capital city of Damascus, state media report.


The fighting between Syrian security forces and the armed men broke out in a residential district in Damascus on Monday. 

Syrian forces also arrested one person from the armed gang during the clash, according to local media reports. 

The “terrorist” group used a house in the district as its base. 

Additionally, three other Syrian soldiers were injured during the gun battle in Damascus. 

The Monday clash in the Syrian capital broke out a day after state media reported two people were killed and 30 others wounded in a terrorist car bombing in the northwestern city of Aleppo on Sunday. 

Syria has been dealing with unrest, reportedly sponsored by Western governments and their Arab allies, since mid-March 2011. 

The West and the Syrian opposition blame Damascus for the year-long turmoil, but the government insists that foreign-sponsored “terrorists” are responsible for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad. 

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”  


Somali refugees killed by Mogadishu mortars



About six people have been killed in Somalia after mortars landed on a refugee camp near the presidential palace in Mogadishu, officials say.
A family of four were reportedly among those killed when a mortar landed on their shack - a girl of seven is said to be the only survivor.
Islamist group al-Shabab said it had fired more than a dozen mortars.
The al-Qaeda-linked group controls many southern areas but is under attack on a number of fronts.
Ethiopia has sent troops from the west and Kenya from the south, while al-Shabab was forced out of Mogadishu last year.
"A father, mother and two of their children have all died after a mortar shell smashed into their hut, and another round killed two other civilians," witness Abdiwahid Mohamed told AFP.
Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the African Union force supporting the UN-backed government, told Reuters news agency that about six civilians had been killed but no mortars had landed in the presidential palace.
Although al-Shabab no longer controls any Mogadishu districts, it stages frequent attacks on the city.
Last week, five people were killed when a bomber blew himself up near the presidential palace.
The government only controls the capital but last week started its first advance beyond the city limits.
The country has been racked by fighting since its last effective national government was toppled 21 years ago.
  • February 2009: Suicide attack on an African Union military base in Mogadishu kills 11 soldiers
  • June 2009: Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden and more than 30 others killed in suicide attack in Beledweyne, north of Mogadishu
  • September 2009: Double suicide attack on AU military base in Mogadishu kills more than 20 people
  • December 2009: Suicide bombing at a university graduation ceremony in Mogadishu kills 24 people, including three government ministers, doctors and students
  • July 2010: Double suicide bombing in Uganda's capital, Kampala, kills 76 people watching the football World Cup final on television
  • August 2010: Attack on a hotel in Mogadishu kills more than 30 people, including parliamentarians
  • September 2010: Car bomb attack outside Mogadishu's airport kills at least nine people
  • February 2011: Suicide bombing at a police station in Mogadishu kills at least eight people
  • June 2011: Interior Minister Abdi Shakur Sheikh Hassan killed by suicide bomber in Mogadishu
  • October 2011: Lorry bomb attack kills more than 70 people in Mogadishu
  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16853499 


Syrian army enters remaining insurgent strongholds


MICHAEL JANSEN in Damascus
REGULAR SYRIAN army troops yesterday moved into the remaining rebel strongholds of Bab Amr near the central city of Homs and the town of Zabadani near the Lebanese border.
The army conducted sweeps for insurgents in villages in the province of Deraa, where the uprising began nearly a year ago.
A contact in Zabadani said the army had agreed to a ceasefire, captured some rebel fighters and allowed others to escape. Troops were conducting house-to-house searches in the town.
He said the army was under strict orders to deal properly with town residents who stayed during several weeks of clashes. Women soldiers had been assigned to enter homes where only women and children were present.
Many inhabitants of Zabadani fled to the nearby town of Bludan where some have moved into Damascenes’ summer homes. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent society and International Committee of the Red Cross mounted two aid convoys to Bludan to provide food and other necessities, including diapers and formula for babies.
The Red Crescent and Red Cross announced their volunteers were “distributing food, medical supplies, blankets and hygiene consumables to thousands of people” in Homs.
The fall at the weekend of the district of Inshaat at Homs, adjacent to Bab Amr, rendered untenable the position of rebel forces in Bab Amr, the hub of the insurgency in this region. The insurgents have mortars, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, but cannot match the army’s firepower. Rebels have reportedly regrouped in Rastan, west of Bab Amr.
Sources on the ground in Homs were contradicted by the opposition London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said the army began shelling Bab Amr before dawn. However, Observatory reports about clashes in Deraa have been confirmed by informants in affected areas.
Opposition activists say at least 500 people have been killed in fighting in the Homs area over the past 10 days. Diplomatic sources estimate most of the fatalities were among army, security force and insurgent group personnel than among civilians.
The Syrian government has firmly rejected a proposal adopted on Sunday by Arab League ministers for a joint Arab-UN peacekeeping force and the initiation of formal contacts with the Syrian opposition, particularly the Syrian National Council – a coalition of exiled groups dominated by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Council chairman Burhan Ghalioun, an academic based in Paris, welcomed the league’s stand as a “first step” in achieving the overthrow of the regime.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said a ceasefire has to be in place before peacekeepers could be deployed. He visited Damascus a week ago with the aim of promoting dialogue between the regime and opposition, a proposition rejected by the latter.
Al-Watan, a daily close to the government, castigated the Arabs for adopting the unexpected initiative, which wrong-footed Damascus and its allies in Moscow and Beijing.
The feeling here is that the league is constantly moving the goal posts to isolate Damascus and boost pressure on the government. Although the emirate of Qatar, chairman of the league’s committee on Syria, has taken the lead in recent months, Saudi Arabia emerged as the prime mover of the agenda during Sunday’s ministerial league meeting.
Arab and western states are set to call upon the UN General Assembly to adopt the latest league plan and to press Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to devolve power on his deputy, form a unity government and hold elections.
The Syrian government rejects the call for Dr Assad to delegate authority and argues it is planning to hold a referendum on the new constitution next month and parliamentary elections in June.


Beatings, sexual abuse, electric shock: US torture camps 'still operative'



A new report reveals that US forces continue to send detainees to prisons where torture is practiced, despite NATO's promise to suspend prison transfers last September.
The report carried out by the Afghan Independent Rights Commission and the Open Society Foundation documents numerous cases of torture in Afghan detention facilities between February 2011 and January 2012.
The document has credible evidence in 11 recent cases where practices such as “beatings, suspension from the ceiling, electric shocks, threatened or actual sexual abuse, and other forms of mental and physical abuse” were commonplace. Researchers also discovered widespread violations of prisoners’ rights were in evidence, “including the right to counsel and family notification.”
According to the study, these techniques are “routinely used to obtain confessions or other information.”
Abuses were found to be committed both in Afghan National Police facilities (ANP) and the National Directorate of Security facilities (NDS).
Moreover, the document presents evidence that even after NATO announced it would suspend prison transfers in September, “some US forces or personnel continue to transfer individuals to NDS Kandahar.” The risk of torture for the detainees upon arrival was “widely acknowledged.” In spite of this fact, “CIA or other US intelligence officials” may be sending prisoners to banned facilities.
The report states that although the Afghan government has maintained its commitment to stamping out torture in its prisons, it has done very little to address the issue.
“In some cases, instead of dismissing and prosecuting responsible officials, the Afghan government has simply reassigned officials to other detention facilities.”
The US military presence in Afghanistan has been the source of much contention, with reports of abuses of power and violence rife in the last couple of months.
The most recent being the massacre of 16 civilians at the hands of a US soldier, which saw the flimsy US-Afghan alliance put under increasing pressure. In response to the tragedy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered US soldiers to be withdrawn from villages and confined to military bases.
The US mounted the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 with a view to oust the Taliban from power. American troops stationed in the country are currently in the process of transferring security responsibility to Afghan authorities. The US government has pledged a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan for 2014.


Liberated Libyans keen to fly the flag for another revolution in Syria


DURING THE celebrations that marked last month’s anniversary of the beginning of Libya’s revolution, the extent of Libyan popular support for the Syrian opposition was clear.
It was in the numerous Syrian national flags held aloft by revellers next to the red, black and green standard of pre-Gadafy Libya adopted by the new government.
It was in the impassioned chants against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in solidarity with those seeking to overthrow him.
That support also extends to the political level.
Libya was one of the first foreign states to recognise the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) as the country’s legitimate authority in October – a gesture it said demonstrated solidarity following its own efforts to topple Muammar Gadafy.
Assad supported Gadafy during last year’s revolution, and the former Libyan leader used Al-Rai, a Syria-based TV station, to broadcast defiant messages as his regime crumbled.
Last month Libya’s interim government gave Syrian diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, just days after it handed the Syrian embassy in Tripoli to the SNC – the first country to make such a move.
Representatives of the SNC visited Tripoli for several days of meetings with Libyan officials following the 60-nation “Friends of Syria” conference in Tunis on February 24th.
“The Syrian people are in the midst of revolution and there are a lot of similarities between their revolution and ours.
“They are facing a leader who is using force and torture instead of resolving the situation in a political way,” Libyan foreign minister Ashour Bin Khayal told The Irish Times. “We are fully supporting the Syrian revolution. Our position is very clear and we will participate in any international effort that keeps the pressure on the Assad regime.”
Khayal, however, was careful to stress that the support was purely diplomatic and humanitarian in nature.
Two weeks ago the interim government announced that it would donate $100 million (€76.5 million) in humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition and allow them to open an office in Tripoli.
Anecdotal evidence suggests a number of former rebel fighters from Libya have joined the Syrian opposition forces. Several Libyans from Misurata and the eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna have died fighting in Syria, according to sources in those cities.
Late last year, Mahdi al-Harati, the Libyan-Irish former commander of the Tripoli Brigade, one of the first revolutionary units to enter the Libyan capital last August, told journalists in the border area between Syria and Turkey that he was there to “assess the needs of our Syrian revolutionary brothers”.
Khayal said the interim government could not stop Libyans from joining the Syrian uprising.
“We are supporting [the Syrian opposition] politically and if there are Libyan individuals fighting over there, they are acting on their own initiative, not with the backing of the government.
“As a government, we don’t have a policy of interfering in that way. We have our own challenges here in Libya.”
Last week Russia accused Libya during a UN Security Council meeting of helping to train and arm Syrian opposition fighters in their battle to oust Assad.
“We have received information that in Libya, with the support of the authorities, there is a special training centre for the Syrian revolutionaries and people are sent to Syria to attack the legal government,” said Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin.
Churkin argued that this was “completely unacceptable” and would only serve to undermine stability in the region.
Libyan prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keeb rejected Russia’s accusations but expressed strong support for Syrians “who are raising their voice asking for freedom”.
El-Keeb said Libya had been the first to recognise the SNC because it felt that “the Syrian cause is a good cause”.
He added: “As far as training camps, unless this is something that is done without government permission, which I doubt, I am not aware of any.”












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