Yahoo: Assad predicts disaster if West meddles in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...3ad4b8b211.4c1

Urgent need for Syria no-fly zone, medic tells AFP

Veteran war surgeon Jacques Beres has his own compelling reasons for urging that a no-fly zone be imposed over Syria -- one bomb dropped by the regime leaves more wounded than doctors can fix in a day.

Working under cover in the northern city of Aleppo, which has been pounded for weeks as President Bashar al-Assad's forces seek to overrun rebel bastions, Beres insists the death toll in the Syrian conflict is higher that what is reported.

"At least 50,000 people have been killed without counting the disappeared," Beres, a French surgeon who daily patches up dozens of people in a hospital near the front lines of Aleppo, told AFP in an interview.

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/03/160505...sc=tw&cc=share

Under The Shadow Of Jets, A Syrian Town Presses On

Syrian air force jets bombed the rebel-held town of Al-Bab in northern Syria Monday, killing at least 18 people, according to Syrian activists.

Over the summer, the rebels gained control of a number of towns and villages along the Syrian-Turkish border. Now, those places are being bombarded from the air and from the ground by government forces.

Azaz, in northern Syria's Aleppo province, is one of these places. There, the tombstones in the old section of the town's cemetery are laid out in neat rows.

But in the new section, where the graves are fresh, the tombstones are pieces of stone; the names are handwritten.

Death is a daily event now. A dozen new graves have been dug in anticipation of more funerals.

Now, the residents of Azaz live with nightly shelling. Army troops still control a military airport eight miles away and regularly fire artillery shells into the heart of the city.

Abu Ibrahim says a rocket fired from the military airport burst through a wall of his house. His panicked family packed up and left.

"My mother was here and I took her away because this area is being targeted and I told her, 'Don't come back here anymore because it is dangerous,'" he says.

https://twitter.com/HamaEcho

FSA blows two Assad bases in Qusair, Homs sky high with two massive bombs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibVqlCmBgKk … Amazing clip.
3:38 PM

https://twitter.com/CitizenGeo

Just heard my friend has fled the country. He was summoned to join army yesterday. He was a pro Assad
3:53 PM

He has been neutral for few months now. Cursing both sides
4:00 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

The silence, lack of political will and inaction to what's happening in Syria is beyond sickening. No words can explain.
4:04 PM

The world is setting usage of chemical weapons against civilians as a yardstick.. In the meantime Assad is free to kill 5K Syrian in August.
4:07 PM

https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria

The US isn't interested in "let's overthrow Syrian regime at all cost to weaken Iran & see what happens". To say so is Iranian narcissism.
3:55 PM

1- There are many things factoring in the US position, including concerns of Israel & Gulf states, rise of MB in Egypt, minorities etc.
4:00 PM

2- The US position is to be flexible & be able to adapt to facts on the ground basically. Watch carefully at a distance.
4:05 PM

3- I don't expect a change in the US stance with or without Obama, and directly connected to it, Turkey and GCC countries.
4:11 PM

One thing certain is though. Neither the humanitarian situation in Syria nor Turkey's concerns play a serious role in US policy.
4:22 PM

https://twitter.com/AlexanderPageSY

number of Syrian female personalities will begin a hunger strike outside the Arab league HQ in Cairo tomorrow for Syria more details next
4:45 PM

HUNGER STRIKE FOR SYRIA (Syrian Female Personalities)

Actress Louise Abdel Kareem
Poets Lina Tibi & Rasha Omran
Activist Salma Jazaerly
Activist Rula al Khush

will begin a hunger strike outside the Arab League HeadQaurters in Cairo tomorrow 4th of September 2012 at 5pm. this is to stress the importance of international priority for the children of Syria who pay the price of devastation.

https://twitter.com/petegee1

Assad is still blocking humanitarian aid, baby food , medicine , blankets etc but only to areas that oppose the regime.
5:00 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Monday LCC documented 248 martyrs, including 60 who were martyred due to warplane shelling and the number can rise: 62 martyrs were reported in Aleppo (most of them due to warplane shelling in Al-Bab, and a martyr in Sukkary neighborhood), 60 in Daraa (including 43 bodies found in Hirak), 36 in Damascus and its Suburbs (including 16 in Qaboun), 30 in Lattakia, 24 in Hama (including 21 in Faraya neighborhood), 17 in Idlib, 10 in Deir Ezzor, and 9 in Homs
5:34 PM

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
27,423 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/wo...&smid=tw-share

Syrian Children Offer Glimpse of a Future of Reprisals

Depresing article, although I can't recall many NYT articles that have said anything positive about the revolution or Syria.


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...GTYp5w.twitter

Irish Syrian fighters pass on lessons of revolution

Mehdi al-Harati, leader of the Liwa al-Umma brigade, and his fighters are under no illusions about the challenges they face, writes MARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent in northern Syria

EARLIER THIS summer Housam Najjair was in Dublin watching gruesome videos of some of the most violent episodes of the 16-month revolt against Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad.

Now Najjair and Harati say they want to transfer the lessons learned during the Libyan revolution to Syrians hoping to achieve their own. “We feel as if we are their brothers,” says Najjair, sitting on the floor of a safe house with his gun by his side. “We want to assist in whatever way we can.”

Liwa al-Umma, which was established three months ago, is made up of more than 6,000 men, 90 per cent of whom are Syrian. The rest are mostly Libyans and other Arabs. It is separate to the rebel Free Syrian Army and its units are scattered throughout the country. Recent YouTube videos show a number of Syrian rebel groupings announcing they have joined Liwa al-Umma.

“We couldn’t understand why the world was failing to respond to the plight of the Syrian people,” says Najjair. “When they didn’t take a stand, we decided to act.” With Harati, a naturalised Irish citizen whose family lives in Dublin, and Najjair are several others from Ireland. They include an engineer who is helping Liwa al-Umma register all its members before distributing ID cards, and two men in their early 20s who are experiencing war for the first time.

One, a thoughtful, bespectacled 22-year-old whose father is a surgeon in Ireland, admits his parents were concerned when he announced he wanted to go fight in Syria. “They respect and trust Sheikh Mehdi so when they learned I was coming to join him here, they felt a little better,” he says. “But, yes, they are still worried for my safety out here.”

He frames his reasons for coming to Syria in philosophical terms. “I see my life as being about three things: searching for the truth; defending the weak against injustice and the oppressors; and helping to build peace in the world. The battle here in Syria combines all three.”

Harati is back in Libya at the moment.
I'm not sure what that means for the brigade though.
Maybe he's trying to get more funds, weapons and such.


http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/04/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

More than 100,000 refugees flee Syria in one month

More than 100,000 Syrians fled the country in August, by far the most of any previous month in the crisis, the United Nations said Tuesday.

More than 103,400 Syrians fled to neighboring countries in August, bringing the total to more than 235,300 refugees who are registered or awaiting registration, the U.N. refugee agency said.

Syria's entire population is about 22.5 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. The number of refugees is more than 1% of the population.

Inside the war-torn country, the head of the Red Cross is negotiating with Syrian officials this week for better access to civilians tormented by the bloody civil war.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, met Tuesday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an agency spokeswoman said.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 16 hours ago
Syrians fleeing war start to trickle into Europe:

Ali Jamal travelled thousands of miles on foot, by train and road to flee violence in Syria while Jomaah piled his family into a camper van to smuggle them north to Europe.

They have now reached safety in Sweden, some of the growing thousands of Syrians who are evading the European Union's frontier controls to escape the turmoil of the past 18 months.

That is raising calls for a more focused European response to a refugee crisis that has seen over 200,000 Syrians flee to Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and, especially, Turkey.
[Source: Reuters]

about 15 hours ago
Some migration experts are urging the European Union to make it easier for Syrians - and to arrange a more organised welcome.

Noting that Sweden expects 17,000 Syrians to arrive this year and next, making them the biggest national group of asylum-seekers next year, Mikael Ribbenvik, a director at the Swedish Migration Board, said: "Resources are clearly stretched.

"That is a big number for a small country," he told Reuters.

Philippe Fargues, director of the Migration Policy Centre thinktank at Florence, said Europe should do more to open its borders by saying that anyone coming from Syria could be counted as a refugee, rather than formally have to prove refugee status.

"We are facing a huge crisis at the external border of Europe and that should not continue," he said. [Source: Reuters]

about 13 hours ago
A Syrian military airplane bombed a building in Azaz on the border with Turkey early on Monday destroying a house, local residents said.

Although the building was flattened, no casualties were reported.[/IZE]

"At three in the morning, the MIG flew over and bombed this house. I live right next to here," said Abu Abdu, standing close to piles of rubble.

Such attacks are reportedly common in the border region where rebels claim to control some areas. [Source: AP]

about 13 hours ago
About a thousand are stranded on the Syrian side of the border waiting to be allowed entry into Turkey.

On Monday a new group of displaced civilians arrived at Bab Al Salameh border crossing, seeking refuge in Turkey.

They joined other displaced families in three large hangars once used for cargo inspections of trucks.

Some said they had been there a week or more.

"We heard that my brother was killed five days ago and we came to Azaz to bury him and while we were in the cemetery burying him, the plane came and fired two rockets and two fell right behind our home," said Youssef Al Hajjy.

"So we ran away and came here. This is much safer than where we were in our place

about 12 hours ago

Syrian National Council President Abdul-Baset Seida said on Monday that entire areas of Syria had been razed, leaving at least three millions people without a home.

https://twitter.com/EmadDlala

Libyans should support Syrians by money, food, and weapons. Not by manpower
10:26 PM Sept 3

In my opinion, Libyans should not go and fight in Syria (against Assad). I think we're creating Fitna more than gain. Syria has its men

10:25 PM Sept 3

https://twitter.com/MidEasternist

Who could have imagined on that fateful day in March of last yr that we'd see 30,000 Syrians murdered in cold-blood b/c they wanted freedom?
11:22 PM Sept 3

Assad doesn't care that he killed 30K. He'll kill another 20K if he can before it's over.
11:25 PM Sept 3

https://twitter.com/HamaEcho

A ****ing disaster has happened in Daraa regarding infiltrators. Where there hell is the Jordanian army to secure its own borders?? Nusra thugs operating INSIDE Jordan have been helping AQ pigs from Iraq cross into Daraa through the Jordanian border. Several groups inside. Assad helped out these groups a few years ago, it's all very fishy how easy they can cross through.
5:07 AM

Remember that group in Daraa which executed a man in a satement carrying brand new rifles? This is an AQ unit orginlly in Iraq.
5:13 AM

No mercy for these Jabhat al-Nusra pigs. Threatening and attacking the Free Army, murdering civilians, looting, burning buildings for months
5:39 AM

A Lebanese extremist tried to set up an "emirate" in Homs a few months ago, all he got was several bullets in the head from the Free Army.
5:46 AM

https://twitter.com/BigAlBrand

Some of the families who are still in Old Homs under seige by Assad troops are eating tree leaves cause they haven't had vegetables in weeks
9:54 AM

https://twitter.com/ZeinakhodrAljaz

UNHCR :Refugees continue to cross into Jordan at a rate of about 1,000 a day; reports of increasing numbers of displaced in southern
10:17 AM

https://twitter.com/omarsyria

Mortar shelling in several areas in Damascus, mostly NE and SW suburbs. Also first time I’ve actually seen a helicopter in over a week.
10:35 AM

Mortars being shelled upon Damascus from Qassiyoun. Sound of missile launching much louder than that of it hitting.
10:41 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs has risen to 82 thus far, including 7 martyrs killed by aerial bombardment, 2 women, and 3 children. The remainders of the martyrs were distributed as follows; 31 in Damascus and its suburbs, including 10 field executions in Mudamieh Sham, and 10 martyrs discovered in Daraya; 15 in Hama,10 in Daraa, 8 in Aleppo, 6 in Deir Ezzor, 5 in Idlib, 4 in Homs and 3 in Latakia
11:14 AM

[visionary]

Wow. Check out his sketches.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19468300

War artist observes Syrian life amid chaos

When British artist George Butler recently crossed the border from Turkey into Syria, he was greeted in the town of Azaz by abandoned tanks and piles of rubble from war-damaged buildings.

But normal life was continuing amid the chaos, and George - under the protection of the Free Syrian Army - started to sketch and paint watercolours of the scenes he observed.

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160535...sc=tw&cc=share

Syrian Rebel Leader Keeps Order On The Border

The Bab al-Salam border crossing, on Syria's northern border with Turkey, has settled into an orderly routine.

Back in July, rebel brigades wrested this border post in Syria's strategic Aleppo province from President Bashar Assad's army in a fierce battle. Now, passports are stamped and cars inspected by the rebels — polite, young, bearded men who wear mismatched military uniforms or civilian clothes.

While the military confrontation was a joint operation, bringing together many rebel brigades, the Northern Storm brigade retains exclusive control of the border post.

It's a tightly run organization. The rebels manage thousands of displaced Syrians camped out in abandoned customs inspection sheds and anywhere else they can find that offers some protection from the burning heat. They wait for a chance to cross the border and find a place in one of Turkey's freshly built tent camps.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/03/world/...ily/index.html

One Syrian story: A sniper's bullet, a dying child, a family's desperation

Rena was playing on her lounge floor, in her mother's lap, when the shot tore through her cheek. She grimaced, cried for her mother and then went silent, as the blood began to flow in her mouth.

The bullet came from nowhere, bursting through the frosted-glass window on the family balcony, knocking out one of her teeth, and shattering her family's world. But in Aleppo, their ordeal had just begun because the struggle here is always to find medical help, fast.

Her neighbor -- the women looking after Rena can't leave their home unaccompanied by male relatives -- then rushed her to the street, carrying her body. That's when we saw him, the sight of a man carrying a limp girl still striking even amid the daily atrocities of Aleppo.

He flagged down a truck and they began to race towards the hospital. We followed, unsure what had happened. After a minute, the neighbor noticed us and clearly decided our car might move through the traffic faster. He stopped the truck he was in, leapt out and ran towards us, Rena bleeding in his arms, and screamed for help.

http://world.time.com/2012/09/04/the...-abboud-barri/

The Making of a Syrian Rebel: The Saga of Abboud Barri

His callousness is more pronounced than most, but the story of Abboud Barri reflects the universal struggle to preserve humanity in the face of the exigencies of war

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

18 minutes ago
A Syrian opposition leader has called for a massive aid programme to help rebuild his country after President Bashar Assad's regime falls, reports the Associated Press news agency.

Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the Syrian National Council, warned that a lack of economic development could open the door to extremism.

Sieda told a meeting of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats in Berlin that Syria would need a programme similar to the Marshall Plan, the post-World War II European reconstruction effort, if the Assad regime collapses.

7 minutes ago
Kazutaka Sato, the husband of reporter Mika Yamamoto - shot dead in Aleppo on August 20 - has called for Damascus to investigate her death.

Sato, 56, said his wife - a 45-year-old veteran war correspondent - was ambushed by pro-government forces, and that the international community could never forgive the deliberate targeting of reporters.

"I suspect the government side is afraid to see Western journalists, including us, report facts... What they fear most is a camera," Sato told a news conference in Tokyo after accompanying Yamamoto's body home from Syria.

https://twitter.com/tweets4peace

Muhammed Badea al-Qasim has been martyred today as he covered clashes between Syrian regime forces and the FSA in Deir Ezzor. Al-Qasim was an media activist and one of the media center founders in Deir Ezzor province. May he RIP. 4/9/2012.
12:40 PM

https://twitter.com/Psypherize

Heading to Syria's Embassy.
11:37 AM

We're about a 100 people here. Join us. Tahrir SyriaMarch
12:20 PM

We have a couple of people from Algeria and Morocco here.
12:28 PM

The march has started.
12:44 PM

The Syrian women with us are leading the chants.
12:58 PM

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

Turkey's main opposition leader says won't be Ankara's pawn in "training foreign fighters in Turkey and sending them to terrorize Syria."
1:10 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

FSA in JisrAlshughoor stopped a regime attempt to enter Harem. They destroyed a BMP and 3 soldier carriers INP. Videos soon. Idlib
1:19 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs has risen to 111 thus far, including 7 martyrs killed by aerial bombardment, 3 women, and 4 children. The remainders of the martyrs were distributed as follows;55 in Damascus and its suburbs, including 17 who were slaughtered in Douma, 10 field executions in Mudamieh Sham, and 10 martyrs discovered in Daraya; 15 in Hama,10 in Daraa, 9 in Aleppo, 7 in Idlib, 6 in Deir Ezzor,6 in Homs and 3 in Latakia
12:43 PM

[visionary]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ategy?page=0,1

Assad's Massacre Strategy

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

THIS! Stop Islamophobia! pic.twitter.com/4zaInsFL
1:23 PM

A MiG was shot down near the northern Hama suburbs. A MiG and a helicopter were shot in Abu Althuhoor near the airport. And all 3 by the Idlib FSA battalion Shuhadaa Jabal Alzawiyah (Martyrs of Jabal Alzawiyah)
4:07 PM

Video of the downed MiG 23 in Idlib! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mImd...e_gdata_player
3:11 PM

Another video of the MiG that was downed in Idlib today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kqu...layer_embedded … The pilot was shot in the head while parachuting.
3:24 PM

The city of Sarmada in Idlib has been without electricity for 5 days now.
3:26 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Just had a one hour conversation fwith my source, I have new info on the FSA & Assad's Army. To be outlined in the tweets that follow.
3:57 PM

The Syrian Ntl Army now commands major FSA factions across all Syrian Governorates, inc. bt nt limited 2: Attawheed (biggest in Aleppo). Syrian Natl Army now includes: - Ansar Al Sham (Damascus) - All of Deraa (All of Horan Vallery) - Most of Latakia (inc Costal Turkmen Brig). Over the next few days (expected on Thu), the Syrian Nat'l Army will announce it's new structure & what it encompasses (brigds + leadrship).
4:06 PM

Negotiations w/ Al Farooq Brigade(s) have failed, they still want 2 follow cmmnd of Syrian Mil Council of Middle Syria (Mantika Al Wusta). Al Farooq Brigade of Homs hs become like a successful franchise, arming & training franchisee brigades in Rastan, Qusoor & elsehwre in Homs.

Talks with FSA factions fighting in Edlib are ongoing (a little tough), given their track record, it is hard to convince them 2 change. Also, Edlib FSA factions usually have different financiers, so they can't be enticed to join Syr Natl Army via financial motives. FSA in Edlib has been operating autonimously since the begining and have had the best track record in kicking Assad Army ass since the revo. In the mean time, FSA and as I have said b4, confirm they have MANPADS, but u know how it is..better to say u don't have for more to come.

Then we come to Assad Forces; to sum up what my source said eloquently: they are ****ed.
Assad forces land supply lines are like walking on thin ice, almost every convoy is attacked. Tanks can't be movd, no air freight …etc. That's y u c more & more jets dropping barrels filled w/ screw drivers, metal shrapnel & TNT, Assad no longer cn trnsprt big bombs remotely.

Troops from the 4th, 5th, 9th & 17th Division who are based (all together estimated at around 100k, mostly cannot leave their basis. They can only shell towns from their new basis, and majority of these troops haven't taken a break off their tour since deployment. In short, Assad Army morale is at an all-time low, latest losses (inc. jets & mil basis) hav increasd dfctions & r slowly getting desprt.
4:21 PM

FYI: new commander of the Syrian National Army is from Horan (Deraa), and is one of the reasons why ALL Deraa factions joined.
4:24 PM

http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/09...Channel=117760

Syrian rebel commander claims government troops ordered to target journalists (1:07)

Sep. 4 - The commander of a Syrian opposition militia group claims president Bashar al-Assad's regime has deliberately killed foreign journalists. Sarah Sheffer reports.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs has risen to 150 thus far, including 7 martyrs killed by aerial bombardment, 3 women, and 4 children. The remainders of the martyrs were distributed as follows;77 in Damascus and its suburbs, including 18 who were slaughtered in Douma, 10 field executions in Mudamieh Sham, and 10 martyrs discovered in Daraya; 15 in Hama,15 in Aleppo, 12 in Daraa,10 in Idlib,9 in Homs 6 in Deir Ezzor, and 4 in Latakia
4:12 PM

[visionary]

http://wireupdate.com/un-envoy-says-...oportions.html

UN envoy says destruction in Syria is reaching ‘catastrophic proportions’

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/wo...-airspace.html

Iran Supplying Syrian Military via Iraqi Airspace

Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace in a new effort to bolster the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, according to senior American officials.

The Obama administration pressed Iraq to shut down the air corridor that Iran had been using earlier this year, raising the issue with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq. But as Syrian rebels gained ground and Mr. Assad’s government was rocked by a bombing that killed several high officials, Iran doubled down in supporting the Syrian leader. The flights started up again in July and, to the frustration of American officials, have continued ever since.

Military experts say that the flights have enabled Iran to provide supplies to the Syrian government despite the efforts Syrian rebels have made to seize several border crossings where Iranian aid has been trucked in.

“The Iranians have no problems in the air, and the Syrian regime still controls the airport,” said a retired Lebanese Army general, Hisham Jaber, who heads the Middle East Center for Studies and Research in Beirut.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/70-...G1JOHI.twitter

70 percent of Aleppo under control: Rebels

Field leader of the rebel al-Tawhid Brigade in Syria, Abdulkader Saleh, has claimed that they have so far secured control of 70 percent of the city of Aleppo on the ground, and that they are fighting to seize control of the remaining 30 percent.

“The battle for Aleppo will end this stalemate. We control the ground in Aleppo, but the regime has air forces and they have control in the air. They are bombing us with jets. We will solve this by destroying airports and air bases,” Saleh told journalists at a press conference in Istanbul. His comments came a day after a senior Syrian commander said the Syrian army will recapture Aleppo from rebel forces within 10 days. The general said that about 3,000 government troops were involved in the fight against about 7,000 “terrorists,” a term used by regime officials to describe the rebels.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,7357399.story

Syria rebel-captured town Azaz lies mostly in ruins

This battered agricultural hub near the Turkish border is one place where the Free Syrian Army has triumphed, scattering the forces of Syrian President Bahar Assad. It has proved to be something of a Pyrrhic victory.

Shot-up buildings, burned tanks and a pile of twisted rubble where a MiG fighter jet dropped a bomb last month attest to the heavy fighting required, the danger that remains, and how hard it will be to rebuild a normal life any time soon.

Like Azaz, many rebel-held towns in northwestern Syria are depopulated and heavily damaged. Refugees filter through Azaz on their way to safety in Turkey. A heavily guarded military base, still under the control of Assad's forces, is only about 10 miles away. Artillery shells and the occasional airstrike shatter the calm.

None of that is likely to change until the fighting is over. But with the conflict grinding on, those who remain here are focused on just getting by, aware that they are fortunate to at least have electricity and running water.

Few in this conservative Sunni Muslim town, once home to about 50,000 people, mourn the collapse of government rule. Hatred for Assad and his leadership circle — made up largely of members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam — runs deep.

Near the site where the MiG dropped the bomb in mid-August, a man with a neatly trimmed beard squatted, contemplating the debris. The man, who identified himself as Abu Shado, said he lost 17 family members in the airstrike, including two brothers, his father and his mother.

https://twitter.com/DSyrer

Looks like the al-Hamdan Military Airport in Abu Kemal was successfully "decommissioned" by FSA.
6:50 PM

https://twitter.com/cjchivers

Good pt. Commentators <obsess> over big-ticket weapons, missing point that most violence in most wars is by "ordinary" arms
8:25 PM

no, not just. rifles, mortars, machine guns, RPGs, artillery, g-t-g rockets etc. these kill by volume, to less comment/outrage.
8:29 PM

but hint at "cluster munition" or "chem" etc & people take notice, even as the other systems kill at MUCH higher rate.
8:32 PM

https://twitter.com/omarsyria

Father Paolo, a symbol of Syrian unity and interfaith tolerance, has joined Twitter. Follow up. @AbunaPaolo
8:12 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Who remembers the video of the FSA guy that shoots an RPG at a tank in Douma, Damascus at point blank range, just few meters away? Here he is. His name is Abu Taleb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_tDz...bi0PT1v-XM3Hiw Damascus
8:42 PM

Aleppo: Bab Nairab: 3 women and 7 children killed in new massacre following air strikes that destroyed several buildings.
9:35 PM

New massacre in Aleppo, at least 15 killed. 2 unidentified children and 2 women, presumably their mothers. Also 10 members of single family
9:49 PM

Nevermind. Make that 52 martyrs. Number is going up faster than I can tweet it. Screw this world.
10:31 PM

The majority of those killed are women and children after their homes collapsed over their heads.
10:31 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Aleppo: Regime forces shelled and destroyed the Rashid Mosque in the Izaa district
10:54 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria

Wednesday started with 63 martyrs, including at least 20 children; 52 in Aleppo, 5 in Deir Ezzor, 5 in Damascus and its suburbs, and 1 in Homs.
11:06 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10088

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

Tuesday has ended with 155 martyrs in Syria, including 7 martyrs killed by aerial bombardment, 3 women, and 4 children. The remainders of the martyrs were distributed as follows;80 in Damascus and its suburbs, including 18 who were slaughtered in Douma, 10 field executions in Mudamieh Sham, and 10 martyrs discovered in Daraya; 17 in Hama,15 in Aleppo, 12 in Daraa,10 in Idlib,9 in Homs 6 in Deir Ezzor, and 4 in Latakia

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
27,578 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...651371417.html

Egypt president calls for 'change' in Syria

Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's president, has told an Arab League conference that "change" of government is needed in violence-wracked Syria and that time should not be wasted "speaking of reform".

"This time has passed now. Now it is time for change," Morsi, who was making his first presidential address to the league, said on Wednesday in the capital Cairo.

He said that a quartet of regional states - Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Egypt - would meet to discuss the Syrian crisis, which started 17 months ago as an insurrection but has turned into a civil war with opposition fighters battling to dislodge Bashar al-Assad from power.

"The quartet which Egypt has called for will meet now," Morsi told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, without giving more details of the gathering.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 5 hours ago
Three US senators voiced concerns to Iraq's prime minister that Iran has resumed using Baghdad's airspace to fly weapons and equipment to bolster Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, they said on Wednesday.

US Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham told reporters in Baghdad that while Tehran had told Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the planes were carrying humanitarian aid, the US believed they had military equipment on board.

about 4 hours ago
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Syria had become a "terrorist state" carrying out massacres against its own people.

"The regime in Syria has become a terrorist state," Erdogan told his ruling AKP meeting in Ankara.

"Syria is not an ordinary country to us. We do not have the luxury to remain indifferent to what's happening there."

about 2 hours ago
Three children, a woman and as many as 27 rebel fighters were killed after regime forces shelled the villages of Esterbeh and Doreen in Latakia Province yesterday, using mortars and artillery, according to activists.

Activist Ahmad said: “The regime forces tried to storm into the villages of Doreen and Esterbeh, and clashes erupted between the FSA and regime forces, before the shelling started on a rate of 8 bombs per minute, killing 3 children, a woman and 27 FSA fighters and injuring 45 FSA fighters, 16 of them are critical.”

Dr Abu Rahal from a local field hospital told Avaaz: “We took in 15 injuries from the village of Doreen. Nine others were transferred to Turkey due to the lack of medical equipment necessary for anesthesia and a lack of medical staff. The field hospital was shalled, but luckily it wasn't a direct hit and only suffered minor damage."

Abu Majdi, from nearby Salma, told Avaaz: “Very few civilians remain, most of them are elderly. The majority of residents fled the area since the incidents in Haffa and Kurds Mount, those men who remained joined the FSA.” He claimed that the military observation point of Burj al Qasab, which had been used by regime forces to shell Haffa, Salma and Kurds Mount, in the village of Kefrayya was liberated on Monday.

about 2 hours ago
Hundreds of people in Venezuela have taken to the streets to protest the government's backing of the Syrian regime, which has been accused of atrocities in its bid to crush a 18-month protest movement.

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has continued to support his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, along with the leaders of Russia and Iran, despite international condemnation of alleged war crimes.

Caracas has sent at least three shiploads of oil to aid the Syrian government, which has been hit with Western embargoes over its crackdown on dissent.

There's 800,000 people of Syrian origin in Venezuela? Wow.



https://twitter.com/rajshah

Just announced $21 million in new support for Syria crisis to bring food to 120K ppl in all 14 districts in Syria and refugees elsewhere.
6:26 AM

Total US assistance for Syria is now over $100M--at Camp Za'atari now where we provide food, medical supplies & care for refugees.
6:33 AM

For more info on additional $21 million for Syria and our work there & with refugees: http://usaid.gov/crisis/syria http://1.usa.gov/OaBGsj
6:53 AM

https://twitter.com/DSyrer

A Mosque in 'Iaza'a, Aleppo being shelled (Minaret is gone now) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FexX...layer_embedded … v @SirianoDeAleppo
8:23 AM

Another helicopter bites the dust in Damascus ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiEtphJ4X8c
9:32 AM

Looks like it's new. Happened during a checkpoint raid (Acc. to the brigade's official page) - http://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...94149697377303
9:45 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria:

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 103 so far, including more than 25 children. 54 martyrs were reported in Aleppo, 20 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 16 in Deir Ezzor, 9 in Homs, 3 in Idlib, and 1 in Raqqa; who was martyred in Aleppo
8:01 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Aleppo: Six people were martyrs and 15 were injured when a shell landed on a public transport car in Sukkary neighborhood
8:43 AM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8820BC20120903

Syria army destroys houses in "collective punishment"

Syrian army bulldozers razed houses in western Damascus on Monday, pursuing what activists called the first campaign of collective punishment targeting people's property in areas of the capital hostile to President Bashar al-Assad.

In northern Syria, 18 bodies were found in the rubble of a house bombed by a Syrian warplane in the rebel-held town of al-Bab and 13 more are missing, an opposition watchdog group said.

Bulldozers backed by combat troops demolished buildings in the poor Tawahin district, near the Damascus-Beirut highway, activists and residents said.

"They started three hours ago. The bulldozers are bringing down shops and houses. The inhabitants are in the streets," said a woman who lives in a high-rise building overlooking the area.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/05/wo...rticle_sidebar

Baby survives as family dies in Syrian onslaught

It is impossible to get used to. The roar of a jet overhead, the hum of helicopter blades hovering around your block, the sudden thud of a blast. When you hear it, at least you know you are safe.

Yet this has become daily life for residents of Aleppo. People living in rebel held territory, among whom the Free Syrian Army (FSA) mingle, and upon whom the Syrian regime's wrath is visited.

The blasts continue throughout the day and also haunt the night. There is no perceivable pattern as to where they strike, for they don't appear to aim themselves at the few targets the FSA present.

Their timing is also hard to follow: they hit most at dawn and dusk, yes, but the shells are sometimes few, sometimes sustained. And above all, they don't follow a pattern that suggests the artillery weapons are trying to hit-and-miss their way towards an objective. They simply fire, strike, and then move to a completely different place altogether.

The only pattern to divine is that there is really no pattern, unless your aim is to terrify.

But the bodies kept coming, 11 dead in total, nine of them children. They are rushed by the furious FSA to the hospital, the children placed under blankets and laid in the back of a pickup truck. Aged from four to 11. Omar, Mohamed, Fatma. One of their fathers is too distraught to name all the dead -- two related families, one of which had gone to visit the other

But amid the incomprehensible brutality, the people in this corner of Aleppo find a gift. He is barely a year old and called Hussein. He was pulled from the rubble, a simple act of care having saved his life..

Hussein's mother, Najah, was breastfeeding him when the rockets struck. Najah was killed by the rubble, but her body sheltered Hussein. He is brought to the hospital, the men cursing Syrian President Bashar al Assad as a "dog" and hoping Hussein will live to see him hanged.

They tear off his dusty clothes and clean his body, a symbol of their perseverance. Born into this bloody and continuing revolution, they pray he will grow up in a very different Syria.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...litary-airport

Opposition sources: Rebels attack Syrian military airport

Free Syria Army (FSA) rebels have been laying siege to Hamadan airport in the city of Albu Kamal on the country's eastern frontier in Deir ez-Zor province for the past three days.

Struggling to put down a 17-month-old uprising against his rule, President Bashar al-Assad has been increasingly relying on aircraft to attack the rebels, who are comparatively lightly armed with machineguns and rockets.

The opposition said the airport, where dozens of soldiers are still holding out, has been used by helicopters to launch bombing runs against rebel strongholds.

"The airport has effectively fallen after many soldiers defected," Nawaf al-Bashir, a senior tribal figure from Deir ez-Zor who is in contact with rebels, said from Istanbul.

Abu Teif Ziad, another opposition campaigner from Deir ez-Zor, said that the airport was the last base where government forces were present in Albu Kamal after rebels overran several army compounds in the town, which is situated on the Euphrates river a few kilometres from a crossing point with Iraq.

"If the Hamadan airport falls, Albu Kamal will come completely under rebel control," he said.

Attacks by rebels have already rendered two military airports in the northern province of Idlib - Taftanaz and Abu Thuhur - inoperational, according to an opposition source and diplomats.

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

VERY excited about this new Idlib project!
5:20 PM 4 Sep

At the moment it is all about raising funds...we might need to get the medical supplies there as well later. I'll let u know.
5:37 PM - 4 Sep

I have medical equipment donors ready if we need them...but Shafi said he just needs funds :/
6:26 PM - 4 Sep

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

In the past few hours, the FSA in Harem Idlib killed 35 Shabiha and captured 30, including the leader of the Shibeeha in the area.
10:14 AM

Jamal Maaroof, the commander of the battalion that shot down the 2 MiGs and helicopter yday, says they did so using 14.5 mm machine guns.
10:23 AM

[Regime convoy that was headed to Salqin, Idlib] They haven't entered Salqin but are shelling them intensely. 3 martyrs there today. Major clashes are in Harem though.
11:09 AM

https://twitter.com/2011feb17

BREAKING: NILESAT TAKES SYRIAN TV CHANNELS OFF AIR (via Al-Jazeera)
11:17 AM

They were supposed to do that months ago.

https://twitter.com/BigAlBrand

Syria TV, Syria news, and Dunia TV are no longer on Nile Sat. However Syria drama is still working and showed new frequencies. No pun.
11:08 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria:

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 173 so far, including 25 children. 80 martyrs were reported in Aleppo, 40 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 23 in Deir Ezzor, 10 in Homs, 10 in Idlib,6 in Hama,3 in Daraa and 1 in Raqqa; who was martyred in Aleppo
10:34 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Deir Ezzor: Fierce clashes are reported between the Free Syrian Army and the regime's forces in the city, this was accompanied by sounds of huge explosions that could be heard around the city
10:54 AM

[visionary]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/05/wo...iew/index.html

Turkish PM: U.S. elections hampering Syria action

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the United States is "lacking of initiative" on Syria and suggested that could be because of the upcoming U.S. election.

During a wide-ranging interview in Istanbul with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Erdogan discussed the 18-month crisis in Syria and touched on a number of other topics, including Iran's suspected nuclear program.

"Right now, there are certain things being expected from the United States. The United States had not yet catered to those expectations," the prime minister said when asked whether he was surprised the United States is not offering anything but "nonlethal support" to the Syrian opposition.

"Maybe it's because of the elections -- maybe it's because of the pre-election situation in the States. Might be the root cause of the lacking of initiative. Nobody has spoken to us about their reasons, and they are not obliged to state anything. We are very thankful and pleased they have stated that they're against this regime," he said through a translator.

http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2012/0...ents-in-syria/

A journalist's dying moments in Syria

CNN's Paula Hancocks reports on the death of a Japanese journalist, killed within hours of arriving in Syria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz0Iz...ature=youtu.be

A CNN news crew in Syria rushes an injured 4-year-old girl to the hospital. She had been shot in the face.

https://twitter.com/farGar

Free Syria Army distributes bread for residents of Yalda and al Tadamon http://youtu.be/Mqg_5hNIe6k
1:25 PM

https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria

There is so much stuff going on it's impossible to tweet eveything that would normally be deemed worthy of doing so.
12:10 PM

Example: a boat with more than 50 Syrian refugees going to Greece got in trouble in sea & was saved just in time by Turkish coast guards.
12:11 PM

1- According to the Turkish media, visit of CIA chief Petreaus to Turkey was only for 1- Post-Assad planning 2- Chemical weapons
1:32 PM

The US continues to ignore both the humanitarian situation in Syria & the concerns of Turkey arising from th situation in Syria.
1:32 PM

According to the press, Turkey provided extensive intelligence to the CIA about number of FSA soldiers, weapons & supporting tribes.
1:33 PM

https://twitter.com/omarsyria

Helicopters have been shooting missiles at SE Damascus for over an hour.
11:35 AM

Loudest sound is that of mortars shelling from Qassiyoun. Loud explosion every 10 minutes. Can be heard clearly throughout all Damascus.
5:03 PM

Worth mentioning though helicopters haven't showed up yet. Strange.
5:22 PM

https://twitter.com/DSyrer

The full story is on Tawheed's page - http://www.facebook.com/lewaaltawhee...12108928939977 - he's a known thug who killed protesters in Aleppo
5:01 PM

They claim to have given him a trial, and he was executed after he confessed to 2 counts of kidnapping, rape & murder
5:03 PM

The names of his victims are mentioned in that post, and the video is filmed in the Sukkari district of Aleppo
5:07 PM

He confessed to: Murdering the Zreiq family, Financing Shabiha, informing AF Intel. on activists Nur/Mhd. Kheirallah
5:23 PM

https://twitter.com/RamiAlLolah

FSA shoot down a helicopter in Assali neighborhood in Aleppo!
6:22 PM

This is what the FSA spokesman from Aleppo just confirmed to Aljazeera now!
6:38 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The people of Syria are an endangered species. If you won't treat us like humans at least treat us like Pandas. Thank you.
1:24 PM

A friend just found out her cousin was martyred in Idlib as she was translating the news report.
8:03 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Fierce clashes between FSA and army on the Damascus - Daraa Highway near al-Qadam.
12:02 PM

Breaking: 5 tanks and an APC on the Southern Bypass Road heading towards Tadamon and Hajaf al-Aswad in Damascus.
11:40 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 272 thus far, among them more than 100 martyrs due to aerial shelling (more than 30 of them are children). 115 martyrs were reported in Aleppo, 67 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 40 in Deir Ezzor, 15 in Homs, 14 in Idlib, 8 in Daraa, 7 in Hama,5 in Lattakia and 1 from Raqqa who was martyred in Aleppo
5:29 PM

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
27,850 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-0...jordan/4245408

Syrian rebels seek to launch attacks from Jordan

As Syrians stream across the border in increasing numbers, Jordan is being confronted with a series of vexing dilemmas.

Rebel fighters Hamza and Ayman Jamous are among those who have fled to Jordan.

The brothers were badly injured when their home in southern Syria sustained a direct hit from Syrian government forces.

"I was hit, one leg is broken, my jaw was broken, the other leg was fractured," Hamza told ABC's Lateline.

Now they want the rebels to be allowed to use Jordan the way they use Turkey - as a base to strike back at the Syrian army.

"It would help the revolution a great deal. We've been asking for this for a year. If they opened a route for us to go back and forth we'd have enough power to win. Our strength would quadruple," Ayman said.

It is that sort of request that has Jordan's King Abdullah II on the horns of a dilemma.

He wants Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to go, but he has also spoken against foreign intervention.

"We don't want to turn Jordan into an extension of the conflict in Syria," Jordan's minister of state for communication, Sameeh Ma'ayta, said.

A dangerous idea, although we should keep in mind that the Syrian regime has already repeatedly shot at and killed refugees (women and children specifically) fleeing to Jordan across the border, as well as on Jordanian troops trying to help them get across.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...b91_story.html

Syria’s eerie parallel to 1980s Afghanistan

The United States should be cautious about embracing the Sunni-vs.-Shiite dynamic of the Syrian war. Rage against Shiites and their Iranian patrons has been a useful prop for the United States and Israel in mobilizing Sunni opposition against Assad, who as an Alawite is seen as part of the Shiite crescent. But this is a poisonous and potentially ruinous sectarian battle, the kind that nearly destroyed Iraq and Lebanon and is now plunging Syria into the inferno. The Saudis want to fight Shiites, yes, and further from home than in Bahrain, or in Qatif in the kingdom’s eastern province. The United States should not endorse the sectarian element of this conflict.

●The United States should work hard (if secretly) to help the more sensible elements of the Syrian opposition and to limit the influence of extremists. This policy was ignored in Afghanistan, where the United States allowed Pakistan (aided by Saudi money) to back the fighters it liked — who turned out to be among the most extreme and dangerous. America is still trying to undo the mess caused by that exercise in realpolitik. Don’t do it again.

●Finally, the United States should subtly play the tribal card, which may be as crucial in Syria as it was in Iraq. The leaders of many Syrian tribes have sworn a blood oath of vengeance against Assad, and their power is one reason the engine of this insurgency is rural, conservative and Sunni. But Iraq showed that the tribal leaders can be the best bulwark against the growth of al-Qaeda and other extremists.

The rebels fighting Assad deserve limited U.S. support, just as the anti-Soviet mujahedeen did. But be careful: This way lies chaos and extremism that can take a generation to undo if the United States and its allies aren’t prudent.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp...a-old-city.cnn

September 6, 2012

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh on Syrian rebels struggling to gain 100 feet of ground in Aleppo.

Camera: Ricardo Garcia Vilanova

Pictures of Syrian regime soldiers in action and posing.
http://www.imageforum-diffusion.afp....784661_0&mui=1



https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Suqoor Alsham in JabalAlzawiyah Idlib use bulldozers and heavy machinery to fix the roads ruined by shelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bajz...layer_embedded
2:05 AM

5 shells fell near the police station in Turkey near a Syrian village. The Turkish soldiers ran after the power went out in the station.
2:12 AM

25 soldiers killed after explosion military depot Afyon. Governor insists it was accident
2:23 AM

İn both US and Dutch elections Syria being ignored by campaigns. 1600 people died this week, but somehow not relevant
2:26 AM

Why Syria is relevant: many Syrians fleeiing to Europe, Syria was transit for trade to Middle East, also for Europe.
2:27 AM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Only In Syria: FSA sniper has one hand holding rifle, one finger on trigger, and a cigarette in the other. Cup of tea on sand bag.
2:45 AM

Fierce shelling on towns of Hjeira and Bowaida, both Damascus suburbs.
4:18 AM

Intense shelling amid fierce clashes between FSA and regime forces taking place in Tadamon, Damascus.
4:18 AM

https://twitter.com/clarissaward

Putin on FSA- "U might as well unlock Guantanamo...and bring them to Syria to do the fighting. They're practically the same kind of people,"
4:31 AM

https://twitter.com/hhassan140

In nxt 4 tweets, I sum up my conversation with a western diplomat who works closely on Syria. Only details that don't reveal his job.
5:15 AM

He said: Don't be fooled by rising rhetoric by western leaders, esp French. They do that coz of public pressure, 2 be seen as "leading". Safe havens, NFZ et al are out of the question - at least for the next three months - because they mean war. Plain & simple. Military intervention, by the consensus of "all military experts" is non-viable and won't happen for the foreseeable future.

When I told him the Syria regime can last for at least another year, he said his assessment is a few months. He said West public opinion won't accept intervention, unless chemical weapons used & thousands of ppl killed. Public then be "shocked".
5:20 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Daraa:Tal Shihab:Security forces invade the city after the heavy ongoing shelling
3:39 AM

Miitary Reinforcements heading to Daraa, Tal Shihab

[visionary]

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world...on-assads-side

Morsi: History is not on Assad's side

"I tell the Syrian regime that there is still a chance to halt the bloodshed," Mr Morsi said in his speech at the Arab League's Cairo headquarters yesterday. "Don't listen to the voices that tempt you to stay because you will not be there for much longer.

"It's too late to talk about reform, this is the time for change. The Syrian regime must learn from recent history," he said.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Pol...#axzz25hhcbNk9

Mikati: Lebanon cannot tolerate further Syrian border aggression

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati Wednesday described accusations by Damascus that Lebanon was transfering arms to Syrian rebels as “unfortunate,” while March 14 urged President Michel Sleiman to act swiftly to protect his country from Syria’s attempts to destabilize it.

Responding to claims by Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are funneling arms to Syrian rebels via Lebanon, Mikati said that Lebanese authorities are doing what they can to stop arms shipments.

“It is regrettable that anyone can use Lebanon as a tool to threaten [others] ... This is an unfair statement,” he said, pointing to the May interception of a ship carrying weapons to Syria and the fact that some other consignments were seized at the Beirut airport.

In an interview with Reuters, Mikati said Lebanon is still committed to its policy of disassociation from the Syrian crisis, but warned that the country cannot tolerate further aggression at the border.

The interview came just two days after Mikati requested that Lebanon’s ambassador to Syria articulate the government’s frustration with the Syrian army’s continued shelling of Lebanese border towns.

“We have kept out of interfering in Syria, but we cannot turn a blind eye to any act being committed against Lebanon – or to the crisis being imported,” Mikati said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8850GQ20120906

Migrant boat sinks off Turkey, children among 60 dead

At least 60 migrants, most of them Palestinian and more than half of them children, died after their overcrowded boat sank just tens of meters off Turkey's western Aegean coast on Thursday, a district official said.

Tahsin Kurtbeyoglu, governor of the coastal district of Menderes in Turkey's western Izmir province, said an initial investigation showed the small vessel sank due to overcrowding around dawn.

Its destination was unclear but the small Turkish town of Ahmetbeyli from where it left is only a few kilometers from the Greek island of Samos. Greece is a common entry point for migrants trying to get into the European Union.

"The latest death toll we have is 60 people, including 11 men, 18 women and 31 children, including three babies," Kurtbeyoglu told Reuters by telephone.

https://twitter.com/AJELive

Turkey: Scores of people are dead, while dozens of survivors, mostly from Iraq & Syria, were able to swim to shore http://aje.me/NUm4Ui
11:59 AM

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world...heckpoint-city

The demands of war turn Damascus into checkpoint city

As Damascus turns into a city at war, it is also turning into a city of checkpoints.

In these violent times they have become an inescapable fact of life for residents of the Syrian capital, every bit as much as unemployment, long searches for overpriced cooking gas and waking up to the thump of artillery shells or stutter of machine gunfire.

A source of fear to many, a source of comfort to others, there seems to be widespread agreement in this deeply divided country on at least one point - that checkpoints are an inconvenience for all.

While ostensibly uniform in their purpose - to monitor people and vehicles passing along a particular street - checkpoints are wildly different in character.

At some, bored government troops dressed in odd cocktails of army fatigues and civilian clothes - memorably, one solider in combat uniform and a black fedora worn at a jaunty tilt, with large, round film star-esque sunglasses shading his eyes - hardly bother to inspect anything.

Some checkpoints do have fearsome reputations. Qaboun, a neighbourhood of eastern Damascus that had been heavily involved in the initial protests and, subsequently, the armed rebellion, and that is also home to military police, special forces and Republican Guard bases, is notorious for having among the worst in the capital.

The outer cordon of soldiers around the district is feared by many residents. But it is the inner system of checkpoints, policed by plainclothes security forces and a locally recruited militia - many of them members of the ruling Alawite sect, according to people living in the area - that creates real dread.

Those manning them are notorious for pulling young men out of minibuses and either beating them senseless by the side of the road or dragging them away into detention, never to be seen alive again.

"The army are OK but the shabbiheh [pro-regime militia] have started looking at IDs and if they see you are from one of the original Qabouni families, they take you and you are never seen again," said one Qaboun resident in his late 20s.

He recounted almost being dragged off by the militia, until one of its members recognised him and remembered he was a regime supporter whose father serves in the military.

https://twitter.com/JMiller_EA

Syria Live: Free Syrian Army commander in Turkey rejects reorganizing the FSA http://bit.ly/RPc0g6
10:06 AM

I'm not sure how much say he has in it though.
Unless of course he is speaking on behalf of others.

https://twitter.com/MaryFitzgerldIT

Syrian media/pro-Assad sites incorrectly claiming Libyan-Irish fighter Hosam Najair killed/injured in Aleppo. He was in Dublin this morning
10:34 AM

https://twitter.com/farGar

yrs ago, my mom's friend was arrested & tortured for 20 days bc he parked illegally for 5min & argued w secret police RealSyria under assad
10:39 AM

it's so ****ed up. 2 of my grandmas cousins were executed for accused of being MB. they werent even conservative people.
11:05 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

23 bodies were found in Zamalka in Damascus suburbs. Most were women and children and old men that had their throats slit.
7:22 AM

The tweet I sent out this morning has been confirmed. The FSA in Idlib has shot down another helicopter south of the AbuAlthuhoor airport.
12:13 PM

The CCs are saying its a helicopter...there are no videos though...at least not yet.
12:22 PM

The FSA in Abu Althuhoor in Idlib shells the regime army using tanks! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TUny...ature=youtu.be …
12:14 PM

[visionary]

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 2 hours ago
In Syria, government forces have retaken a town from opposition fighters on the Jordanian border.

The town is on a road used by thousands of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf has the details from the Jordanian capital, Amman:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...8K5JGF20120905

France gives Syria "liberated zones" aid, mulls weapons - source

France has started helping rebel-held parts of Syria so these "liberated zones" can run themselves and is considering the possibility of supplying heavy artillery to protect them from government attacks, a diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

Paris said last week it had identified areas in the north, south and east that had escaped President Bashar al-Assad's control, creating a chance for local communities to govern themselves without residents feeling they had to flee Syria.

"In zones where the regime has lost control, such as Tal Rifaat (40 km north of Aleppo), which has been free five months, local revolutionary councils have been set up to help the population and put in place an administration for these towns so as to avoid chaos like in Iraq when the regime pulls back," the source said.

The source said France, which last week promised an extra 5 million euros ($6.25 million) to help Syrians, had started giving aid and money on Friday to five local authorities from three provinces - Deir al-Zor, Aleppo and Idlib. The areas are home to about 700,000 people.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...an-rebels.html

France 'may send anti-aircraft guns to Syrian rebels'

With opposition forces consolidating their hold over enclaves in the country captured from the regime, Francois Hollande's government senses an opportunity for the West to give the rebels military assistance for the first time, a diplomat has said.

Until now Western powers have insisted on giving rebel fighters only "non-lethal" aid, fearing that the armed opposition's chaotic and fractured organisational structure could allow weapons to fall into the hands of radical Islamist groups.

While acknowledging that arming the rebels remains potentially hazardous, France is impressed with the way the opposition is administering towns under its control after it set up local revolutionary councils to impose law and order.

"It's a subject that we are working on seriously, but which has serious and complicated implications," the diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency in Paris. "We aren't neglecting it."

France, which governed Syria under a League of Nations mandate after the First World War, has taken an increasingly assertive role in international policy towards the Levantine state.

https://twitter.com/Brown_Moses

How does France plan to distribute these AA guns with enough ammo across Syria? They're pretty big, not something you can sneak in. And the FSA have a collection of ZU-23-2s already, probably better to give them ammo for those
2:14 PM

@DSyrer I think it would risk Assad's air force attacking them
2:25 PM

@DSyrer If they are AA guns (not missiles) then they'd need setting up, which takes a while
2:27 PM

@DSyrer I assume they'd be ZU-23-2s, so I'm guessing they would be packed up in crates, minus the barrels
2:29 PM

@DSyrer You'll notice you keep seeing ZU-23 barrels in ammo dumps all over the place. I think ammo would be far more useful and effective then extra AA guns. I think more ammo would be more useful, help them capture more military bases and outposts.
2:32 PM

https://twitter.com/DSyrer

@Brown_Moses They can pick between 3 'totally free' border crossings in Northern Syria (Azaz, Jarablus, Bab al-Hawa)
2:14 PM

@Brown_Moses IHH ships truckloads of aid through the Azaz border crossing - shipping AA guns won't be much harder.
2:15 PM

They're not attacking anything that close to the border. And besides, they're AA guns - they can deploy them there right away.
2:27 PM

@Brown_Moses It's still worth risking. They can give them ammo for their own AA guns if they can't ship any arms directly
2:28 PM

https://twitter.com/HamaEcho

After demolishing their homes, Assad's thugs demolish shops of activists in Tareeq Halab neighbourhood of Hama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqBkNVQYdk
12:51 PM

HD clip of a jet firing at the area of Old Aleppo today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXFk6p8_Bt4
1:33 PM

Destruction from heavy shelling on Salah Eddine neighbourhood of Aleppo pic.twitter.com/MYYMu3f8
1:58 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianShabab

BREAKING Videos showing FSA parading in the heart of the capital Damascus http://youtu.be/120kZP-EQDw http://youtu.be/o_c5x-3VHgI
1:31 PM

https://twitter.com/NuffSilence

The regime goes hysterical, calls Morsy's speech an incitement akin to training and arming FSA: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...8K697X20120906
2:39 PM

https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria

@NuffSilence I wish Morsi would train & arm the FSA.
2:39 PM

https://twitter.com/farGar

INCREDIBLE Student protest today in CENTRAL DAMASCUS, praising FSA AND DEMANDING FREEDOM. http://youtu.be/r3-tqaCx4jw
3:21 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 115, inlcluding 12 who were martyred due to aerial shelling among them women and children. 64 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, including 23 found in Zamalka and 8 in Yarmouk Camp; 18 in Daraa, 11 in Deir Ezzor, inlcuding one that was martyred in Damascus; 9 in Hama; 7 in Aleppo; 2 in Homs; 1 in Idlib and 1 from Lattakia who was martyred in Idlib
3:00 PM

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-se...t-eastwood-fan

US sends more spies, diplomats to Syrian border

The U.S. is beefing up its presence along the Syrian border with Turkey.

U.S. officials say they are sending more intelligence agents and diplomats to advise the rebel forces in their mismatched fight against the better-armed Syrian regime, and watching for al-Qaida's infiltration of rebel ranks.

The officials say intelligence officers are gathering information from refugees and defectors, while State Department workers are helping the rebels organize politically. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.

The increased intelligence is intended to help the White House decide if its current policy of providing only non-lethal aid is enough to keep momentum building in the nearly 18-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad's (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahd) regime.

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...132626522.html

Syrian forces 'bombard south Damascus'

Syrian army mortar and artillery shelling of an area of southern Damascus where Palestinian refugees live has killed at least 20 people, residents and local emergency workers say.

Yarmouk camp and the districts surrounding it have seen the most prolonged fighting in the capital since forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad launched a counter-offensive to push rebels out of the capital two months ago.

Residents in the camp said that for the last two weeks, Yarmouk had been closed off from neighbouring districts and that they had heard regular clashes. Since early on Thursday they reported heavy bombardment in the area.

Locals said the army may have intensified its attack on the district in the belief that rebels, who have been sheltering in the nearby neighbourhoods of Tadamon and Hajar al-Aswad, were slipping into Yarmouk, whose Palestinian residents are suspected by authorities of siding with the rebels.

https://twitter.com/markito0171

Idlib Rebels blow up bridge to cut supply-line from southern to Assad forces at Harem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-u1X...&feature=g-u-u … http://wikimapia.org/#lat=36.1920096...9&z=19&l=5&m=b …
3:25 PM

https://twitter.com/farGar

More footage of the massive night time demonstration in Yarmouk Refugee Camp in central Damascus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qGCMORJNgk
3:33 PM

Same place where shelling killed 20 today.

https://twitter.com/USUN

AmbassadorRice on Syria: "With respect to U.S. policy, it's been quite clear. We want to see a peaceful political transition."
3:36 PM

Maybe if we say it enough times we can change reality to fit our desires...wait...no...we can't.

https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria

Iranian is openly waging war against Turkey through the PKK now. No better indication of Iran's imperialist mentality than the fact...
5:13 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

BREAKING: Activists: 84 bodies found in a mass grave in al-Herak in Daraa. AlArabiya [haven't seen this elsewhere, so it might not be true]
7:30 PM

New Syria border checkpoint in Aleppo. They still can't spell 'safety' though =P pic.twitter.com/Szcle4db
7:33 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Damascus Suburbs: Deir Asafeer: 15 bodies were found, they were field-executed by regime forces. The number might increase
3:45 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The LCC managed to document 159 martyrs for Thursday, among them 12 due to aerial shelling, women and children. 88 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, among them 23 found in Zamalka, 15 in Deir Asafeer and 8 in Yarmouk Camp; 20 in Aleppo; 12 in Deir Ezzor, one of them martyred in Damascus; 19 in Daraa; 11 in Hama; 5 in Idlib; 3 in Homs; and 1 from Lattakia martyred in Idlib
5:54 PM

I notice they only have 8 martyrs listed for Yarmouk....


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Daraa: After news of regime forces defecting, intense gunfire was reported by heavy weapons, in conjuction with regime tank and artillery movement by forces stationed at the Panorama military barracks
8:56 PM

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
28,009 people killed so far in Syria

[China]

EDIT: FYI, I don't know the trustworthiness of this site, but here it is anyway:

Turkish officers take command of Syrian rebel brigades. N. Israel on alert

Turkish army officers have assumed direct command of the first two Syrian rebel brigades fighting Bashar Assad’s government forces, according to debkafile’s exclusive sources. This step has sent military tensions rocketing on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon in case of a backlash.

The rebel North Liberators Brigade in the Idlib region of northern Syria and the Tawhid Brigade fighting in the Al-Bab area northeast of Aleppo are now taking their operational orders from Turkish officers, who exercise their authority from headquarters outside Syria in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep. Nonetheless, Turkey is considered to have stepped directly into the Syrian conflict marking the onset of foreign intervention. Western and Arab military circles in the Middle East expect Turkey to extend its command to additional rebel units – not all of them part of the Free Syrian Army. This first step has already caused waves.

1. The consequences of Turkish military action in Syria were urgently aired with CIA Director David Petraeus when he arrived in Ankara Monday, Sept. 3, debkafile’s intelligence sources reveal. After hearing how and when Ankara proposed to expand its role in the Syrian conflict, Petraeus discussed with Turkish military and intelligence chiefs the likely Syrian, Iranian and Hizballah responses.He then flew to Israel to continue the discussion there.
2. By then, US, Turkish and Israeli intelligence watchers were reporting unusual military movements in Syria and on Hizballah turf in southern Lebanon – suspected of being preparations for a blowback from the Turkish intervention in Syria.
3. The IDF countered by placing its units guarding the Syrian and Lebanese borders on a state of alert. Wednesday, Sept. 5, an Iron Dome battery was installed in Gush Dan to head off a potential Hizballah missile barrage on central Israel and its hub, Tel Aviv.
4. Later that day, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan commented: "The regime in Syria has now become a terrorist state."

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

EDIT: FYI, I don't know the trustworthiness of this site, but here it is anyway:

Turkish officers take command of Syrian rebel brigades. N. Israel on alert

Click on the link for the full article

There has been some reorginazition of various FSA groups into a "national army" but I don't know that Turkey is calling the shots. I can't recall seeing many true news stories from Debka, so I would doubt most anything they have to say, especially about Syria.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...650_story.html

Worries intensify over Syrian chemical weapons

Western spy agencies suspect Syria’s government has several hundred tons of chemical weapons and precursor components scattered among as many as 20 sites throughout the country, heightening anxieties about the ability to secure the arsenals in the event of a complete breakdown of authority in the war-torn nation, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say.

Officials are monitoring the storage sites, but they expressed growing fear that they have not identified every location and that some of the deadly weapons could be stolen or used by Syrian troops against civilians.

“We think we know everything, but we felt the same way about Libya,” said a former American intelligence official who was briefed on U.S. preparations for both conflicts. “We had been on the ground in Libya, yet there were big surprises, both in terms of quantities and locations.” The former official was one of several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified information.

The collapse of government control in several Syrian provinces has prompted heightened scrutiny of the weapons depots by the United States and its allies in the region. It also has hastened preparations for securing the sites with foreign troops, the U.S. and Middle Eastern officials said.

Drawing from recent intelligence assessments, the officials believe that the Syrian arsenal contains several hundred tons of chemical weapons and precursors, including sizable quantities of battlefield-ready sarin, the deadly nerve agent.

The stockpile appears to be larger and more widely distributed than originally suspected, according to two officials who have seen the intelligence reports. They said the most dangerous chemical stocks are kept in bunkers in about a half-dozen locations, while as many as 14 other facilities are used to store or manufacture components.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...09-07-08-17-30

Bombs explode in Syrian capital, 5 police killed

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Two bombs went off in Damascus on Friday, killing at least five policemen and wounding others in the latest violence in the capital, once the impregnable stronghold of President Bashar Assad's regime.

The bombings, including one outside a mosque that killed the policemen, came as regime forces and rebels clashed in southern neighborhoods of Damascus.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Pol...#axzz25hhcbNk9

Court releases Lebanese officers arrested in sheikh's killing

The Military Court of Cassation released three Lebanese Army officers on bail Friday, in the case of the killing of a Muslim sheikh and his companion in May.

Judicial sources told The Daily Star that Judge Elias Nayfeh ordered the release of the three officers on LL300,000 bail each.

The sources identified the freed officers as Capt. Elie Kairouz, Capt. Mohammad Ali Ahmad and Lt. Wissam Mahfouz.

They were arrested following an incident on May 20, during which Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahed, a Muslim preacher opposed to the Syrian regime, and his companion Hussein al-Mereb were shot dead at a Lebanese Army checkpoint in the village of Kuwaikhat in Akkar, north Lebanon.

Future MPs in the north and Akkar’s sheikhs have demanded that the Army officers linked to the killing be tried. They have also demanded that the case be referred to the Judicial Council, the country’s highest judicial body, which looks into security cases that threaten to destabilize the country.

The same three officers were released early in July on bail but were re-arrested on July 16.

https://twitter.com/ZeinakhodrAljaz

ICRC head:"I was shocked by immense destruction of infrastructure &homes in several areas I visited in Mu’dhamiya, Qaboun & Harasta
5:45 AM

Many men, women & children who could be saved are dying on a daily basis because they lack access to medical care, ICRC chief says
5:48 AM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Syrian authorities r trying to convince u that Sunni & Salafi terrorists have bombed a Sunni mosque in Rukn Eddine during a Friday prayer.
7:13 AM

Reports: Salaheddine Mosque in Deraa city has been shelled as well.
7:15 AM

BREAKING Syrian State TV: car bomb detonates near the Syrian Ministry of Information.
9:03 AM

FYI, Manaf Tlass is going to Amman for meetings next week, looking for a place in the new Syrian National Army.
11:11 AM

https://twitter.com/LizSly

The people of Yabroud demonstrated tdy in support of missing US freelancer Austin Tice, who stayed with them in July pic.twitter.com/dVY5zldd
9:21 AM

Another pic from the Yabroud demo today in support of Austin Tice, US journalist missing in Syria, believed detained pic.twitter.com/fEiwYEvs
10:59 AM

https://twitter.com/HamaEcho

Trampling Russian & Chinese flags in Bab Qibli neighborhood of Hama today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmaL_DkbrqA then burning it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_-kI8c3zro
11:21 AM

Defection of Brigadier General Awad al-Awi, head of the Criminal Security Branch in Damascus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQduWHgS3BA
11:23 AM

Massacre in Akramieh neighbourhood of Aleppo after shabiha summarily executed 45 people
11:29 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs has risen to 100, thus far, including 15 children; 37 in Damascus and its suburbs, 21 in Aleppo, 21 in Deir Ezzor, 13 in Homs,3 in Idlib, 2 in Dara, 2 martyrs originally from Banyas that were martyred in Aleppo and the other in Damascus Suburbs. and 1 in Lattakia
11:04 AM

[visionary]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...usaolp00000009

Hackers Reveal How They Accessed Syrian President Bashar Assad's Email Using World's Worst Password

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's private email address was sam@alshahba.com. His password was 1234.

This absurd factoid about the now-floundering president came to light on Thursday, in an interview opposition hacker Abdullah al-Shamri gave to the Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat.

In February, under the aegis of an opposition group, Shamri's confederates released 3,000 of Assad's private emails to the Guardian. But until Al-Hayat published Shamri's interview on Thursday, the world knew little of the hackers themselves, or of the absurd tale that was their break-in.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...ogo?CMP=twt_gu

Syria's revolution is being branded

The revolution is being branded. A young Turkish graphic designer from the small border town of Kilis in Turkey has been commissioned by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to design their logo.

More accustomed to creating posters declaring "girls need to go to school" for the local municipality's education programmes, 28-year-old Sedat Akpinar looked up from his computer to find the FSA's northern border commander, Abu Hayder, standing in his shop.

With designers and materials in short supply in Syria, the commander had crossed the border last week, hoping to find someone in Turkey who could help him create "an identifiable symbol" to be placed on cars, trucks, tanks, T-shirts, baseball caps and bandannas.

With him, Hayder had brought his "quality controller": an FSA soldier with a background in design, now occupied as a full-time sniper. The recruit had a bullet wound in his arm over which he had tattooed a sword. "Designed by me!" he declared proudly.

http://www.globalpost.com/photo-gall...-aleppo-photos

Life and death in Aleppo (PHOTOS)

On this morning, the men were relaxed and joking around as they cleaned their area from a tank attack the day before. That time, they had been prepared and the tank had fired too short. This time, the assault came with little warning.

As the cloud of smoke engulfed the street we ran back and frantically waited for the others to escape through the cloud of smoke and debris. But no one came. In that split second, three men were reduced to broken, bleeding masses.

After a few minutes of disorientation, a vehicle arrived to transport the bodies. The survivors washed away the blood and flesh in a heartbreaking clean up.

New fighters came to take their posts. And the battle continued.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 7 hours ago
William Hague, the British foreign minister says that EU countries can only provide non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition groups because of an EU arms embargo that renders the supply of any weapons illegal.

Hague was speaking before an informal EU foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus on Friday. He said that Britain is following the example of other countries like the United States and France in providing the Syrian opposition with non-lethal aid including communications equipment and water purification kits.

He says Britain is also mulling sending protective clothing that does not fall under the arms ban.

Hague says the EU must offer support to countries hosting tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the civil war in the country that has claimed thousands of lives and that he would ask other EU members to boost their contribution.[AP]

about 5 hours ago
The European Union says that it will be providing an additional $76 million in humanitarian aid to Syria, as the number of people in need of assistance rose to 2.5 million.

Kristalina Georgieva, EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, said today that the new funds would go to providing shelter, medical aid and for other humanitarian purposes.

The funds bring the total aid donated by the 27-nation bloc to over $253 million, or about half of the relief aid provided so far by the international community, Georgieva says, "but the needs simply dwarf what has been achieved so far".

Georgieva notes that conditions inside Syria are going "from bad to worse'' as the war escalates

https://twitter.com/RulaAmin

The lions of Damascus Sunnis, of Ansar Islam says Mezze Blast, Damascus targeted an armored car of high ranking syrian official
1:15 PM

The second blast today, not the one outside the mosque.

https://twitter.com/Psypherize

In Syria, when a town suffers too much massacres, another town takes to the street to get massacred instead of them, to make it easier.
1:36 PM

https://twitter.com/HamaEcho

Unification Brigade attacks the Hanano military barracks in central Aleppo today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYvcGpYM0Y4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDKPA5GT9wg
11:38 AM

Unification Brigade say a prison was discovered after capturing Hanano military barracks containing 350 political prisoners. Aleppo
12:30 PM

Clear video of heavy shelling on Homs today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOuLdBhkkg … [HD]
12:46 PM

Formation of the Freedom Brigade in Jisr al-Shughour, Idlib http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8QyQrnyt0
1:00 PM

Kuwaiti MP speaking in Sarmada, Idlib today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsKW3-oyQRE Several Kuwait MPs donate their salary to help Syria as well.
1:04 PM

Kuwaiti mps


Brigade in Jisr al-Shughour



https://twitter.com/freeCritic2000

CONFIRMED: Hanano military barracks are captured by FSA. 3 freedom fighters from town of Albab became martyrs during operation
1:42 PM

FIVE FSA heroes became martyrs in the operation to capture Hanano military barracks in Aleppo. 3 of the were from town of Albab. RIP
1:47 PM

Prison discovered INSIDE the Hanano military barracks was operated by POLITICAL Intelligence branch. 350 prisoners were freed
1:52 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs has risen to 117, thus far, including 15 children; 40 in Damascus and its suburbs, 25 in Aleppo, 21 in Deir Ezzor, 13 in Homs,3 in Idlib, 2 in Daraa, 2 martyrs originally from Banyas that were martyred in Aleppo and the other in Damascus Suburbs, 2 in Hama, and 2 in Lattakia
1:41 PM