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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Sunday, 18 March 2012

DAMASCUS BOMBED

Twin blasts in Syrian capital leave 27 dead, 97 wounded

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232093.html


At least 27 people, including civilians, have been killed and more than 97 others injured in two car bomb attacks in Al-Qasaa and Duwar al- Jamarek areas in the Syrian capital, health minister says.


"Twenty-seven people, mostly civilians, were killed and 97 others wounded in the two explosions," Wael al-Halaqi said. 

One bomb planted in a car went off outside the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Headquarters and another explosion hit a security police building in Damascus, according to the Syrian state TV. 

“Terrorists” have been blamed by the Syrian state TV for the blasts, but no further details have been released yet. 

This is not the first time that the Syrian cities have been targeted by bomb attacks. Bombings in Damascus and other cities in the past few months have left scores of people dead. 

The latest development comes as the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, is set to send a team to Damascus to discuss a new international monitoring mission. The Syrian government said on Friday that it will cooperate with Annan to end the year-long unrest in the country. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011 and many people, including security forces, have lost their lives in the violence. 

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad. 




Damascus march 17 2012
Car bomb attack kills two in Aleppo city in Syria

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232290.html


A car bomb attack has targeted a neighborhood in the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing two people and injuring several others, state media say.


Syrian state media said two people were killed and 30 others wounded when terrorists carried out the car bombing between two residential buildings in Aleppo on Sunday. 

The latest bomb attack in Aleppo was carried out one day after the Syrian Interior Ministry said 27 people were killed and at least 140 others were injured in two car bombings in the capital, Damascus, on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, a bridge was destroyed in an explosion in the southwestern Syrian city of Dara’a on Sunday. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. 

On February 10, Syrian officials said 28 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in two car bombings at security compounds in Aleppo. 

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


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Saudi Arabia arms Syrian rebels via Jordan – report


Saudi Arabia has reportedly sent military equipment to the Free Syrian Army in an attempt “to stop bloodshed by President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime” via Jordan, with the latter officially denying the delivery.
Information that the military aid was sent came from an unnamed high-level Arab diplomat speaking to Agence France-Presse.
However, the Jordanian government has rejected Saturday reports that it allowed Saudi weapons for Syria to transit its territory. Government spokesman Rakan al-Majali told United Press International that the reports were baseless, according to the Jordan News Agency. Jordan borders Syria in the north, with over 65 per cent of its trade transits coming across that border. Around 80,000 Syrians have fled to Jordan since March 2011, according to estimates by local officials.
Earlier this week Adnan Hassan Mahmoud, Syria’s Minister of Information, said that some countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which support Syrian "terrorist" groups and provide them with weapons and money, are accomplices in the "terrorism" targeting the Syrian people, and that it is these countries that are responsible for the shedding of Syrian blood.
“We’ve grown accustomed to the bloody escalation of these terrorist groups in committing massacres, murdering citizens and attacking public and private establishments which proceeds international meetings,” Hassan Mahmoud said.
The accusations were reiterated on Syrian state TV following two powerful bomb blasts that killed at least 27 and wounded dozens more in Damascus. Programs showed the injured being taken to hospital, with one victim asking if this was “the assistance promised by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.” “Saudi Arabia is sending us terrorists,” another resident said on TV.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal claimed earlier this month that the Syrian opposition has the right to arm itself to protect itself. “Weapons used to target homes are used in wars with enemies,” he noted.
A number of Arab countries, Quatar and Kuwait among them, have already put forward the intention to deliver arms to the Syrian rebels, but if the arms deliveries via Jordan are confirmed, Saudi Arabia would be the first to put words into actions.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates – closed its embassy in Damascus and recalled all of its diplomats.


France, US arming Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles – report

Published: 29 February, 2012, 20:02
Edited: 01 March, 2012, 06:15     http://rt.com/news/syria-arms-us-france-531/


A general in the opposition militia known as the Free Syria Army has told journalists that the rebels have received French and American military assistance, amid reports of worsening violence in the stricken nation.
In Homs on Tuesday, a general claiming to be from the rebel group appeared on camera and told a journalist from Reuters news agency that “French and American assistance has reached us and is with us.” When asked to elaborate on the nature of the assistance he added, "We now have weapons and anti-aircraft missiles and, God willing, with all of that we will defeat Bashar [President Assad]."
The international community maintains it is committed to finding a political solution to the conflict and had rejected the idea of military intervention. However, there are growing suspicions that it has been supplying the opposition with weapons indirectly.   
This is not the first report of the US covertly supplying the opposition with arms. In December, FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds said she believed the US had been training the Syrian opposition in neighboring Turkey and supplying arms to the country from Incirlik military base close to the Turkish-Syrian border.
In addition, Qatar and Saudi Arabia reportedly held secret meetings to offer financial support to the Syrian rebels to buy weapons.

Political foot-dragging

Thus far the international community has been unable to reach agreement on a resolution to the Syrian conflict. At an emergency meeting called by the UN in Brussels on Tuesday, the Syrian ambassador accused the UN Security Council of purposely stalling and fueling the flames of terrorism in the country.
The UN has shown consistent support for the opposition movement, with both the Security Council and General Assembly repeatedly calling for the ouster of President Assad.

Gunboat diplomacy: America launches Persian Gulf surge




Washington is planning to deploy even more ships, subs and choppers to the Persian Gulf despite the fact that it already stations aircraft carriers in the region. This was confirmed by Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan W. Greenert.
Speaking during a Friday breakfast in Washington, Greenert told reporters about the bold plans to deploy more patrol boats, minesweepers, Sea Stallion helicopters and drone subs – all keeping an eye on Iran, which is clearly uncomfortable with being surrounded by the warships of a hostile country. 
While Greenert had already announced plans to up the number of minesweepers in the region to eight on Wednesday, his latest statements shine a light on the Navy’s long-term perspective. 
First of all, Greenert talked about deploying five more patrol boats equipped with Gatling guns and close-range missiles capable of hitting Iranian shores from four miles away. 
“It’s like being in an alley with a rifle and maybe what you need is a sawed-off shotgun,” he said, talking about the Gatling guns. 
Secondly, the Navy is planning on sending torpedoes that can compensate for the “turbidity” and “particulate” drags of the Gulf waters, as Greenert put it. 
Thirdly, Drone minesweeping submarines, or as Greenert called them “some underwater unmanned neutralization autonomous units.”
And finally, more aircraft carriers, though this is still to be discussed with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. 
All these new vessels will arrive equipped the latest infrared and electro-optical visibility systems to help navigate through the foggy Gulf even at night. In the meantime, BAE Systems, one of the Pentagon's military contractors, is working on a new Gatling/laser gun mashup. While Greenert said nothing on equipping the patrol boats in question with these guns, Iran had earlier promised to block the Strait of Hormuz, which is used to transport about a fifth of the world’s oil, in retaliation against sanctions imposed by the US and the EU with the intention of forcing Iran to quit its nuclear program. 
In January, General Michael Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that Iran has the capability to block the Strait of Hormuz for a certain period of time, and that the US must be prepared to reopen it by force. 
Greenert openly admitted that America’s naval presence in the region is already superior to Iran's. So why deploy so much weaponry and equipment to region? Are Obama and his military advisors already covertly thinking about a military solution to the Iranian crisis? Or is it just the implementation of Dempsey’s call for preparedness? 
With the Pentagon asking for an additional $100 million to beef up its military presence in the Persian Gulf, it seems like the US is increasingly leaning towards military action. Although President Obama did insist on using sanctions and diplomacy to force Tehran to quit its controversial nuclear program, he admitted that “no options are off the table.”


'Hana Shalabi’s health deteriorates in Israeli jail' 

Palestinian activists say the health of female prisoner Hana Shalabi who has been held in an Israeli jail for over a month is deteriorating.


Shalabi has reportedly been on a hunger strike since February 16, when she was re-arrested at her home in the occupied West Bank. 

The 29-year-old female Palestinian prisoner has been under “administrative detention” and her lawyer says she has been placed in “solitary confinement as punishment for the hunger strike.” 

Shalabi is one of the detainees re-arrested by Israeli forces over the past few weeks. The detainees were freed from Israeli jails in October and December of last year under a deal mediated by Egypt to free 1,027 Palestinian inmates in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. 

Palestinian people held a demonstration in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Saturday to express solidarity with Shalabi. 

On February 28, Palestinian demonstrators also gathered outside the UN office in Gaza City to demand the release of Shalabi. A similar demonstration was also held outside the Red Cross office in the West Bank city of Ramallah. 

 
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Thursday, 15 March 2012

SYRIAN PEOPLE SHOW SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT


Pro-Assad rally in Damascus decries ‘one-year conspiracy’http://rt.com/news/syria-pro-assad-rally-damascus-643/   

video available at above link.
Thousands have taken to the streets of the Syrian capital Damascus to support the country’s embattled leader Bashar al-Assad. The demonstration comes on the year anniversary of the anti-Assad uprising that has left scores dead and injured.
The pro-Assad rally is taking place under the slogan of protesting a ‘one-year conspiracy’ to overthrow the regime. The opposition said that Assad has forced people to attend the Damascus demonstration in order to overshadow the opposition rallies marking the beginning of the popular uprising in Syria a year ago, AP reports.  
Video footage, however, shows people of different ages, including children, dancing and waving Syrian flags. Others had the national flag painted on their faces.  
With opposition rallies planned all over Syria and abroad, local activists report the increased presence of the Syrian army in opposition strongholds.
The Popular uprising in Syria against the current regime started in mid-March last year. According to the UN, 7,500 people have been killed in the conflict. 
While western states urge President Assad to leave his post, he claims the foreign-directed opposition is filled with terrorists and gangsters seeking to destroy Syria. 
Political analyst Christoph Horstel, who was at the rally in Damascus, told RT that those who are still choosing violence over dialogue aren’t really interested in a Syrian democracy. 
“It is very clear that anybody who is now picking up arms against this government, which obviously has indulged in honest reform and election, these people are not serious about constructive internal dialogue in Syria, that is quite clear. They are not part of a process, they are just killers”, Horstel said.

'Opposition losing supporters'

There are many circumstances serving to increase Assad’s popularity while weakening the opposition, says Middle East expert Ali Rizk. He believes there is no choice for Assad's international opponents but to resort to some kind of political solution to the crisis.
“Because of the procedures, because of the practices which some of the opposition resorted to, they have lost a lot of their supporters,” Rizk said. “When you see Syrian opposition figures speaking about for example cutting off ties, or decreasing their ties with Iran, cutting Syria off what we refer to as ‘a resistance axis,’ I think all that does, it gives more popularity to the Syrian regime.”
“The Syrian people are known to be people who very much support the anti-Israeli approach, a political stance which Assad has used,” he added. “And I think that is the main source of his popularity.”
Assad still has enough support not only in Damascus but in the rest of the country as well, and that will allow him to stay in power, at least for some time, political analyst Ahmed Badawi told RT.
“Assad seems to still have considerable support everywhere, except of course in the places that have come under heavy fire from his military,” he said. “The whole legitimacy question of course is a big dilemma for the regime, but it seems so far that the regime has managed to keep a lot of its legitimacy intact.”


Syrians hold rallies in Damascus to support President Assad 
 
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.” 

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Syrian rebels receive military training in Turkey: Turkmen community 
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. 

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Al-Qaeda leader orders Saudi Shia protesters killed 
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.  

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Israeli warplane attacks northern Gaza Strip 
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. 

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Govt. forces seize strategic city in south Somalia 
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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