Pro-Assad rally in Damascus decries ‘one-year conspiracy’http://rt.com/news/syria-pro-assad-rally-damascus-643/
video available at above link.
'Opposition losing supporters'
Syrians have once again taken to the streets in the capital Damascus to express support for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, Press TV reports.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the capital on Thursday to voice their support for the government in face of persisting Western pressures against Damascus.
Pro-government demonstrations have also been reported in several other cities across Syria.
The Damascus rally was held two days after President Assad announced that parliamentary elections will be held in Syria on May 7, the third legislative vote in Syria since Assad took office in 2000.
The parliamentary elections will be held under a new constitution that was approved by a majority of Syrian voters in a February 26 referendum. Assad endorsed the new constitution on February 28 as part of the promised reforms in the country.
The new constitution excludes Article 8, which declared the ruling Baath Party as the “leader of the state and society,” and also establishes a multiparty system in Syria and limits the presidential term to two seven-year periods.
The May 7 parliamentary elections will also be the first such vote under the new multiparty system.
Syria has been experiencing 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 says “terrorists” are responsible for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad.
The Syrian president 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.”
Syrian Turkmen Community says Ankara is providing anti-government forces with military training to fuel violence in the crisis-hit Arab country Press TV reports.
The group said Turkey has established military camps to train Syrian rebels, who later go home in order to carry out terrorist operations.
Some 20-50 forces receive training in the camps located on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Informed sources say Riad al-Asa'ad, who leads the militant Free Syrian Army (FSA), does not leave his hideout but controls his rebels from his base and sends operatives to Syria.
Like the Kurdistan Workers' Party militants, who use northern Iraq as their base and care about communications, the FSA also invites reporters to their camps and give interviews.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of civilians as well as security and army personnel.
The West -- which now openly backs sending weapons to anti-Damascus forces in northern Syria -- and the Syrian opposition accuse President Bashar al-Assad's government of cracking down on protesters.
Damascus, however, blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the violence, asserting that unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.
The United States, Britain and France, Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as Turkey have supported measures against Assad’s government.
An al-Qaeda leader has issued a decree ordering his extremists followers to kill Shia Muslims taking part in anti-regime protests in Saudi Arabia, Press TV reports.
In an audio message, Said al-Shihri, who leads al-Qaeda militants in the Arabian Peninsula, has ordered the killing of Shia protesters and takeover of their property.
Shihri attacked Saudi authorities for their ‘lenient handling' of the anti-regime demonstrations and denounced Wahhabi extremist leaders for failing to issue fatwas (decrees) against Shias.
He argued that Saudi Shias have collected wealth via the facilities in the kingdom, and thus seizing their property is necessary.
Shihri said the gains should then be transferred to Wahhabi extremists.
Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia have been staging peaceful protests in the past months, demanding justice and criticizing injustice and discrimination exercised among the followers of different faiths.
Several people have so far been shot dead by Saudi security forces and hundreds more have been arrested and taken to unknown destinations.
An Israeli warplane has struck the southeast of Gaza City, located in the north of the Tel Aviv-blockaded Gaza Strip.
The latest airstrike was conducted late Wednesday night, according to Palestinian security officials, AFP reported.
No causalities have been reported yet from the attack.
At least 26 Palestinians have been killed and dozens others injured in Israeli attacks on the coastal sliver since March 9.
Despite international pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last Sunday that Tel Aviv would continue its airstrikes against Gaza ‘as long as necessary.’
Iran, China, Turkey, and the Arab League have condemned the Israeli attacks.
Israeli warplanes and ground forces have been frequently attacking Gaza since the end of Tel Aviv’s December 2008-January 2009 war on the enclave, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians. Most of the victims of the attacks are civilians, including women and children.
Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, causing a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
The full-scale land, aerial, and naval siege has turned the enclave into the world's largest open-air prison.
The Somali government forces backed by Kenyan troops have taken full control of a strategic city in southern Somalia after al-Shabab fighters vacated the area without any resistance, Press TV reports.
Somali elders told Press TV on Thursday that hundreds of al-Shabab fighters have fled Bardera city in the southern Gedo region of Somalia after they were informed that government forces along with Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a militiamen and Kenyan troops were going to launch a major offensive to seize the territory.
“Local residents have given accounts that a host of Somali troops backed by government-allied Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a fighters and Kenyan soldiers are marching into the city,” Sheikh Musa Khalif, a Somali elder in Bardera city, said.
“We can confirm that al-Shabab militants have vacated the city. We urge all belligerent parties not to exchange fire in residential areas as it would result in many civilian deaths,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abdullahi Aden, a Bardera residelent, said that he saw vehicles with fighters and officials of al-Shabab departing from the city, and heading toward nearby villages.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for the past five years and is propped up by a 12,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.
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