Yahoo: Assad predicts disaster if West meddles in Syria

[visionary]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-tr...syrian-weapons

US troops could help secure Syrian weapons

Pentagon officials say they have largely ruled out sending in ground troops to secure Syrian chemical weapons under hostile circumstances, but the U.S. could provide forces if the Assad regime ever agrees to a peaceful transition.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says it would be almost impossible to prevent the Syrian government from using chemical weapons, so the U.S. must continue warning Syria that using them would be unacceptable.

Um...ok.
So what happens if they use them anyway?


http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/wor...ees-winter.cnn

Syrian refugees dig in for the winter

Added on January 6, 2013

Syrian refugees huddle in camps, facing bombs and the winter, hoping Turkey will let them in. Nick Paton Walsh reports..

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/wor...en-scarred.cnn

Syria's scarred children


Added on January 9, 2013

CNN photojournalist Joe Duran documents the suffering of some of the youngest victims of Syria's civil war.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed a bmp-1 & killed assad troops in darayya #syria
11:29 AM

resistance fighters say 8 security men have defected in al-qamishli
11:41 AM

al-farouq brigades say 11 officers & troops have defected in al-hasakah
11:38 AM

a report says resistance fighters have shot down a warplane in al-ghoutah al-sharqiyah
12:15 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they destroyed 5 military vehicles, including tanks, in al-maliha (damascus countryside)
12:18 PM

resistance fighters attacked a military convoy near the town of busr al-harir (daraa) & destroyed a truck carrying assad troops
12:27 PM

liberation of al-rasafah (or al-rusafah) oil field in al-raqqah http://youtu.be/pEfwz7GIZRo
1:50 PM

resistance fighters have liberated al-akairshi oil field in al-raqqah
2:55 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters arrest brigadier general samir salamah sakhi http://youtu.be/fS3ul4eViPU
4:21 PM

ahrar al-sham brigades say resistance fighters have liberated the headquarters building in taftanaz military airport. victory soon
4:31 PM

ahrar al-sham brigades say about 50 assad officers & troops were killed today in taftanaz military airport
4:34 PM

resistance fighters have destroyed a tank in the town of al-yadoudah in daraa
4:55 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

15 soldiers defect from the Ain Qrai` checkpoint, which is part of the Hamdiyeh base. MaaratAlNouman Idlib
2:46 PM

Reports that a regime MiG shelled a regime outpost in JabalAlzawiyah Idlib by mistake...ridding us of an entire regime company.. : D
3:27 PM

The Colonel pilot, and second in command at Taftanaz airport, Hosain Mahdi Al-Ali, has been killed by the FSA during clashes.
3:29 PM

Ahrar Alsham at Taftanaz airport announced today that they are in control of all the planes including a MiG-25 (requires maintenance.)
4:08 PM

It [Taking over the Taftanaz Military Airport] will create a relative no-fly-zone in the areas especially at Binnish, Taftanaz, Maarat Misreen and the nearby cities. It will also lessen the artillery shelling on many of these areas. The only other airport after Taftanaz in Idlib would be Abu Dhoor and that one should be easier to take out. This will also give the FSA one less worry when they attempt to liberate Idlib city. And finally...I HOPE the FSA can put the remaining helis to use and fly them to shell regime outposts.
5:47 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

BREAKING: Activists: At least 50 martyrs killed in Al-Houl, Hasakeh, after air and artillery strikes were carried out on the city.
6:57 PM

Location of massacre in Hassakeh. It was bombed after FSA took control of adjacent fields. pic.twitter.com/hOBYDQie
7:07 PM

Reports that a MiG-23 has crashed into the mountains in Hama's suburbs due to the poor weather conditions.
7:36 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10798

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 46 thus far, including 2 women. 22 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 6 in Idlib, 4 in Daraa, 2 in Hama & [2] Deir Ezzor and 10 in Aleppo

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 46,731 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...-friday-geneva

UN envoy to Syria will meet officials from Russia and the US on Friday in Geneva

The UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will meet officials from Russia and the US on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the solutions to the Syrian Crisis.

However, according to the Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Faysal Hamoui, Syria won't consider any results of the meeting.

Representing Syria as one of the first 11 countries that signed the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, Lakhdar Brahimi attended the signing ceremony on Thursday at the World Health Organization's (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Talking about the upcoming three-party meeting, the ambassador showed no enthusiasm.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9090A320130110

NATO official says more missiles launched in Syria

A short-range ballistic missile was fired inside Syria on Wednesday, following similar launches last week, a NATO official said on Thursday.

The official condemned as "reckless" the missile launches, which U.S. officials called an escalation of the 21-month-old Syrian civil war when their use was first spotted last month.

"The use of such indiscriminate weapons shows utter disregard for the lives of the Syrian people," he said.

The official said NATO had detected the launch of an unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria on Wednesday, following similar launches on January 2 and 3. All the missiles were fired from inside Syria and landed in northern Syria, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...,3297621.story

In Syria, war is the new normal

After 22 months of civil war, in which an estimated 60,000 people have died, Syrian President Bashar Assad gave a defiant speech Sunday that ruled out negotiations with rebel fighters and made clear that he intends to remain in power as long as possible. Assad's words came as no great surprise. Seasoned diplomats, including former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, have tried and failed to broker a peace.

So why does the war drag on? One key reason is that neither side believes it is losing.

The opposition controls a significant amount of territory and has established a presence in large parts of Syria, especially the north and east. It has recently formed a unified political and military structure, winning the recognition of numerous countries. But Assad's government can take comfort in the rebels' failure so far to take any major cities, including the two most important ones, the business center, Aleppo, and the capital, Damascus. The insurgents have received arms and other support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, which has further emboldened them, yet the regime retains an overwhelming advantage in firepower. With neither side convinced it will lose, neither is ready to stop fighting.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle...e_name.article

No end in sight

President Bashar Assad sounds another death knell for diplomacy

ON JANUARY 6TH, in his first public speech for nearly seven months, Syria’s President Bashar Assad once again set his face against any suggestion that he should negotiate with the rebels, let alone accept the idea of his own departure as a prerequisite for a peaceful transition. He also seemed to belittle the services of Lakhdar Brahimi, the envoy of both the UN and the Arab League to Syria, who has been relentlessly touring the region and visiting capitals around the world in an effort to broker a solution.

Mr Assad’s tepid offer of reform, echoing previously unkept promises, was immediately rejected by his opponents, both armed and non-violent, including the National Co-ordination Body, a group still tolerated by the regime. He said he would never talk to “terrorists”, as he calls the rebels. His government was determined, he said, to beat off the dual challenge of Western regimes plotting to overthrow him and of terrorists tied to al-Qaeda bent on doing likewise. It was unclear if, in his eyes, those malign forces were acting in unison.

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

After being freed from prison yesterday, Zaidoun is now speaking out on @AC360 right now. @andersoncooper
8:39 PM

Zaidoun - "I wasn't tortured, thanks to your campaign. I was dealt with respectfully but I lost 35-40 pounds" on @AC360
8:41 PM

Zaidoun - "People are losing their minds inside. There's no food. There's no medicine." On @AC360
8:41 PM

Zaidoun - "My brother is in prison of only one reason, because he is my brother" On @AC360
8:42 PM

Zaidoun - "We talk about the martyrs every day, but no one is talking about those who are inside these torture centers" On @AC360
8:42 PM

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

Despite horrendous weather another 174 x'd last nite 2 safety of jordan. Despite immense challenges 2013 appeal is only 6% funded
12:54 AM

https://twitter.com/yasmeenmobayed

In the city of Banyas there are more Sunnis than Alawites, but including the ~24 surrounding Alawite villages, Sunnis are only 30%.
1:03 AM

Note that in the beginning of the revolution we would protest alongside Alawites and Christians, but now Banyas, a small small city, + has more than 50 checkpoints, which are all manned by armed Alawites from the people in the surrounding Alawite villages.
1:04 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

the fight in taftanaz military airport continues. some assad troops have refused to surrender
2:19 AM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90A0BP20130111

Rebels say they seized helicopter base in Syria

Rebels seized a strategic air base in northern Syria on Friday after months of fighting, activists and insurgents said, further weakening President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the region.

The Syrian military struck back hours after fighters captured the base, launching air strikes on the area, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Taftanaz base is being bombarded by Syrian war planes, which are trying to destroy the airport after it was seized by fighters," it said. These came from several Islamist battalions strong in northern Syria such as Ahrar al-Sham, the Islamic Vanguard and al-Nusra Front, which has links to al Qaeda.

For months, rebels had fought for the base used by military helicopters in Idlib province. But it only fell after Islamist units reinforced them earlier in January.

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

55 Syrians, including 5 colonels, 3 lt. colonels, 4 majors, 2 captains and 3 liuetenants defected to Turkey this morning.
4:40 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Its Official...the Taftanaz airport has been liberated! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=o44EfEh_bKA
3:43 AM

The FSA inside the main HQ building in Taftanaz airport! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=bKJsoIzz4s4
3:44 AM

The FSA inside the weapons depot in Taftanaz airport!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=3QCKgL3HT28
3:45 AM

TAFTANAZ AIRPORT...The largest helicopter airport in northern Syria...2nd largest helicopter airport in all of Syria...is now LIBERATED!
3:46 AM

Regime MiGs and Sukhois now shelling the Taftanaz airport and Taftanaz itself as "revenge."
4:45 AM

https://twitter.com/T_Aldiery

From Taftanaz airport: Alawite officers & soldiers fled the airport by helicopter before the imminent defeat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=KEQZoOCcOkU
5:26 AM

The sectarian Assad regime shot any Sunni soldier tht attempted to defect in Taftanaz airport. Sunni soldiers were eventually abondoned
5:29 AM

I honestly don't feel remorse for these captured Sunni soldiers. You learned a valuable lesson because of your serving for a sectarian army.
5:31 AM

The Alawite officers and soldiers abandoned them right before the fall of the airport. It seems only a short time later the airport fell. Nevertheless, many Sunni in the Assad army come from poor backgrounds & are brainwashed.
5:38 AM

https://twitter.com/BSyria

A fighter risking his life on the grnd is worth more than all of us commentators combined.But that doesn't mean he necessarily represents me
5:44 AM

Excuse me Mr. Rebel, what freedom are you fighting for?
5:48 AM

https://twitter.com/T_Aldiery

Some Syrian tweeps are pissed that Ahrar Al-Sham and JN liberated Taftanaz airport. Grow up!
5:59 AM

If the Anti-Assad FSA fighters were running around with beer bottles, I'm sure that would appease many of the "progressive" revolutionists.
6:00 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

by the way, there are heavy clashes now near menneg military airport in the northern countryside of aleppo. hope to hear good news
3:58 AM

resistance fighters seized a military copter in taftanaz military airport http://youtu.be/12-CGvflHnw
6:02 AM

[visionary]

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...r-crimes-court

UN urged to refer Syria to war crimes court

More than 50 countries have backed a call for the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, a move that would open the way for war crimes prosecutions.

A draft of the letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press says the situation in Syria should be referred to the Hague-based war crimes tribunal "without exceptions and irrespective of the alleged perpetrators".

"At the very least, the council should send out an unequivocal message (...) announcing that it intends to refer the situation to the ICC unless a credible, fair and independent accountability process is being established in a timely manner" by Syria, it continues.

The letter cites the findings of a UN expert panel documenting summary executions, torture and sexual violence that has occurred since the start of the uprising in March 2011. It also notes repeated appeals by the UN's top human rights official and resolutions by the global body's Human Rights Council calling for ICC referral.

The draft letter was signed by Switzerland's ambassador to the UN in New York on behalf of dozens of countries including Britain and France, two of the Security Council's five permanent members. The other three permanent members - the US, China and Russia - had not signed the draft.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...eb9_story.html

Worries about a ‘failed state’ in Syria

Growing chaos in the liberated areas of northern Syria is convincing some members of the Syrian opposition that the country will become a “failed state” unless an orderly political transition begins soon to replace President Bashar al-Assad.

This stark analysis is contained in an intelligence report provided to the State Department last week by Syrian sources working with the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Describing the situation in the area from Aleppo to the Turkish border, where Assad’s army has largely disappeared, the report draws a picture of disorganized fighters, greedy arms peddlers and profiteering warlords.

This security vacuum in the Aleppo region appears to have helped Jabhat al-Nusra, which is allied with al-Qaeda. The group is benefiting not just from its prowess on the battlefield but from its refusal to engage in looting and other predatory behavior. In its emphasis on crude but egalitarian justice and social services, Jabhat al-Nusra emulates other successful Muslim extremist organizations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The security situation isn’t as bad in rural areas, such as Idlib province, southwest of Aleppo, according to the Syrian sources. Unlike the multiethnic sprawl of the cities, the rural towns and villages are tighter and more cohesive, with tribal and other traditional sources of authority filling the vacuum left by Assad’s crumbling army.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-...hout-solution/

Syria talks end in Geneva without solution

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that Russia seems as determined as the United States to end Syria's civil war, but that he doesn't expect a political solution to emerge anytime soon.

Brahimi, who is the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, spent the day at the United Nations' European headquarters meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

"We are all very, very deeply aware of the immense suffering of the Syrian people, which has gone for far too long. We all stressed the need for a speedy end to the bloodshed, to the destruction and all forms of violence in Syria. We stressed again that in our view, there was no military solution to this conflict," Brahimi told reporters.

https://twitter.com/Brown_Moses

Just uploaded, a 34 minute video tour of the air base captured near Taftanaz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMRYMdTeBIY
3:45 PM

Here in the Taftanaz air base tour video you see the damage done by artillery/tanks to the last building captured http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...MdTeBIY#t=168s
4:02 PM

Taftanaz air base tour - S5 rockets waiting to be loaded onto a helicopter, now more likely to be fired from a truck http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...MdTeBIY#t=683s
4:10 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

10 troops have defected from al-kindi hospital in aleppo city
10:31 AM

last night: all the security men in inkhil police station had defected
10:41 AM

resistance fighters blew up a military checkpoint near the town of zerbeh (aleppo) & killed 15 assad troops
2:58 PM

al-farouq brigades say 8 troops have defected in al-qahtaniyah
5:25 PM

resistance fighters destroyed a military checkpoint & liberated the town of al-sheikh ahmad (near kowaires military airport)
5:38 PM

https://twitter.com/tweets4peace

Doctor I know in Damascus met with 2 detainees freed in the swap. Said they're dead man/woman walking. No life left. Execute Assad.
6:05 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Jordanian anchorman can't contain his tears when speaking about the Syrian refugees at the Zaatari camp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=TSVFz52uiGc
8:11 PM

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

200 x'd last nite 2 Jo frm Dara reportd heavy bombardment. Thankfully the rain & snow has stopped which will allow the camp to dry.
1:22 AM

https://twitter.com/samersniper

Warplanes are now striking Rastan city in Homs ... Many martyrs and dozens of injuries were reported ... It's 9.20 am [local time]
2:25 AM

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

Local Coordination Coomittees in Syria

The LCC managed to document 106[4] martyrs (including 13 children and 8 women), 40 martyrs were reported in massacre of Nahiya Al-Houl in Hasaka, 22 martyrs were reported Damascus and its Suburbs, 17 in Aleppo, 11 in Hama, 8 in Daraa, 4 in Idlib and 2 in Homs

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 46,835 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90B0AL20130112

Somali pirates release Syrian hostages after two years: authorities

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-20991818

Paul Conroy, photographer injured in Syria, vows to return

Mr Conroy, 48, from Totnes in Devon, suffered serious injuries in an attack on Homs in February 2012.

The same attack killed war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.

Mr Conroy was smuggled to Lebanon by Syrian rebels before being brought back for treatment in hospital in London.

Now back on home turf, the father of three said he wanted to go back to tell the Syrian people's stories.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90A0NH20130112

Russia rejects Assad exit as precondition for Syria deal

Russia voiced support on Saturday for international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi but insisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to end the country's conflict.

Some 60,000 Syrians have been killed during the 21-month-old revolt and world powers are divided over how to stop the escalating bloodshed. Government aircraft bombed outer districts of Damascus on Saturday after being grounded for a week by stormy weather, opposition activists in the capital said.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement following talks on Friday with the United States and Brahimi reiterated calls for an end to violence in Syria, but there was no sign of a breakthrough.

Brahimi said the issue of Assad, whom the United States, European powers and Gulf-led Arab states insist must step down to end the civil war, appeared to be a sticking point at the meeting in Geneva.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have destroyed a bmp-1 in darayya
3:52 AM

resistance fighters destroyed 2 tanks in aleppo city
8:45 AM

chief of the police department in al-tabqa has defected
9:05 AM

assad's thugs have executed a brigadier general & 7 troops because of their attempt to defect in al-maliha (damascus countryside)
9:39 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

+25 troops have defected near the citadel of aleppo
9:42 AM

update: resistance fighters damaged 2 tanks & 3 bmp vehicles in darayya
11:58 AM

i confirm now that resistance fighters have shot down a military copter near al-mazzeh military airport
12:04 PM

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam

Jordan King Abdulah II: Support transition in Syria to prevent extremists from filling power vacuum. AR: http://alhayat.com/Details/471888
12:06 PM

https://twitter.com/AlexanderPageSY

Syrian State TV broadcast announcement: "Al Jazeera have just finished replica constructions of main sites in Central Damascus"
1:39 PM

[Prosperity]

As the Islamic fundamentalists gain prominence in the rebellion you may see some forces shift back to Assad merely because he was secular.

[visionary]

http://www.lccsyria.org/10807

Local Coordination Committees

Saturday has ended with 141 recorded martyrs, including 5 children and 5 women: 61 martyrs in Damascus and its suburbs, 32 martyrs in Aleppo, 12 martyrs in Raqqa, including 5 martyrs shot at the bakery, 12 martyrs in Hama, 9 martyrs in Deir Ezzor, 8 martyrs in Daraa, 5 martyrs in Homs, and 2 martyrs in Idlib

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...tatus-refugees

Arab League delegation to visit Syria's neighbouring countries to assess status of refugees

An Arab League delegation is to visit Syria's neighbouring countries to assess the status of refugees ahead of a donor conference in Kuwait on January 30, the pan-Arab body said on Sunday.

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis agreed to send a team to Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq "to assess the situation of Syrian refugees on the ground," the Arab League said.

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

567 x to jordan. Youngest only 12 days old. I repeat that to improve conditions 4 refugees in Zaatri & in towns we need money now.
11:34 PM Jan 12

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they killed a brigadier general & military officers in damascus city. details later
6:35 PM

resistance fighters say a colonel has defected in al-tabqa (al-raqqah) #syria
9:41 AM

resistance fighters continue to besiege the central jail in al-raqqah city. an assad warplane has bombed their places
9:50 AM

update: resistance fighters destroyed a tank & 3 bmp vehicles in darayya
4:45 AM

al-farouq brigades say they have shot down a warplane in al-hasakah
5:13 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they have liberated a building attached to kowaires military airport (aleppo)
5:26 AM

resistance fighters are about to enter kowaires military airport. a statement will be issued soon
7:22 AM

resistance fighters arrested 2 pilots in menneg military airport http://youtu.be/rMf4xzjgns4
9:56 AM

2 military officers & a soldier have defected in hama (near salamiyah)
10:06 AM

resistance fighters have liberated the town of kowaires (near the military airport)
10:22 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

6 soldiers defected from Wadi Aldayf base in MaaratAlNouman and hour ago. Idlib
7:23 AM

The FSA is now apparently inside the Menneg airport in Aleppo and are shelling the buildings inside.
7:26 AM

10s of Turkish Ambulance vehicles enter into Syria to attempt to rescue the victims of the massacre in I`zaz, Aleppo.
9:55 AM

Turkey has been helping Syrians more than any other county in the world! Maybe not militarily but humanitarian-wise.
9:59 AM

LCC reporting 20 martyrs and 10s of injuries after shelling on Izzaz in Aleppo.
10:22 AM

https://twitter.com/KurtPelda

Today Assad's air force bombed a square next to the bazar in Azaz, Aleppo. Number of casualties not yet known. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9xuk...ature=youtu.be
10:22 AM

https://twitter.com/bbclysedoucet

Reached Damascus. Traffic gridlock near Lebanon Syria border due to recent snowfall. For Syrians, 2 1/2 hr journey taking 9 hours
10:32 AM

Every trip to Damascus, security tighter. On main road from Lebanon, checkpoints every km in some sections
10:34 AM

1st image Damascus - black smoke rising from strategic suburb Daraya where govt forces trying to dislodge opposition fighters.
11:03 AM

https://twitter.com/GinnySacksMole

FSA Tank Battalion heading to DeirEzZor military airport http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_K2c...ature=youtu.be
12:54 PM

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

Regime spokesperson denies Taftanaz Airport is an airport, "Taftanaz airport is not an airport" http://youtu.be/U38QHxv4Rns
1:06 PM

https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow

Arrived Beirut. Heading for Syria border at dawn.
12:52 PM

https://twitter.com/OnlySyrian

I'v got shot in the eye & shoulder 21 days ago in Aleppo
1:49 PM

my skull & shoulder r broken now.
1:51 PM

i aam in Ankara - Turkey for treatment
1:52 PM

i was told that i will never see with my right eye
1:53 PM

I hope things will be better in Ankara & i'll get sight & hope again
1:54 PM

[visionary]

http://www.france24.com/en/20130113-...r-damascus-ngo

Syrian artillery pounds rebel zones near Damascus: NGO

Syria's army sent shells smashing into rebel zones on the outskirts of Damascus Sunday while a Palestinian camp south of the capital was rocked by fresh fighting, a watchdog said.

"Regime troops shelled Daraya, Beit Sahm, Mleha and Moadamiyat al-Sham," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, referring to rebel-held towns dotted around the edges of Damascus.

The Britain-based monitoring group, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers inside Syria, also reported fierce clashes between insurgents and the army in Daraya, southwest of Damascus, and in the Barzeh district of northern Damascus.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...dfa_story.html

Assad still confident that he can control Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains confident that he can ride out the maelstrom engulfing his country, casting into doubt prospects that intensified efforts to negotiate an end to the bloodshed can succeed, according to Syrians familiar with the thinking of the regime.

Although Assad isn’t winning the fight against the rebels, he isn’t losing, either — at least not yet, or by enough of a margin to make him feel he needs to abandon his efforts to crush the rebellion by force and embark on negotiations that would end his hold on power and expose his loyalists to the threat of revenge, the Syrians and analysts say.

It is hard to imagine Assad ever being in a position to restore his authority over the many parts of Syria that have slipped beyond his control. The rebels seeking to topple him have steadily been gaining ground, most recently seizing control of a strategically important airbase in the north of the country, and if the current trajectory continues, the eventual demise of the four-decade-old Assad family regime seems all but inevitable, analysts say.

But concerns are growing about how long that might take, and at what cost, prompting many Syrians to question whether Assad’s confidence might not be merited, given the realities of a conflict so brutally complex, so finely balanced and so entangled in global geopolitical rivalries that there is still no clearly identifiable endgame in sight nearly two years after the uprising began.

https://twitter.com/AliBakeer

Syrian regime increases the bombing Sweida province targeting the Durzi battalion in FSA & leader khaldon zin al-din was hit in 1 f them
2:54 PM

Druz in Al-Sowaida'a province in Syria became more indulged in the revolution lately & strongly supporting the FSA against Assad regime
2:57 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have won a major battle near damascus airport (between harran al-awamid & al-ataibah). details later
4:26 AM

resistance fighters have liberated the meteorological building near damascus airport
4:30 AM

resistance fighters have liberated the syrian arab news agency's building near damascus airport
4:32 AM

resistance fighters liberated a military checkpoint for airforce intelligence near damascus airport (+100 assad troops were there)
4:35 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed a military tank & seized surveillance equipments near damascus airport
4:40 AM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10811

Local Coordination Committees of Syria

By the end of Sunday the LCC managed to document 141[130] martyrs, including 17 children and 4 women. 51 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs, including 10 martyrs in Douma and 9 martyrs in Hazzeh. 34 martyrs were reported in Aleppo including 20 in Izaz, 16 in Deir Ezzor, 14 in Daraa, 8 in Homs, 5 in Idlib. One martyr was also reported in each of [1] Lattakia and [1] Hama.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 47,106 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://beta.syriadeeply.org/2013/01/...stian-village/

Conversations: The Mayor of a Christian Village

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...rian_purgatory

Syrian Purgatory

Um Ibrahim shivered in the rain outside her tent. It was less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and the winter wind cut to the bone. When I asked why she didn't have a blanket like everyone else at the Atmeh refugee camp, she shrugged and looked down. "I sold it to buy bread for my children."

While the world is abuzz with news that 60,000 Syrians have died so far in the 22-month-old civil war, it is the roughly 3 million refugees and internally displaced persons who are suffering daily. At camps such as Atmeh, located less than 1,000 feet from the border with Turkey, they are struggling to survive without heat, electricity, or adequate sanitation. The meager rations provided by a smattering of small NGOs leave them scrounging in order to keep their hunger at bay.

http://world.time.com/2013/01/12/as-...-a-standstill/

As Syrians Freeze, Diplomacy Is at a Standstill

Even as Syria’s rebels capture more territory in their war against President Bashar Assad’s forces—including a key helicopter base on Friday—international diplomats are struggling to find a way out of the conflict, stymied by hardening positions, as each side digs in, seemingly unwilling to yield political points. The latest sign of how difficult it will be to end Syria’s war came on Friday, when Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met in Geneva with U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, in yet another attempt to craft a political plan on which all could agree. “Optimism and pessimism are difficult to define,” Brahimi told reporters as he tried to dodge a question about the mood of the daylong meeting in Geneva. “We are trying to find an opening to begin to aid the Syrians in this terrible situation.”

As the talks showed, that will not be easy. Just last month, Bogdanov informally broke with Moscow’s long-held support for Assad, bluntly stating what Western leaders had long regarded as obvious: That the rebels appeared headed for inevitable victory, even if it takes a while; shortly after, President Vladimir Putin said Russia was “not that preoccupied” with Syria’s regime, hinting that he believed Assad was a spent force. But while those remarks suggest that Russia was edging away from its critical military and financial support for its closest Arab ally, Russian officials insist that they will not push for Assad’s removal.

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org...=press-release

Syria: Airstrike on Market Kills and Injures Scores

At least 20 people were killed and 99 injured when warplanes bombed a market in the northern Syrian city of Azaz on January 13, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. Twenty of the wounded, all civilians, were treated in an MSF medical facility.

The attack in Azaz, a city near the border with Turkey, was particularly devastating. It followed earlier airstrikes that hit health facilities in the city, making it almost impossible for local medical staff to cope with the scale of the latest emergency. The injured were transported to medical facilities elsewhere in the region, including to an MSF field hospital in the Aleppo area.

“The cars and ambulances kept on coming and patients flooded the hospital,” said Adriana Ferracin, an MSF nurse in Syria. “We received many patients with limb amputations, head injuries, and bleeding eyes and ears.”

Five people were dead on arrival at the MSF facility, while 20 wounded people were treated, among them five children. At hospitals elsewhere in the area, including Kilis Hospital on the Turkish side of the border, 15 people were dead on arrival and 79 received treatment for their injuries.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mid...#axzz2Hyzsrvqu

Syria media denounces 'ageing tourist' Brahimi

Syria's official media lashed out at UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Monday, denouncing him as an "ageing tourist" after his criticism of President Bashar al-Assad's peace plan.

The latest attack on the veteran Algerian diplomat follows stinging criticism by the regime and its media since Brahimi last week termed the plan announced by Assad as "perhaps even more sectarian, more one-sided" than previous initiatives.

"Lakhdar Brahimi is like an ageing tourist travelling for pleasure to capital cities across the world," said Syria's official newspaper Al-Thawra.

"He has done nothing but try to make political settlements for Syria's crisis fail."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...d-5-women.html

Syrian air strike near Damascus 'kills 8 children and 5 women'

The Britain-based watchdog has confirmed the identities of eight child victims, all members of the same clan, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The children were aged between six months and nine years old," Abdel Rahman said, adding that five women were also killed in the strike.

Amateur video posted online by activists, which could not be verified, showed several buildings damaged in the attack. Several bloodied bodies could be seen in the rubble.

https://twitter.com/HannahAllam

State Dept: Deeply saddened to hear of death of LCC member Ahmed el Koussa, killed by sniper while delivering bread in Yarmouk
1:43 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed an armored vehicle & 2 tanks in maliha (damascus countryside)
5:08 AM

resistance fighters say they killed a brigadier general & military officers between palmyra & deirezzor
9:22 AM

[visionary]

http://www.lccsyria.org/10815

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Monday LCCsy. could document 151 martyrs including 21 children and 12 women: 74 martyrs in Damascus and suburbs including 30 in Moaddamiya, 31 in Aleppo, 15 in Daraa, 9 in Homs, 8 in Hama, 7 in Deir Ezzor, 5 in Idlib and 2 in Raqqa

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 47,257 people killed so far in Syria




http://gravesofgrass.tumblr.com/post...as-it-worth-it

Was it worth it?
You should sympathize with those suffering in Syria, those who have lost everything and question if freedom is “worth” the pain because that question is human nature after all, and their agony is immeasurable; but how dare an expatriate living comfortably in the United States, or overseas, question the “worth” of our revolution, the “worth” of freedom. They do not know anything. They do not know real pain or real suffering. Putting the issue of family aside (because every Syrian experiences the pain of the death of family members or the lingering torment of the detainment of loved ones), what direct pain has an expatriate felt? Nothing. Surely nothing compared to those on the inside; nothing direct. Expatriates ask the worth of this revolution as if it is their right to question, as if they are fighting with their own blood and sacrifice for the price of freedom itself.

I was on the bus coming back from the Killis border last week and sat next to an elderly man. He was the same man I recognized from the border, holding 2 large black trash bags of what seemed to be filled with clothes. When I saw him earlier, I assumed he was a refugee who went back to gather items in Syria before crossing the Turkish border back to his temporary “home.”

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/14/s...uster-munition

Syria: Army Using New Type of Cluster Munition

Syrian forces are using notoriously indiscriminate rockets that contain explosive submunitions. Evidence indicates that Syrian forces used BM-21 Grad multi-barrel rocket launchers to deliver cluster munitions in attacks near the city of Idlib in December 2012 and in Latamneh, a town northwest of Hama, on January 3, 2013.

These are the first known instances of Syrian use of ground-based cluster munitions. No information is available on how or when Syria acquired these cluster munitions, which were made in Egypt. Human Rights Watch and others have previously reported use of air-dropped cluster bombs. The Syrian government should immediately cease all use of cluster munitions, which have been comprehensively banned by 111 nations through an international treaty.

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/...?smid=tw-share

Mass Grave Found in Aleppo Amid Fierce Fighting

The bodies lay pell-mell under sticky, red earth at Al Islamiah, a sprawling cemetery in Aleppo. Here and there, a limb or a strip of clothing was visible: the tip of a rubber sandal, a clump of curled-up toes, shoeless feet in blue socks. And then there was the face: a prominent nose, a half-open mouth framed by gray stubble, eyes covered with a blindfold. Whatever had happened to the others, there seemed little doubt as to how this man had met his end.

Jan. 9 had been a grim day. Just an hour earlier I had watched outside a tiny clinic as victims of a rocket attack, all civilians, had been rushed in. Bleeding and burned, some already past care, others within a blink of death, they had arrived in taxis and minivans and on the dirty beds of vegetable trucks, as there are few ambulances left in the rebel-controlled areas of Aleppo. At some point, I realized that I had gotten blood on my boots and told my Syrian guide it was time to leave. A quiet cemetery had seemed like a good place to end a depressing day.

https://twitter.com/tweets4peace

Activist in my village Jobar says "if the meg-warplane comes few times more we'll say: 'there was something called Jobar' " Homs
1:17 AM

People still in my village Jobar+those who fled from it to nearby Kafr Aya/Tal Alshor bubbling with IDP's are freezing&hungry. Homs
1:20 AM

Pro-regime village Aysoon (also Maskaneh) are firing every 3 shells at once onto Jobar now. Sadly people thankful not warplanes Homs
1:23 AM

Of course Assad&the west will do anything to stop arms getting to rebels in Homs, it's door to Tartous/Lattakia. We are poor in arms
1:25 AM

Do we have decent missiles to fire onto warplanes to make them turn away from civilian homes like other provinces? No. Even basic arms are hard to get. But as an activist tells me from my village, we will give our lives to protect Homs &never lose it.
1:27 AM

https://twitter.com/Basma_

Shelling in Homs old district, Khalidiya, Jobar, Soltaniya and Houla, amid reports of 3 deaths and arrival of military reinforcement
3:51 AM

https://twitter.com/samersniper

Huge explosions are shaking Homs city as shelling &airstrikes are targeting Khalidiyeh, JoretAlShayah, OldDistrict Sultaniuye, & Jobar
4:04 AM

https://twitter.com/farGar

Aleppo University bombed: up to 90 dead; in Alhasweya, Homs 55+ killed; Damascus suburbs+Deir Al Zour & others continue to get bombed
11:18 AM

https://twitter.com/Avend93

Assad warplanes bombarding the Kurdish village of Qitmê in Efrin- Aleppo and killing 4 civilians. via LCC.
11:04 AM

KRG to send 1 million liters of fuel + 500 tons of wheat to Syrian Kurdish areas as aid tomorrow Wednesday.
11:12 AM

PYD controlling on Tal Adass is going to help the FSA a lot, it was the center of sending fuel supplies to Assad army in Homs and Banyas.
11:25 AM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

The students that were killed at the University of Aleppo today weren't all members of the opposition. There were loyalists among them too.
11:04 AM

BREAKING: Activists: Four families executed and burned by regime forces in Al-Huswiye in Homs.
11:25 AM

"I'll say it once again. The fighter jet did reconnaissance over Aleppo University before returning coming back to bomb the campus."
11:28 AM

https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa

Any1 knows more? Reuters implies that regime did not bomb Aleppo uni. They quote StateTV, says its "terrorist attack" http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90E0I920130115
11:47 AM

https://twitter.com/BreakingNews

Death toll from explosions at Aleppo University rises to 52, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says - @Reuters
12:28 PM

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

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 181 thus far, including 15 children, and 10 women. 69 martyrs were reported in Aleppo, 61 in Homs most of them in Houla and Bahsarieh , 20 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 14 in Hama,10 in Daraa, 3 in Idlib, 2 in Deir Ezzor, and 2 in Raqqa
11:38 AM

[visionary]

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/po..._used_in_syria

Exclusive: Secret State Department cable: Chemical weapons used in Syria

A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month, The Cable has learned.

United States diplomats in Turkey conducted a previously undisclosed, intensive investigation into claims that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, and made what an Obama administration official who reviewed the cable called a "compelling case" that Assad's military forces had used a deadly form of poison gas.

The cable, signed by the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, and sent to State Department headquarters in Washington last week, outlined the results of the consulate's investigation into reports from inside Syria that chemical weapons had been used in the city of Homs on Dec. 23.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90F00P20130116

U.S. plays down media report that Syria used chemical weapons

The United States on Tuesday poured cold water on a media report that chemical weapons had been used in the Syrian conflict, but reiterated that if Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government did resort to these weapons, it would be held to account.

"The reporting we have seen from media sources regarding alleged chemical weapons incidents in Syria has not been consistent with what we believe to be true about the Syrian chemical weapons program," White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.

He was responding to a report in Foreign Policy magazine that the U.S. State Department had concluded the Syrian military likely used poison gas against its own people in a deadly attack last month.

"If the Assad regime makes the tragic mistake of using chemical weapons, or fails to meet its obligation to secure them, the regime will be held accountable," Vietor said.

https://twitter.com/RamiJarrah

Insane attack by regime military aircraft on University of Aleppo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFigD...ature=youtu.be … 2nd video shows jet trail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge501...ature=youtu.be …
1:08 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

"I swear to God I don't want to kill them." - an FSA fighter crying while shooting at Syrian soldiers in Aleppo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbqcDZfmHrM
2:07 PM

The video also shows FSA fighters rescuing an injured Assad soldier to treat him for his wounds. Mercy in the face of evil.
2:10 PM

https://twitter.com/acarvin

State news agency. RT @SANA_English: Syria: Terrorists Fire Rocket Shells on Aleppo University and Bani Zaid Area, Causing Casualties.
3:25 PM

Syrian State media had earlier said it was a couple of car bombs.
I guess too many people saw the rockets/jet trails so they had to change the story.


https://twitter.com/freeCritic2000

Strange thing about strikes at Aleppo university today is that building doors were locked & students had to break doors to get injured out
3:44 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they have liberated the town of ma`adan in al-raqqah
2:21 PM

resistance fighters killed +20 assad troops & destroyed a tank & 2 bmp vehicles near the town of al-yadoudah in daraa
6:59 PM

https://twitter.com/tweets4peace

Syria regime fb page admin "defects" & swears at Assad after his brother was killed at Aleppo uni by regime warplanes pic.twitter.com/2PQVVpxL
7:24 PM

http://www.facebook.com/syrian.army.news?fref=ts … page link, the post has been removed and all latest posts are praising Assad army/cursing "Ar'ouries" = us
7:37 PM

however in this post http://www.facebook.com/syrian.army....00371460050413 … they claim he was removed as admin as he was hacked
7:38 PM

https://twitter.com/T_Aldiery

We'll forget Aleppo University's massacre tomorrow. Welcome to Syria, everyday there's a massacre.
9:42 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10823

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Tuesday, the Local Coordination Committees were able to confirm 237 martyrs, including 15 children and 10 women. 99 martyrs wre reported in Aleppo, most of them due to the shelling of the University; 65 in Homs most of them in Houla and Hasouba, 31 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 17 in Hama, 15 in Daraa, 6 in Idlib, 2 in Deir Ezzor and 2 in Raqqa.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 47,494 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video...mia-farrow.cnn

January 15, 2013

CNN's Arwa Damon was there as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow visited Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90F0QA20130116

Syrian opposition bemoans "loose" pledges of world support

The deputy head of Syria's main opposition coalition criticized major Western and Arab states on Wednesday for not making good on promises to help it isolate President Bashar al-Assad after granting the bloc formal recognition.

The United States, France, Britain, Turkey and Gulf Arab states embraced the coalition formed in November after U.S. pressure for the creation of a bloc more representative of the opposition's diversity, including rebel forces inside Syria.

World powers wanted the new coalition to coordinate efforts to topple Assad after the lackluster performance of a previous opposition body criticized as being under Islamist domination.

But coalition vice-president George Sabra said international pledges of support had proven largely cosmetic and "loose", allowing the now 22-month-old conflict to rage on inconclusively and thrust the death toll past 60,000, by a U.N. count.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they control all the town of ma`adan in al-raqqah. the last military checkpoint has been liberated
6:50 AM

resistance fighters say they have killed 4 assad troops near kowaires military airport in aleppo
7:11 AM

resistance fighters say they fought assad's forces for 2 hours in brigade 38 base (al-ghariyah, daraa) & destroyed 2 bmp vehicles
7:17 AM

3 soldiers defect in al-raqqah http://youtu.be/ApJXsayS4xI
12:32 PM

update: resistance fighters destroyed 2 tanks & a bmp-1 today in busr al-harir in daraa
12:44 PM

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90F0QA20130116

State Department: United States "appalled and saddened" by "despicable attack" on Syrian university by regime
1:07 PM

https://twitter.com/IvanCNN

Concert for the Displaced. Syrian violinist Ali Moraly performs Bach at benefit for Syrian refugees in Istanbul. pic.twitter.com/t3e7g4I1
1:46 PM

https://twitter.com/AlexanderPageSY

FSA coordination say next 2 weeks will be a turn of the tables regarding the city of Idlib where they will begin a mass military campaign
1:47 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters killed 3 assad soldiers & destroyed a tank in salah al-din neighborhood in aleppo city
1:12 PM

resistance fighters have liberated a military checkpoint in joseh near the lebanese border
1:23 PM

resistance fighters killed 2 military officers & 20 assad troops in joseh near the lebanese border
1:25 PM

resistance fighters destroyed a tank & a bmp-1 in joseh near the lebanese border
1:26 PM

resistance fighters confirm they shot down a warplane near al-rastan city http://youtu.be/EZwoJjYmhMQ
1:58 PM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90G09R20130117

New "massacre" in Syria's Homs kills 106: monitoring group

More than 100 people including women and children were killed in a "massacre" carried out by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in Homs, a monitoring group said on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that some of the 106 victims were burned in their homes and others were either shot or stabbed when pro-Assad forces stormed Basatin al-Huwaisa, a district of the central Syrian city.

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middl...110317737.html

Syria refugees hold elections in Turkish camp

Syrian refugees living at the Kilis camp in Turkey are holding an election.

People are choosing a council that will run the camp along with Turkish officials, with women entering the political fray for the first time.

Although the elections are largely symbolic, it is hoped they will expose the refugees to challenges they may face when they return to Syria.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports from the Kilis refugee camp.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21052810

Syria conflict: The independent parts of Damascus

In Syria's capital, buying bread from state providers can take as long as two hours, and fuel shortages have pushed petrol prices astronomically high.

Syrian officials say there are no opposition forces in the city, but in some areas the guns are not the only things in rebel hands.

Opposition leaders say there are gaps in state provision, so they have stepped in - with everything from soup kitchens for the poor to an independent makeshift justice system.

http://colebourn.tumblr.com/post/407...red-scott-have

The BBC’s Paul Wood and cameraman Fred Scott have been back into Aleppo. They find that unhappiness with the Free Syrian Army on the ground is growing as conditions get grimmer. But there’s an increasing support for the Islamist Al-Nusra Front. Recently blacklisted by the Americans as a terrorist organisation, Paul Wood got the first broadcast interview with a leader from the group.

https://twitter.com/edwardedark

nearly everyone in Aleppo saw it, there can be no doubt. a regime jet swooped low and fired rockets there. end of story
2:52 PM

the overwhelming evidence of eye witnesses near the area of bombings at Aleppo Uni, point to a botched bombing raid by a regime jet
2:57 PM

I myself was driving up the road, just a few miles away from the jet strike. I clearly heard a jet fighter swooping, then a blast
2:59 PM

https://twitter.com/IssuesWaTissues

The youngest martyr in yesterday's massacre at the Aleppo university. This angel's name is Tala Waseem. pic.twitter.com/eXpavH0e
4:58 PM

A Syrian refugee in Lebanon committed suicide yesterday because he couldnt tolerate seeing his family starve and freeze </3
5:00 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Was speaking to my uncle who lives in Dumar in Damascus. No good news at all.
5:23 PM

He said they watched fighter jets conduct air strikes on Daraya four times today, dropping bombs and rockets every time.
5:23 PM

His factory in Daraya is destroyed. Everything he has is lost. All his equipment. All his products are gone.
5:24 PM

Yet the only thing he said was "Alhamdullillah", at least I have my health and my children are safe.
5:24 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they killed the head of information department (intelligence department, palmyra) on palmyra - damascus road
2:03 PM

resistance fighters have started 'the battle for al-hasakah'
2:12 PM

resistance fighters say they destroyed a tank in the town of busr al-harir in daraa
3:45 AM

resistance fighters say many officers & troops have defected from menneg (meng) military airport in aleppo
3:59 AM

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

13 Syrians, including one major, three captains, three lieutenants and one sergeant defected to Turkey this morning.
5:11 AM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10827

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Saturday, the Local Coordination Committees were able to confirm 183[1] martyrs, including 18 children and 9 women. 50 martyrs were reported in Damascus and Damascus Suburbs, 37 in Homs, 25 in Aleppo, 23 in Idlib, 15 in Hama, 16 in Daraa, 9 in Raqqah, 5 in Latakia, and 1 in Hasakeh.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 47,675 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-...?utm_hp_ref=tw

Does Anyone Give a Damn About Syria?

It's hard to believe that every day the news reports have Syrians dying like flies and noone seems to give much of a damn. The report yesterday that 80 students were blown to smithereens was particularly galling. They were studying at their University in Aleppo when, apparently, death rained down from the sky, either through a missile or a bomb. One image had a female hand with a pen still in it, dismembered from the rest of her body. She apparently died while doing school work.

I was a Rabbi at a University. If 80 students had died in a military attack it would have shaken the foundations of the academic world. Professors everywhere would have condemned this violation of the sacred halls of academia. But in Syria it's just another day of indiscriminate slaughter.

An...alternative view.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...vened_in_syria

Should Obama Have Intervened in Syria?

Or would U.S. military involvement merely have made a disaster worse?

With an estimated 60,000 dead and no end in sight, Syria is not only a humanitarian tragedy of mind-boggling, heart-rending proportions -- it's also the most difficult analytical issue I've ever grappled with, and the one the Obama administration has most struggled to get right. But it's important to dig into where exactly it went wrong.

The real U.S. failure of leadership in Syria is not that it refused to intervene militarily. Nor is it that it failed to arm the opposition. Its failure was that it could not find a political solution to prevent the descent into armed proxy war --- a descent we could all see coming. The spiraling catastrophe of the last six months confirms every warning about the dangers of an armed insurgency -- extending the conflict, making it bloodier and more extreme, and devolving power to the men with guns rather than the peaceful activists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...urs?CMP=twt_gu

Syria crisis: al-Qaida fighters revealing their true colours, rebels say

Through a growing role on the battlefield and a rising reputation as an organisation that can get things done, al-Nusra has become a player in the power vacuum that has emerged from the civil war. It is also increasingly known as an enforcer, whose unbending demands are unsettling regular rebel units as well as the societies the group claims to protect.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...starts-to-ease

Jihadi Fighters Win Hearts And Minds By Easing Syria's Bread Crisis

In Syria, the staple of most meals is a thin, round, flat bread that we would probably call pita.

Back in November, as fierce fighting raged across Syria, people started to run out of this bread. Government forces were attacking bakeries in rebel-held areas and cutting off electricity so mills couldn't grind flour. By late last year, Syrians were desperate.

But now, the crisis has been somewhat alleviated — by Aleppo's transitional revolutionary council, [and] a group the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization. It's basically a group of civilian leaders trying to solve Aleppo's problems.

People all over the city have been getting frustrated with the FSA rebels. Then about a month ago, armed Islamist fighters with a group called Jabhat al Nusra took over all four grain compounds. They provided fuel and protection. More bakeries opened.

When the group was first formed about a year ago, Jabhat al Nusra said its aim was to create an Islamic state in Syria. Back then it carried out al-Qaida-style suicide attacks on Syrian government interests.

Then the group changed tactics and began fighting alongside FSA rebels on the ground. It's thought the well-trained and well-equipped Jabhat al Nusra is why rebels have succeeded in taking government military bases.

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

Families burnt and hacked to death in fresh Syria massacre

Syrian opposition sources from Homs said loyalist militiamen backed by government troops swept through the hamlet of Haswiyeh just north of the city, torching houses and slashing victims to death with knives.

The Britain-based opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "whole families were executed", with one family losing up to 32 members, including women and children.

The death count of the attack, which was said to have started on Tuesday, varied from 32 to more than 106. Youssef al-Homsi, an activist based in Homs, said at least 100 people were killed, including dozens of women and children, and sent The Associated Press a list of 100 names said to have been killed, including 15 women and 10 children.

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

Influx increases w/ 1411 arrivals & est 1500 en route frm syria border as @ 6am. Potential record x'ing. Yesterday 1750 x'd. jordan.
10:18 PM

https://twitter.com/RafifJ

LCC Syria 450 soldiers stationed in Damascus defected and returned to their home towns in eastern Syria
10:39 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10831

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The death toll in Syria has risen to 159 martyrs, including 11 women and 16 children: 69 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs, including 21 martyrs in Husainieh Camp and 13 in Daraya; 26 in Aleppo; 20 in Hama, including 11 in Kafr Nabouda; 13 in Homs; 12 in Deir Ezzor, 8 in Daraa; 5 in Idlib; 4 in Suwaida from the Free Syrian Army; 1 in Hassakeh; and 1 in Raqqa.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 47,834 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/390025...n#.UPlhwaqVT5g

Syrian Refugee Father of Four Hangs himself in Lebanon

Desperate and unable to provide for his wife and four daughters, a Syrian refugee who swapped deadly violence in Damascus for destitution in Lebanon hanged himself on Tuesday.

''He told us he was going to buy dinner for the children. Later, we searched for him in the house, and found him hanging from a noose upstairs,'' said his wife Rima Bakkar, who suffered a nervous breakdown after finding her husband dead.

Previously a resident of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in south Damascus, Mohammed Melsi, 35, was one of thousands of people who fled the Syrian capital for what was supposed to be safe haven in neighbouring Lebanon.

He arrived in southern Lebanon with his family about a month ago, renting an unfurnished apartment in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp.

Thousands of Syrian refugee families have set up home in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps where accommodation is cheaper than in other areas of the country.

Sitting inside Ain al-Helweh's Al-Aqsa hospital, Melsi's grief-stricken widow broke down as she recounted the family's story.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...-syrias-aleppo

Sniper kills French journalist in Syria's Aleppo

A Belgian-born French journalist, Yves Debay, has died from sniper fire in north Syria's Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

"He was killed on one of Aleppo's fronts" on Thursday, said the Aleppo Media Centre, adding that he was "shot by a regime sniper."

Anti-regime activists in Aleppo posted online photographs of Debay's body and of his press card, as well as an amateur video showing the corpse.

The French defence ministry press card, dated 2010, showed Debay's name and picture. The AMC's Abu Hisham told AFP via the Internet that he was first alerted of Debay's killing by a volunteer at an Aleppo field hospital.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...across-syria-0

In Al-Hasakah province, fierce clashes are said to be underway between rebel and Kurdish fighters in Ras Al Ain. Rebel forces were said to be using artillery and a tank. Witnesses say about 300 rebel righters crossed in to Ras Al Ain at dawn from the Syrian/Turkish border.

https://twitter.com/AmalHanano

Regime air raid on Souk al-Intaj area in Aleppo near the Russian Consulate. Consulate was evacuated a few days ago, of course.
8:44 AM

https://twitter.com/DarthNader

1st they called the peaceful protesters Jihadis, then they called the FSA Jihadis, then the Jihadis came & they said: "See? Jihadis!"
10:43 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The FSA announce the start of the battle to liberate the shabiha towns of Foo`ah and Kfarya in Idlib yesterday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqZqw...ature=youtu.be No not the entire town is a target...they are LIBERATING the towns...not trying to erase them off the map.
7:43 AM

12 martyrs at least have been confirmed as a result of the Salqeen Idlib massacre. Most are children. There are reports of more martyrs but they are all either in pieces or under rubble.
7:56 AM

7 martyrs in Darkoosh JisrAlShughoor Idlib after MiG shelling on the town.
8:35 AM

Intense clashes in KhanSheikhoon Idlib as the FSA intercepted a convoy headed from Hama towards the Hamdiyeh base in MaaratAlNouman.
10:59 AM

Tawheed Brigade joins the Liberation of Syria Front...making it perhaps the largest armed group in Syria.
11:17 AM

https://twitter.com/farGar

I appreciate Turkey's support for Syria but they are not a model for us. In Free Syria we dont want to arrest journos & oppress minorities
11:48 AM

"omg, islamists..omg minorities...omg omg omg" concerns over post-Assad Syria never stop yet some ppl overlook ongoing + daily massacres
11:50 AM