Yahoo: Assad predicts disaster if West meddles in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...651569763.html

Al Jazeera reporter killed by sniper in Syria

A sniper has shot dead Al Jazeera freelance reporter Mohamed Al-Massalma in the southern Syrian province of Deraa, the Qatar-based media network has said.

"The Syrian journalist, 33, used the pseudonym of Mohamed Al-Horani, was shot with three bullets, during covering the fights at the front lines in the town of Busra Al-Harir in the countryside of Daraa." the news channel said in a press release on Friday.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...125481377.html

UN rights chief urges Syria war crimes probe

Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, has cited the increasing casualty count in Syria as a basis for an International Criminal Court investigation into war crimes in the nearly two-year-long conflict.

Speaking after a closed meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Pillay said there was little indication the 15-member body would take action on the 22-month conflict.

"I firmly believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed, are being committed, and should be investigated," Pillay said citing the UN figure of 60,000 deaths in Syria.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Pillay, said the 60,000 death toll was "a conservative figure". The United Nations also estimates that by June, there could be 1.1 million Syrian refugees in the region, double the current figure of 540,000.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...4306ad20730bb4

Group urges Egypt to not deport refugees to Syria

A New York-based rights group has urged Egyptian authorities not to repatriate asylum seekers to Syria, saying such a move would violate international laws since they could face violence and persecution in their home country.

Human Rights Watch says in a Friday report that two Palestinians held in Cairo International Airport are at risk of deportation to Syria, and could follow in the steps of two Syrians already deported. Egyptian authorities are also considering repatriating 13 other Syrians.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

assad's beasts bombed a field hospital & destroyed a building in darayya. many people, mostly women & children, were killed
12:46 PM

update: a report says +30 people were killed in darayya (assad's beasts bombed a hospital & a residential building)
1:01 PM

resistance fighters say they have liberated the central prison in al-raqqah city
1:02 PM

resistance fighters have wiped out an infamous military checkpoint (palace of conferences) in damascus city
1:14 PM

update: an assad warplane bombed kids playing outside their homes in mida`a (damascus countryside). 15 people were killed
1:27 PM

https://twitter.com/AmalHanano

Mohamed Masalmeh was a citizen journalist in Daraa. Sniped by regime forces as he ran across the street holding his Al-Jazeera mic.
5:51 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

update: resistance fighters destroyed a tank & a bmp-1 today in the town of al-herak in daraa
1:29 PM

resistance fighters destroyed al-aqtan military checkpoint (3 miles north of al-raqqah city) & killed +60 assad troops
1:40 PM

update: resistance fighters seized a tank & destroyed an armored vehicle & a tank north of al-raqqah city
1:43 PM

ahrar al-sham brigades say resistance fighters have liberated an airforce defense brigade in tal hasil in aleppo
6:47 PM

ahrar al-sham brigades say resistance fighters killed many assad troops, destroyed 2 tanks & seized weapons in tal hasil (aleppo)
6:49 PM

https://twitter.com/T_Aldiery

FSA in DeirEzzor cut off regime forces near the river in their siege of the Intelligence apparatus building. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=So-H5NMPj3A
9:41 PM

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

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Friday the Local Coordination Committees in Syria documents 183 martyr including 17 child and 13 women. 75 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, including 18 martyr in Daraya, 15 martyrs in Madiaa, and 13 martyrs in Douma; 48 in Aleppo, including 30 martyrs in the shelling of the building in Mouhafazeh neighborhood; 19 martyrs in Idlib, including 13 martyrs in Salqeen’s shelling; 22 martyrs in Daraa; 9 martyrs in Hama; 8 martyrs in Homs; and 2 martyrs in Deir Ezzor

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,017 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90I0HS20130119

Syria says talk of Assad's removal unacceptable

Syria's foreign minister said on Saturday any discussion of President Bashar al-Assad's future was "unacceptable", a week after the international envoy to the country said the president should not be part of a transitional government.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem's comments showed the government has dug in against foreign pressure for a deal with the rebels fighting to topple Assad.

"No one should dare discuss the position of the president ... this is unacceptable," he told Syrian state television in an evening interview.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syria...ases-northeast

Syrian FM calls on rebels to disarm and negotiate

Syria's foreign minister invited the country's rebels on Saturday to lay down their weapons and take part in a national dialogue, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new Cabinet with wide executive powers.

Walid al-Moallem said in a live interview on state TV late Saturday that any opposition parties could join the Cabinet as long as they reject foreign intervention in Syria. The Syrian government has started contacting "representatives of the Syrian people," he added.

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

Daraa: Bosr Al-Harir: The Battle of Amoud Houran continues for more than 24 days now, in which the Free Syrian Army has managed to destroy 13 BMP vehicles, 58 T-72 tanks, and acquired two of the latter.

The number of martyrs in this town have risen to 60 including civilians, journalists, and militants. It’s estimated that more than 75% of infrastructure has been damaged and more than 300 residents’ houses has been razed and set ablaze by the regime.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they destroyed a military compound (it is to the east of al-hasakah city) & arrested assad troops
8:10 AM

it seems that resistance fighters didn't liberate the central jail in al-raqqah. i got a report now about clashes there
8:22 AM

resistance fighters say a warplane has bombed the 4th division & the police houses in damascus countryside
9:05 AM

2 soldiers have defected from hama military airport http://youtu.be/lWCcXb5Thg4
9:36 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The FSA south of MaaratAlNouman has destroyed 3 tanks that were headed to the Hamdiyeh base. Idlib
7:21 AM

Wadi Aldayf was responsible for martyring yet another of my relatives today...Fidaa` Mahmud Alhaidar.
7:26 AM

Fida` Mahmud Alhaidar was on her way from #MaaratAlNouman to Khan Alsibil when she was shot by a sniper. She had 2 kids.
7:34 AM

The FSA announce the battle to liberate southern Idlib... (Haish, KhanSheikhoon and other cities)
9:11 AM

Reports that the FSA in Qusair Homs killed a group of Hezbollah fighter that were trying to sneak into the country from Lebanon.
11:09 AM

https://twitter.com/Ugariti_Homsi

Breaking: Assad's air forces drop 5 TNT bombs over Raqqah city killing 30 people.
4:19 PM

https://twitter.com/farGar

Syrian pilot en route to bomb Damascus suburb of Al Moadamiya bombed Assad 4th division instead. not clear yet if on purpose or by accident
1:27 PM

Confirmed: Jubhat al Nusra has defeated & taken weapons of Assad Unit 599, an air defense unit which was guarding Aleppo Intl airport
4:29 PM

[visionary]

http://jordantimes.com/syrian-inflow...-record-levels

Syrian inflow to Jordan reaches record levels

Syrians continued to pour into Jordan in record numbers over the weekend, with relief officials reporting the entry of over 3,500 refugees in less than 36 hours and the government seeing no end in sign to the mass exodus.

According to the UN, some 1,300 Syrians crossed into Jordan early Saturday, raising the total number of new arrivals over the past seven days to over 10,000.

Some 60 injured Syrians were among the weekend arrivals, according to a security source, the bulk of them suffering from gunshot and mortar shrapnel wounds.

Authorities took the injured Syrians to hospitals in the border cities of Ramtha and Mafraq for emergency treatment, where seven were pronounced dead on arrival, according to the source.

As of late Saturday, the remaining injured Syrians were listed in serious or moderate condition.

A second security source claimed that the hospitalised Syrians were rebel fighters injured in recent clashes on the outskirts of the border city of Daraa.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomeg...epickingsofwar

The pickings of war

IT IS the grubbiest car showroom imaginable: a dusty car park in Sarmada, a drab little town in a war zone. Yet Bassam, the owner, who works from a nearby office with a magazine photograph of a jeep sellotaped to the door, is doing a lively trade. So much so that a host of competitors are following suit nearby, parking vehicles along pavements and encircling the roundabout, with warning triangles on car roofs signalling “for sale”.

Syria’s regime used to impose taxes of up to 100% on imported cars but since it lost control of the northern border, car selling has taken off; stolen vehicles sometimes bolster the stock. Demand is strong. “The fighters need transport,” says Bassam. “And now there is free trade. No tax, no paperwork, no bribes!”

The border zone between Turkey and Syria has become crucial to the economic survival of many Syrians. As refugees flee, activists bring in vital food and medicine, fighters smuggle in weapons, and entrepreneurial types make money from the war. As soon as a Turkish police patrol clears off, horses trot Turkish gas into Syria. A Syrian man hustles his sheep in the other direction, for sale in Turkey. Generator providers and bread sellers do well too.

http://www.albawaba.com/business/syr...ChfhpE.twitter

Syria and Iran ink credit deals

Syria signed a $1 billion credit facility agreement with Iran Wednesday, during Prime Minister Wael Halqi's visit to Tehran.

Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, said the agreement between the Commercial Bank of Syria and the Export Development Bank of Iran was accompanied by the signing of seven contracts on energy transmission and electrical equipment.

The Syrian electricity minister, Imad Khamis, was quoted by SANA as saying that the contracts included a 50 million euro deal to build a power plant on Syria's coast, with a total capacity of 650 megawatts.

Iran will fund the construction of the facility, Khamis said, adding that around $500 million of the Iranian loan would be dedicated to the electricity sector.

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

1896 x'd to Jordan @ 6am. We may reach 2500 by midday. Most frm Dara. All transferred to Zaatri which is under enormous pressure
11:08 PM

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

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Saturday the LCC managed to document 136 martyrs (including 9 women and 6 children), 47 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 30 martyrs in Aleppo, 15 martyrs in Idlib, 10 martyrs in Daraa, 9 martyrs in Raqqa, 8 martyrs in Homs, 5 martyrs in Hasaka, 5 martyrs in Deir Ezzor, 5 martyrs in Hama and 2 martyrs in Lattakia

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,153 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ass...yCxmgs.twitter

Assad's mother in Dubai: Syrians

Anisa Makhluf, the mother of President Bashar al-Assad, has left the war-torn country and joined her daughter in Dubai, Syrian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates and an activist said on Sunday.

Makhluf has been living next to her daughter, Bushra, the only sister of Assad, in Dubai since around 10 days, Syrian expatriates told AFP.

Bushra's husband General Assef Shawkat, an army deputy chief of staff, was killed along with three other high-ranking Syrian officials in a July 18 bombing at the National Security headquarters in Damascus.

In September, Syrian residents in the Gulf emirate said that Bushra had enrolled her five children at a private school in Dubai where she had moved.

http://cjchivers.com/post/4102785014...ia-a-landscape

The Defoliation of Northern Syria.

A landscape today from the countryside north of Aleppo, where residents are felling trees to use as fuel for cooking and for heat. It was a fast-moving scene — crowds of people with axes and handsaws. Guys on motorcycles dragging branches behind their bikes. They ran when the cameras came out. Look closely to see the dozens of stumps where the trees had been.

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

If it wasn't obvious before that the entire world is supporting the regime...I'm pretty sure its obvious now. @mannoush @UN
8:23 AM

Wasn't the point of forming the NC for this exact purpose? To be the main representative of Syrians? For aid to be sent through them?!
8:44 AM

Suqoor Alsham, Altawheed, & Ahrar Alsham attempt to liberate the checkpoints on the western end using heavy artillery and tanks. Idlib
9:46 AM

I'm hearing that all the Homs battalions have united to put an end to the siege.
12:05 PM

https://twitter.com/samersniper

Jobar is being annihilated since morning and until now!! Huge army troops R surrounding it from all sides. FSA defending heroically! Homs
1:08 PM

The only support FSA in Jobar got is that of their peers in Eastern_Buweida who opened doors of hell on Assad troops near Damas-Homs Hy!
1:29 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Suqoor Alsham confirm the first checkpoint (Radko) west of Idlib city has been liberated. They are currently working to liberate the rest.
12:41 PM

Reports that the 2nd checkpoint (Zabadani) in Idlib city has been liberated.
1:15 PM

The checkpoints in Idlib city might as well be called Barracks or small bases...they are huge checkpoints and are heavily guarded.
1:17 PM

https://twitter.com/RafifJ

Everybody needs to pressure the UN to release a clear statement about how they plan to distribute relief funds [$500,000,000] for Syria
1:16 PM

This is surely a joke. NGOs in Syria? Joke. But it's not funny. This money will be used to kill more people.
1:17 PM

I'm told the money will be distributed among NGOs in Syria, which are all controlled by the regime.
1:18 PM

They could be far more efficient and just hand a bag of cash to Assad himself.
1:25 PM

https://twitter.com/tracey_shelton

A coordinated attack on 7 check points surrounding Idlib city just began the "battle for Idlib" at 4pm today.
2:13 PM

[visionary]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/0...90J0EQ20130120

Syrian opposition seeks Qatar help for transition government

The head of Syria's opposition coalition has flown to Qatar to secure promises of financial aid for a transitional government in rebel-held areas, sources at negotiations in Istanbul said on Sunday.

The talks on agreeing a transitional government had been hit by disagreement over whether a transitional government could survive when the Syrian National Coalition President Moaz Alkhatib left in the middle of deliberations, the sources said.

"It seems that there won't be a government unless Sheikh Moaz comes back from Qatar with enough to convince enough members of the coalition that any government they set up will be viable," said one coalition member who did not want to be named.

The talks launched Saturday are the opposition's second bid to form a transitional government, with its credibility at stake as the country slides into sectarian conflict between majority Sunnis and President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...131838196.html

Syrian town takes strife in stride

Residents said six people were killed when government forces attacked the rebel-held town bordering Turkey on Friday. Dozens of people were injured, locals said, including many children.

Salkeen was captured by rebels after fierce fighting with regime forces two months ago, but opposition activists say 70 per cent of the town either supports Assad, or at least is opposed to the uprising against him.

Support for Assad, a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect, does not fall along sectarian lines, at least not in Salkeen. Most of the town's 40,000 residents are Sunni Muslims, with only a handful of Alawite families.

Before the conflict began, Salkeen was considered to be a town pampered by the regime. Despite its relatively small size, several local officials were appointed to senior positions in the Assad administration. The former education minister and the former governors of Homs and Raqqa provinces all hailed from Salkeen.

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

31 minutes ago
Al Jazeera has gained exclusive access to a rebel group inside Syria.

Members of the Liwaa Al-Islam Brigade have been training to fight government forces and learn tactics of urban warfare.

In the captured army base in the outskirts of Damascus, the rebels also showed the weapons at their disposal.

Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reports.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have entered umm al-sakher brigade (near al-buwaydah al-sharqiyah, homs), destroyed a tank & seized weapons
2:46 PM

resistance fighters liberated 3 military checkpoints in idlib city
2:49 PM

resistance fighters have destroyed a tank near darayya
2:58 PM

resistance fighters have damaged 2 bmp vehicles near the town of busra al-sham in daraa
3:01 PM

from ahmad al-khalaf brigade: resistance fighters wiped out the officers' houses near saida in daraa http://youtu.be/fqyNb9aLyNs
3:03 PM

https://twitter.com/tweets4peace

Cousin says regime stormed home outskirts of Jobar+shot dead 55 yr old mum+30 yr old disabled sister+took 64 yr old dad away. Homs
4:37 PM

sad but glad to hear they died shooting and not stabbing. Prayers with the rest of our family/loved ones trapped in Jobar.
4:37 PM

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

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Sunday, the Local Coordination Committees were able to confirm 132 martyrs, including 11 women and 10 children. 50 martyrs were reported in Damascus and Damascus Suburbs, 26 in Homs, 21 in Aleppo, 17 in Idlib, 8 in Raqqah, 6 in Daraa, 2 in Deir El-Zor, 1 in Hama, and 1 in Latakia.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,285 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyria...me_pm-in-exile

Syria opposition meets to name PM-in-exile

Syria's opposition umbrella group met Sunday in a bid to name a prime minister-in-exile, a day after the Damascus government ruled out any calls for the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

The diplomatic face-off came as a couple and their three children were killed in regime air strikes on a village in Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The National Coalition, recognized by many Western and Arab powers as the sole representative of the Syrian people, met in Istanbul to discuss the formation of a government-in-exile and who would eventually head it, an opposition official said.

"A proposal was made to name Riad Hijab but it has run into much criticism," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said talks held behind closed doors would continue into the evening and resume Monday in Istanbul, and that the meeting would also prepare for an opposition forum in Paris on January 28 attended by Friends of Syria nations.

http://www.dw.de/un-leader-condemns-...ers/a-16539436

UN leader condemns Syria arms suppliers

UN leader Ban Ki-moon has condemned "outside powers" for providing arms to government and rebel forces in Syria. As a car bombing was reported to have claimed more lives, Russia announced plans to withdraw citizens.

Ban and UN-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi condemned the weapons suppliers, without naming them directly in a statement on Monday evening.

"Both expressed deep disappointment and anguish at the appalling levels of killing and destruction carried out by both the government and the opposition, fueled by outside powers providing weaponry to both sides," the UN press office said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90K0OW20130121

Russia sending aircraft to evacuate citizens from Syria

Russia is sending two planes to Lebanon on Tuesday to evacuate more than 100 of its citizens from Syria, the Emergencies Ministry said, in the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be preparing for President Bashar al-Assad's possible defeat.

Russia has been Assad's main foreign protector during a 22-month uprising against his rule, but a diplomat conceded last month the government had lost territory and the rebels fighting Assad could win the war.

Moscow is also carrying out what has been called the largest naval exercises since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, including off Syria's coast, which analysts say are meant to underscore its interest in the region.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

As of now the FSA units fighting to liberate Idlib city have liberated 2 checkpoints and captured a Shilka and 3 tanks.
8:45 PM

Some of the spoils of war in the hands of the FSA after liberating a checkpoint in Idlib city. http://youtu.be/_s6kTg9oPUw They also got 4 tanks.
4:35 AM

Coordinated effort by suqoor alsham, ahrar alsham and yusuf al3admeh. Jabhat alnusra also helped with one of the checkpoints.
5:46 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed al-mashlab military checkpoint (2 miles from al-raqqah city) & seized weapons
1:49 AM

a brigadier general has defected from kowaires military airport in aleppo (i don't know his name)
9:26 AM

update: resistance fighters destroyed 3 tanks & a bmp-1 in idlib city
9:32 AM

resistance fighters say they killed +30 military officers & troops in idlib city
9:51 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

jabhat al-nusrah fighters destroyed 2 tanks in aleppo
5:03 PM

resistance fighters have liberated a military checkpoint & a citadel in idlib city
5:04 PM

resistance fighters liberated a big military checkpoint between ma`arrat al-nu`man & khan shaykhoun
5:10 PM

resistance fighters have liberated most of the town of haysh in idlib
5:11 PM

resistance fighters liberated an infamous military checkpoint near abu bakr mosque in daraa al-balad
5:46 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10847

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Monday, the LCC managed to document 110[109] martyrs (including 8 children and 6 women), 31 martyrs were reported in Aleppo, 26 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 17 martyrs in Homs, 12 martyrs in Daraa, 9 martyrs in Idlib, 9 martyrs in Hama, 3 martyrs from Raqqa who martyred in Daraa and 2 martyrs in Deir Ezzor

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,394 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90L0DJ20130122

Syrian rebels clash with Kurds in northeast: activists

At least 56 people have been killed in a week of fighting in northeast Syria between anti-government rebels and members of the long-oppressed Kurdish minority who have seized on the civil war to try to secure self-rule, activists said on Tuesday.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collates reports on Syria's violence from local activists, said on Tuesday that the anti-Damascus rebels were using tanks and mortars on Tuesday against Kurdish forces.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/wo...=tw-share&_r=0

Russians Fleeing Syria Cross Into Lebanon

Buses carrying several dozen Russian citizens crossed the Syrian border into Lebanon on Tuesday, news reports said, in preparation for flights to Moscow as the Russian government activates long-standing contingency plans to remove its citizens from the Syrian conflict zone.

The number of departures was tiny considering that more than 30,000 Russian citizens are believed to live in Syria, including government and military personnel, private contractors and thousands of women married to Syrian men. Officials said there is no discussion of a mandatory or large-scale evacuation.

A Russian diplomat in Damascus told the Interfax news service that around 100 Russians were leaving, mostly people “whose houses are destroyed, who come from various ‘hot spots.’ ” The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that no diplomats would be on the flights.

“This is not in any way an evacuation; what’s going on is that they are sending everyone who wants to go on these two airplanes,” the diplomat was quoted as saying. The emergency flights are free, he said, and may be necessary for families “whose homes have been destroyed, and who are left without food and shelter.”

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/world/...rth/index.html

Rebels in northern Syria pin hopes on airbase's downfall

Here in the north, rebels call it "the final battle." For more than a month, lightly armed fighters have hurled themselves against a well-fortified helicopter base located less than 15 minutes' drive from the border with Turkey.

The rebels say the last piece of government-controlled territory between Turkey and Syria's largest city, Aleppo, is Mannagh airbase. The battle for it is a modern-day siege.

"It is like a germ infecting the countryside. If the regime has even a 1% chance of taking back this region, this is a base that they would then want to rule from," said Abu Marwan, the young commander of the rebel Northern Storm brigade. "Once it has been captured, the north will be liberated."

But it is not clear how long the final battle for Mannagh airbase will ultimately take.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/world/...war/?hpt=hp_t3

Syrian opposition cannot agree on a new prime minister

Syria's united opposition has been unable to decide upon a transitional national leader or come to a consensus on a new government to replace President Bashar al-Assad, if he were to fall.

Attempts by the National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces to arrive at the hefty two-thirds majority needed to name a prime minister failed after two days of negotiations at a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, over the weekend.

The group was also unable to come to a consensus on how a new government would look, if al-Assad were to fall, according to the Syrian National Council, the largest coalition member.

But delegates created a committee to work on the appointment of a prime minister, and opposition members hope to make progress on the issue in upcoming meetings in January and early February, said activist Kamal al-Labwani, who attended Istanbul's sessions.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed 2 military tanks in the western side of busr al-harir (daraa)
9:00 AM

an assad warplane has bombed 2 cars carrying families on deirezzor - al-raqqah road. 4 women & 3 children were killed
9:10 AM

resistance fighters say they killed a colonel in al-qamishli
9:17 AM

resistance fighters have liberated a grain center in the town of jibrin (aleppo)
9:45 AM

resistance fighters are attacking the officers' houses in kowaires military airport
9:46 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Reports of a massacre in Kafar`aya Homs with 5 whole families martyred. via @ikhwanSyria
9:06 AM

The FSA is now shelling the Idlib city prison which is used as a base by regime forces.
11:15 AM

Regime helicopter shelled the actual prison now with 2 TNT barrels. The prison is holding 1500 prisoners! Idlib city
11:18 AM

its the same prison. The FSA has it surrounded and are shelling the outer buildings. Regime heli shelled the prison itself.
11:26 AM

4 story building in MaaratAlNouman collapses on its residents after TNT barrels shelling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFgEN...ature=youtu.be … several minor injuries.
11:33 AM

[visionary]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...oscow-18289515

First Russians Evacuated From Syria Land in Moscow

The first Russian citizens evacuated from Syria have arrived in Moscow.

The evacuation of 77 Russians was the first organized by Russia since the start of the Syrian conflict nearly two years ago, and it may be the beginning of what could become a difficult and dangerous operation to rescue tens of thousands of Russians living in Syria if Bashar Assad's regime falls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...d5b_story.html

Obama’s failure in Syria

There are two kinds of wars, we are told — wars of choice and wars of necessity. The former is to be avoided and the latter fought with appropriate reluctance. World War II was a good and necessary war but Vietnam was not. The war in Iraq was a matter of choice (also of imbecility) but Afghanistan was not — although it now may be. Wars can change over time. The one in Syria certainly has. It has gone from a war of choice to a war of necessity that President Obama did not choose to fight. A mountain of dead testifies to his mistake.

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

If appears that we will have another big exodus frm syria tonite w 1,200 already x'ing to jordan. IOM is having to rent additional buses.
1:15 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

ATTN JOURNALISTS: Edlib News Network the # 1 source for news from Idlib is forming a skype news room 4 Idlib news. My skype is baghdaddy88
2:26 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Family member has been kidnapped in Damascus.
3:52 PM

Same family member was kidnapped in July 2011 and was held for 3 weeks at Air Force Intelligence in Damascus. Beat and tortured, released.
3:57 PM

Three sedans filled with armed men grabbed him outside his workplace and shoved him into the backseat and drove off.
4:10 PM

Family doesn't know who took him, where they took him, nor why.
4:10 PM

https://twitter.com/JMiller_EA

BREAKING: New video proves Syria jet fighter deliberately targeted Aleppo University last week http://bit.ly/Uiv8J7
4:18 PM

https://twitter.com/HasanSari7

Al Nahar: Assad regime is currently considering the release of 1000 Syrian prisoners for 9 Lebanese Shia'ts kidnapped earlier in syria.
12:19 PM

BRK: Few minutes ago. Assad army fired a scud missile from an air base near Talkalakh-Homs and it juts hit Al Bab city in Aleppo.
5:19 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

a big rocket fell on the town of abu taltal (aleppo) killing 5 people, including 3 children
5:24 PM

resistance fighters say they have destroyed 3 military checkpoints & killed assad thugs in the town of busra al-sham in daraa
7:02 PM

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

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Tuesday, the LCC was able to document 164 martyrs across Syria, including 12 women and 22 children. 71 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs, including 8 martyrs in Medira and 8 who had been field-executed in Douma; 32 martyrs were reported in Daraa; 14 in Aleppo; 13 in Homs; 11 in Hama; 11 in Idlib; 11 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Lattakia

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,558 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/01/2...s-pattern.html

Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines

After a week without bread, people in the small central Syrian town of Halfaya got word two days before Christmas that a shipment of flour had arrived at the main bakery, prompting several hundred to queue up for the staple of life in the war-ravaged land.

For the Syrian air force, it was a moment of lethal opportunity. Soon, a Sukhoi-22 ground attack plane flew over the bakery and dropped eight bombs, each filled with cluster bomblets. The first struck 150 feet from the bakery, but the second was a direct hit on the bread line, killing at least 68 people, witnesses said.

The Halfaya massacre was only one of scores of artillery or air attacks on bread lines and bakeries last year, according to data McClatchy has compiled from multiple Syrian sources.

Two Syrian opposition groups say government forces have attacked bread lines and bakeries at least 100 times, causing hundreds of casualties and in most cases destroying the bakeries. A McClatchy investigation found another source for 80 of those attacks, either from videos posted on YouTube at the time of each attack or from subsequent interviews with eyewitnesses, activists and municipal council officials.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...756979102.html

Walkie-talkies as lifeline in wartime Syria

Hand-held transceivers help residents to communicate and also keep track of impending attacks in absence of other means.

Abu Rashad's sons have both gone to the frontline to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the suburbs of Idlib city.

Their worried father is sitting at the doorstep of his shop in the town of Ferkiya, holding near his ear a walkie-talkie that keeps transmitting messages separated by beeps.

"Get into the building, a rocket is coming," a voice from the transceiver says. Abu Rashad's breathing races. Forty seconds later, another message: "The route is clear." Abu Rashad takes a sigh of relief.

The frequency of his device has been set up so he can listen to the communication between fighters on the ground, including warnings from those monitoring government forces' movements.

He also gets the news about the rebels' advances, and sometimes announcements of casualties among their ranks.

"This is my only means of knowing how my sons are doing," he says with tears in his eyes.

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

Fund Syria’s Moderates

We can’t say that helping the Syrian rebels didn’t work, because it has never really been tried.

In response to non-violent protests calling for reform, the Baathist regime in Damascus has brought Syria bloodshed, chaos, and created the conditions in which jihadism thrives. The now partially armed revolution is doing its best to roll back the bloodshed and to eliminate the regime that perpetrates it.

Yet Foreign Policy's Marc Lynch, one of the more perceptive analysts of the Middle East, argues that after more than 60,000 lives have been lost, "the last year should be a lesson to those who called for arming the rebels." In a previous article, Lynch noted, "Syrian armed groups are now awash with weapons."

Anyone laboring under the delusion that pro-revolution foreign powers have flooded Syria with hi-tech weaponry should scroll through the blog of New York Times correspondent C.J. Chivers or peruse the web pages displaying improvised catapult bombs and PlayStation-controlled armored cars. These are hardly the tools of a fighting force that has been armed to the teeth.

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss

Al Bab under air strikes since this morning. 80 dead, I'm hearing.
11:25 AM

https://twitter.com/samersniper

FSA and JN used about 20 tons of explosives to blew up the army checkpoint in Qusair Homs
1:50 PM

https://twitter.com/Reuters

Amb.Ford to Al-Arabiya:HRC called Pres.of Syrian Coalition al-Khatib to reiterate he is welcome in DC. He will visit after Kerry is confirmed
2:40 PM

Jordanian foreign minister says 20,000 Syrian refugees have crossed into Jordan over the past seven days
2:47 PM

https://twitter.com/hisham_melhem

Amb.Ford to AA: No mil.stalemate Syria, rebels r advancing,we still seek a pol.transition w/out Assad & crony.Russia shoud help nudge Assad
2:48 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

jabhat al-nusrah blew up the largest military complex in al-qusayr city (homs)
3:47 PM

resistance fighters destroyed a tank, a bmp-1 & a bus carrying assad troops near the town of haysh in idlib
3:53 PM

resistance fighters destroyed a tank in the town of al-herak in daraa http://youtu.be/VEIyenYRl2c
3:56 PM

update: resistance fighters destroyed 2 tanks today in the town of busr al-harir in daraa. heavy clashes continue
4:42 PM

https://twitter.com/KNSyria

one of the bravest & most patriot soldeirs ever in the FSA was martyred today in Sweida ... lieutenant colonel Khaldoun Zen-Eldin
8:35 PM

Colonel Zen-Eldin was one of the first soldiers to defect from the Syrian Army & one of the founders of the FSA
8:50 PM

Colonel Zen-Eldin might be the first Durz to defect from the Syrian army, but he wasn't the last, and will never be the last Sweida
8:54 PM

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

Local Coordination Committees of Syria

By end of Wednesday, the LCC have managed to document that the number of martyrs is 146 including 15 children and 13 women. 74 martyrs in Aleppo, 23 martyrs in Damascus and its Suburbs, 12 martyrs in Homs, 11 martyrs in Daraa, 9 martyrs in Hama, 6 martyrs in Hasakeh, 2 martyrs in each of Deir Ezzor [2] and Lattakia [2], and one martyr in each of Raqa [1] and Swaida [1]

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

There were 5 martyrs in Idlib today...why did the LCC not mention them?! -_- @LccSy
7:49 PM

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,704 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...ght-each-other

In Syria, Two Opponents Of The Regime Fight Each Other

In a small border town in northern Syria, there are two groups that both oppose President Bashar Assad's regime. But instead of working in tandem, the Syrian rebels and a Kurdish militia have been battling each other in the town of Ras al-Ayn.

Sally Ali, a 26-year-old resident of Ras al-Ayn, told NPR by phone that the streets are completely empty. "It's a ghost town," she says.

She estimates about half of the town's residents fled to nearby villages; the other half are trapped in their homes by the ongoing violence.

The Kurdish militia is known as the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and it has exercised almost complete control in Ras al-Ayn since government troops withdrew last July.

However, the rebels of the Free Syrian Army are eager to capture the strategically important border town and are suspicious that the PYD made a deal with Assad's government to facilitate its withdrawal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90N0RP20130124

France sees no sign Syria's Assad will be toppled soon

France said on Thursday there were no signs that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is about to be overthrown, something Paris has been saying for months was just over the horizon.

The uprising against Assad's rule is now almost two years old. 60,000 Syrians have been killed and another 650,000 are now refugees abroad, according to the United Nations.

France, a former colonial ruler of Syria, has been one of the most vocal backers of the rebels trying to topple Assad and was the first to recognize the opposition coalition.

"Things are not moving. The solution that we had hoped for, and by that I mean the fall of Bashar and the arrival of the (opposition) coalition to power, has not happened," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in his annual New Year's address to the press.

Fabius told RFI radio in December "the end is nearing" for Assad. But on Thursday, he said international mediation and discussions about the crisis that began in March 2011 were not getting anywhere. "There are no recent positive signs," he said.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...onventions-swi

Syrian rebels receive training in Geneva Conventions from Swiss

RTS has reported that the Swiss government trained Syrian rebels in Geneva Conventions' protocol in November.

The training in the rules of war took place near Lake Geneva in mid-November, with 15 Syrian participants.

It was kept secret until now for security reasons.

Who participated in the training is unclear but reports claim it included rebels both within and outside Syria.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...530,full.story

More young Syrians disillusioned by the revolution

It was on a bus ride home from college that Ahmed lost his faith in the Syrian revolution.

The trip was long, about 400 miles across the desert from Damascus. As Ahmed swayed in his seat next to another man, the bus slowed and then stopped. Ahmed looked out the window. There were about 50 black-clad militiamen at a checkpoint, rebel fighters whose cause he had passionately supported.

Several entered the bus, gripping their rifles. They told the women on board, some without head coverings, to hide their faces. They told the men to take out their IDs and fold their hands behind their heads.

"We won't joke about this anymore," one warned. "This time, it's not a problem, but next time, women should cover their hair and behave like good Muslims."

Until that moment, Ahmed, a journalism student at Damascus University, had believed in the revolution. But as he watched the rebel soldiers, he saw his dreams of a democratic Syria being hijacked by extremists.

For Ahmed, at least for now, the revolution was over.

Many Syrian young people have followed a similar path in recent months. Excitement about the uprising that began in the spring of 2011 has turned to skepticism and fear as violence has grown and opposition militias, some funded by foreign extremists, have become increasingly influenced by Islamic fundamentalism.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...462753542.html

Syria rebels 'attacked' religious sites

Rebels in Syria have burned and looted the religious sites of minorities, Human Rights Watch says, warning that the 22-month old conflict could become increasingly sectarian.

"The destruction of religious sites is furthering sectarian fears and compounding the tragedies of the country, with tens of thousands killed," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of the US-based rights group, said on Wednesday.

"Syria will lose its rich cultural and religious diversity if armed groups do not respect places of worship. Leaders on both sides should send a message that those who attack these sites will be held accountable."

In the village of Zarzour in Idlib province, researchers found evidence of deliberate damage to the local husseiniya, a Shia place of worship, caused by opposition fighters in December.

Its windows were broken, prayer stones littered on the floor, walls charred from flames, and what appeared to be the remnants of a burned prayer rug lay on the floor.

Of course the regime has also been raiding, bombing, and shelling churches and mosques for a couple years now.


http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...124-2d92g.html

Turkey urges UN action on Syria

Turkey has called on the UN Security Council to deal with war crimes and the humanitarian crisis in Syria, while Russia accused the Syrian opposition of holding up peace efforts.

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday slammed the Syrian opposition for its "obsession" with toppling strongman Bashar al-Assad.

"It is Russia that made attempts to convince the Syrian opposition to start talks. ... Until now the opposition held back by seeking to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad," he added, according to Itar-Tass news agency.

"Our priority is not reaching a geo-political aim - like the toppling of al-Assad regime - but a stabilisation of the situation and a rapid end to the bloodshed to save Syrian lives," said Lavrov.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/23/world/...war/index.html

How Syria's bloodshed drove a peaceful protester into the battlelines

"Still alive," Abu Omar said ruefully, responding to my question of "How have you been?" It's become something of a standard reply.

We'd last seen each other in Damascus almost exactly a year ago, when Abu Omar and other activists devised an elaborate plan to smuggle us into the neighborhood of Kafarsouseh, right in the heart of the capital.

We had snuck out of our hotel at dark, changing taxis multiple times, trying to shake off any government spies who may have been following us. We'd devised a "signal": if my hat was on, it meant that we were fairly confident no one was behind us. If it was off, it would let Abu Omar know that we'd been tailed. He and the other activists knew only too well the price they would pay if caught.

It was a gamble for sure -- one we were acutely aware would have significantly more serious consequences for those moving us around.

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

3415 arrivals 2 Jordan since 10am yesterday (IOM). Refugees cont. to report large numbers in syria waiting to x. pic.twitter.com/RcUoJ670
2:40 AM

https://twitter.com/samersniper

FSA in besieged area of Homs retook a part of Qarabees neighborhood again, after fierce clashes & barbaric shelling that R still ongoing!
8:48 AM

Retaking a part of Qarabees in Homs by FSA is very BIG deal, considering severe dearth of firepower after 230 days of suffocating siege!!
9:19 AM

On the other hand massacres continue, while large amount of BIG lies R being prepared as pretext 4 not issuing UN resolution about Syria!!
9:45 AM

https://twitter.com/martinchulov

Former US Amb to Syria Robert Ford confirms Guardian reports that Jihad Makdissi now in US as refugee.
11:42 AM

Ford also confirmed to @IvanCNN that Assad's mother, Anissa Makhlouf, is in the UAE
11:45 AM

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam

Kerry on Syria : Engaged Assad when there was an opportunity, it's "ancient history", he must go. Even Russia realizes opposition progress
11:21 AM

Kerry is a realist on Syria, he called on Assad to step down, consider arming opposition before the Obama administration.
11:29 AM

Assad mother Anissa Makhlouf who left to UAE had strong influence on son, but Bashar's uncle Mohamad Makhlouf, is more influential.
11:44 AM

Rubio: When opposition wins in Syria & they will win,they will be as angry at us as they are about Russia because we didn't get involved.
11:48 AM

https://twitter.com/Psypherize

Why do you think jihadists went to Syria? Its because of all of you people who wanted to be in the gray zone. They filled your void.
12:00 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The FSA is trying to liberate the shughoor village in the suburbs of JisrAlshughoor. There are at least 5 martyrs there now. Idlib
7:27 AM

Just a heads up...Most of the Idlib news i used to tweet I am now reporting it on the Edlib News Network pages. Follow @EdlibNet !
8:49 AM

Reports that the Alshughr area in JisrAlshughoor Idlib has been completely liberated!
9:32 AM

15 tanks were seen headed towars Ariha from the Maasara checkpoint. Idlib Also 13 tanks were brought to the Maasara chpt from Hama
9:51 AM

4 martyrs from Kafr`waid Idlib in Tishreen Damascus after shabiha lined them up and shot them all.
12:36 PM

[visionary]

YESTERDAY


https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters blew up a bmp-1 near the town of haysh in idlib
6:02 AM

resistance fighters have seized a military tank in darayya
6:06 AM

jabhat al-nusrah fighters blew up a military truck & killed 8 assad troops near the small town of sakakah in daraa
6:50 AM

resistance fighters say they destroyed a tank & a bmp-1 & killed many assad troops near jisr al-shughour
7:41 AM

jabhat al-nusrah shot down a military copter near al-nayrib airport (aleppo)
8:46 AM

https://twitter.com/samersniper

The infamous Sa'sa' intelligence branch has been blown up and leveled to the ground by FSA Qatana Damascus suburbs!!
5:40 PM

For the record Sa'sa' is (Intelligence... Political security... Military security) ...Branch!!!! All in one!!!
5:58 PM

To be honest with you.. JN Jabhat AlNasra blew up Sa'sa' branch .. 6 suicide bombers .and FSA helped in the clashes.
6:17 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10859

Local Coordination Committees

Today, Thursday in Syria, the Local Coordination Committees have documented 116 martyrs, including 9 women and 7 children: 42 martyrs in Damascus and its suburbs, 20 martyrs in Aleppo, 17 martyrs in Homs during a raid on Qusair, 17 martyrs in Idlib, 8 martyrs in Dara’a, 5 martyrs in Lattakia, 4 martyrs in Hama, and 3 martyrs in Deir Ezzor

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,820 people killed so far in Syria


TODAY



https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have entered the town of al-jalamah (hama) & destroyed a tank
6:15 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed a military checkpoint on al-raqqah - aleppo road (near al-tabqa crossroads)
6:39 AM

update: resistance fighters say they killed +100 assad troops, destroyed a tank & 3 armored vehicles & seized a tank in al-shughur
6:58 AM

resistance fighters killed the military commander of the (kurdish) democratic union party in the town of ras al-ain (al-hasakah)
7:41 AM

just in: resistance fighters have destroyed a tank & a bmp-1 near the town of busr al-harir
8:29 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Suqoor Alsham announced the prison will be stormed & prisoners will be released. regime released criminals 3 days ago...
10:03 AM

Large regime convoy seen headed from Idlib city towards the prison as the FSA began storming it.
10:12 AM

There are many regime planes in the air making the storming process very difficult. Idlib city
10:12 AM

FSA in JisrAlshughoor shelling regime outposts inside their checkpoints in the National hospital and the ckts in the village of ishtabraq.
10:18 AM

The Shaghr checkpoint in JisrAlshughoor has been liberated according to the Jisr Alshughoor coordination committee... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZMSZ...ature=youtu.be
10:22 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

BREAKING!!! Ahrar Alsham announce that they have freed 300 prisoners from the Idlib central prison!! Battles still ongoing!
11:00 AM

The Idlib city prison battle being performed by Ahrar Alsham and Suqoor Alsham
11:13 AM

not known for sure but the estimate [of total detainees there] was 1500. all the actual criminals were released a while ago...these are all protesters...
11:16 AM

One of the brigades involved in the Idlib city prison battle is saying that prison has been liberated and the prisoners freed.
11:22 AM

10s of regime officers captured during the battle at the Idlib city prison
11:38 AM

[visionary]

http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-...#axzz2IWwExlAJ

Syria online lovebirds in jihadist-led wedding

ALEPPO, Syria: Yusef and Ghada met through Facebook, and with all of the courts in Syria's war-ravaged second city of Aleppo closed, they had no choice but to exchange vows before a jihadist commander.

"It was a very quick ceremony. We signed a paper, exchanged rings, and we were married. The commander (also a Muslim sheikh) was too busy to waste time on us reading verses from the Koran," Yusef, 26, says with a laugh.

The marriage between the rebel fighter, who also works as a fixer for foreign journalists, and his 33-year-old lover brought some respite to Aleppo's the battered, opposition-held southwestern district of Sukkari.

Celebrating the occasion, AK-47 assault rifles were fired into the air by the rebels who are fighting to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

"Congratulations! May God bring you lots of children," one of them cheers as the groom's friends dances in circles around the newly weds.

"We can't let war dictate our lives. We don't know when this war will finish. It could be a few months, or it might be five or 10 years. Do I have to wait till then to continue living?" says Yusef.

Separated from her family by enemy lines, none of Ghada's relatives were able to make it to the wedding, and it took her months to secure their blessing.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syria...es-return-home

Syrian forces escalate offensive in Homs

Syria's army unleashed a barrage of rocket and artillery fire on rebel-held areas in a central province Friday as part of a widening offensive against fighters seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. At least 140 people were killed in fighting nationwide, according to activist groups.

The United Nations said a record number of Syrians streamed into Jordan this month, doubling the population of the kingdom's already-cramped refugee camp to 65,000. Over 30,000 people arrived in Zaatari in January — 6,000 in the past two days alone, the U.N. said.

The newcomers are mostly families, women, children and elderly who fled from southern Syria, said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She said the UNHCR was working with the Jordanian government to open a second major camp nearby by the end of this month.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...-people-return

SANA: Damascus willing to help people return

The government of Syria has called on citizens who have fled the nearly two-year-long fighting to return to the country.

State-run SANA news agency said on Thursday that Damascus will help those who return, including opponents of Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president.

The aid has been promised regardless of whether the hundreds of thousands who have fled so far left "legally" or "illegally".

The announcement, made late on Thursday, also invites opposition figures who want to take part in reconciliation talks back.

https://twitter.com/T_Aldiery

FSA fighters in Daraa rescue an Assad soldier, take him to a hospital, give up their own blood and treat him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=9fGLkFErye8# …!
5:29 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The regime convoy that was headed to the prison in Idlib city earlier was not allowed to reach the prison..but it retook the Zaydani chkpt.
1:01 PM

Massacre in Alhabeet in Idlib...8 martyrs so far...most of them are displaced from Hama
1:51 PM

Apparently the prison has not been liberated completely like one of the battalions announced...clashes still ongoing. Idlib
2:27 PM

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam

State Dept. Spokesperson Victoria Nuland confirmed on record that Jihad Makdissi is NOT in the US. Amb. Ford misspoke.
1:53 PM

US announces 10 million dollars more in humanitarian aid to #Syria. Total since crisis started: 220 million.
3:04 PM

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

3,289 was the final tally for x'ings to jordan last nite (IOM). We are now ave. 4 x more x'ings than we were 2 weeks ago.
10:12 AM

2,635 arrivals so far w more buses en route 2 Zatri jordan. Friday nite is traditionally slower. So this is another record for a Fri.
10:50 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10863

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

117 martyrs have been documented today including 8 children and 6 women. 31 martys were documented in Damascus and its Suburbs, 18 in Homs including an entire family, 18 in Daraa,17 in Aleppo, 16 in Idlib, 11 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, 2 in Raqqa and 1 martyr in Hassaka.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 48,937 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...e-near-latakia

Even in Assad's coastal retreat, the war has come and the bombs are dropping

Local people describe it as a distant growl, an ever-present rumble, just to the north. A reminder that war is now at their doorstep.

It has been this way for two months in Latakia. The port city had managed to ride out Syria's civil war, seemingly content in the knowledge that whatever was happening in Hama to the south-east, or Idlib a little further north, an army stood between its gates and its foes. Not any more.

The spectre of war is now a reality here in the staunch core of the regime heartland, as much as it is in the rebellious and ravaged Sunni cities to the east. The shells that crunch most hours into the nearby countryside have not yet arrived. But the fear that pervades the communities on the fringes of Latakia is now spreading around the city known throughout the country as the government's stronghold, and possibly its last redoubt.

"We are afraid, very, very afraid," said Loubna, a final-year university student and resident of the city. "For so long the regime has been saying we will be safe here. That nothing will happen to us. Nothing can happen to us. But people are leaving, people are dying. Death is so near."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90Q03I20130127

Israel vows Syria strike at any sign of chemical arms transfer

Any sign of Syria's grip on its suspected chemical weapons slipping as it battles an armed uprising could trigger Israeli military strikes, Israel's vice premier said on Sunday.

Silvan Shalom confirmed a media report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had last week convened security chiefs to discuss the civil war in nearby Syria and the state of the country's chemical arsenal.

The meeting, held on Wednesday, had not been publicly announced and was seen as especially unusual as it came while votes were still being counted from Israel's national election the day before, which Netanyahu's party list won narrowly.

Should Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas or rebels battling forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad obtain Syrian chemical weapons, Shalom told Israel's Army Radio, "it would dramatically change the capabilities of those organizations".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90P05620130126

Attack on Syria would be seen as attack on Iran: Tehran

Iran would consider any attack on Syria an attack on itself, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Saturday, in one of Tehran's most assertive defenses of its ally yet.

Iran is a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who is fighting a near two-year-long revolt. Tehran has already repeatedly warned the West against intervening in the conflict against Assad.

"Syria has a very basic and key role in the region for promoting firm policies of resistance ... For this reason an attack on Syria would be considered an attack on Iran and Iran's allies," said Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the Mehr news agency.

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

Another 3,000+ nite w 3,090 x'ing (IOM) to jordan. Work progressing on second refugee site at Halabat/MAF. pic.twitter.com/TnCVKBEI
10:57 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

For those interested...this is the Idlib City Prison. It is roughly 30,000 square meters. pic.twitter.com/tE36PrmC
11:13 AM

75% of the prisoners in the Idlib prison have been freed. The rest of the prison is still under siege by the FSA.
9:57 AM

Regime sent a convoy to break the siege on the prison but it was faced by reinforcements from the FSA side and fierce clashes are ongoing.
9:58 AM

As for the Shughr city clashes...it has been liberated. Over 120 regime soldiers were killed. There were several defections. 34 martyrs.
10:00 AM

Several regime vehicles and tanks entered Idlib city. It appears to be the convoy that was sent to the prison is retreating.
1:10 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The FSA in JisrAlshughoor Idlib kill 50 regime soldiers after intercepting a convoy that was headed to the Yaqoobiyeh checkpoint.
2:17 PM

Amazing video of the FSA shelling Wadi Aldayf in MaaratAlNouman Idlib https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=nFh6lhIoHBE … You can actually see it hit the buildings
4:29 PM

I just found out that one of my relatives defected from the army a while back and is fighting with the FSA in Daraa
6:16 PM

The NC will be sending 300,000 euros to Idlib for humanitarian relief from 3 mil that will be sent to different provinces.
8:42 PM

Idlib was supposed to receive 14% of the 3 mil but it was reduced to 10% because of urgent need in Damascus and Aleppo.
8:43 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

BREAKING: Mortar shell has fallen on Midan in central Damascus. Plumes of smoke rising above the neighborhood. pic.twitter.com/fgZOxnqH
3:52 AM

Sounds of gunfire and other weaponry also being heard in and around Midan neighborhood in Damascus.
3:53 AM

The Damascus - Daraa Highway has been closed as clashes between FSA and regime forces continue in Assali and al-Qadam.
4:22 AM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10867

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Saturday, the Local Coordination Committees were able to confirm 129 martyrs, including 5 women and 7 children. 44 martyrs were reported in Aleppo, 40 in Damascus and its Suburbs, 18 in Homs, 11 in Idlib, 8 in Daraa, 6 in Hama, 1 martyr in each Lattakia [1] and Deir Ezzor [1].

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 49,066 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middl...=MasterAccount

Assad forces leave Syrian towns in shambles

The 22-month-long conflict in Syria has led to entire towns being emptied.

Harasta, in the suburbs of Damascus, is one such town.

Al Jazeera's Sophie Nicholson reports on the town once home to 500,000 people where now nearly everything has been destroyed and locals are left without basics.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business...#axzz2JC7xr2Af

Assad's chances of survival shrinking by the day: Medvedev

President Bashar al-Assad's chances of political survival are shrinking by the day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev charged on Sunday, accusing the embattled Syrian leader of making a possibly fatal error in delaying reforms.

"He should have acted much more quickly and reached out to the peaceful opposition which was ready to sit at the negotiating table with him," Russian news agencies quoted Medvedev as saying.

"It's a grave error on his part, perhaps fatal," he said in an unusually harsh statement about Assad by Syria's traditional ally Moscow.

"It seems to me that his chances of staying (in power) are shrinking day by day," Medvedev said in remarks to CNN television on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, according to the Russian agencies.

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

Defying bombs, a pregnant Syrian woman walks for two days through mud and mines with her 4 children to reach Turkey and deliver her baby.
4:47 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have destroyed 2 military checkpoints & 4 tanks this morning in sbeneh (south of damascus)
4:53 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed a military checkpoint near the town of al-maseifrah in daraa
5:08 AM

resistance fighters liberated brigade 22 in al-ghoutah al-sharqiyah http://youtu.be/CbaUxNEDFb
5:23 AM

resistance fighters have liberated the cement factory in al-sheikh sa`id neighborhood in aleppo city
5:31 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they liberated the 'housing building' in al-sheikh sa`id neighborhood in aleppo city
5:39 AM

just in: resistance fighters say they have liberated the train station in al-qadam neighborhood in damascus city
6:05 AM

update: resistance fighters destroyed 3 tanks & a bmp-1 today in darayya
6:16 AM

resistance fighters killed 7 troops & destroyed 2 tanks near the town of karnaz (hama). 15 troops have defected
6:28 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say a warplane has mistakenly bombed assad troops near darayya (near damascus - daraa motorway)
6:42 AM

resistance fighters say they have destroyed the military checkpoints from al-midan gate to sahnaya (damascus countryside)
7:04 AM

resistance fighters say they have destroyed a tank & a bmp-1 in the south-western countryside of damascus
7:05 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed a military checkpoint near al-siyasah bridge in deirezzor city. a tank & a bmp-1 were damaged
7:19 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Yaqoobiyeh town and checkpoint in JisrAlshughoor have been completely liberated. The FSA is now working on the Janodiyeh village.
11:01 AM

4 tanks and a BMP were captured by the FSA along with several more heavy weapons. Idlib
11:01 AM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90R00V20130128

Obama says struggling over whether to intervene in Syria

President Barack Obama said he has been wrestling with the question whether a U.S. military intervention in Syria's 22-month-old civil war would help resolve the bloody conflict or make things worse.

In a pair of interviews, Obama responded to critics who say the United States has not been involved enough in Syria, where thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced according to U.N. officials. Transcripts of both interviews were released on Sunday.

The United States has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, and has recognized an opposition coalition - but has stopped short of authorizing U.S. arming of rebels to overthrow Assad.

"In a situation like Syria, I have to ask: can we make a difference in that situation?" Obama said in an interview with The New Republic published on the magazine's website.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Loc...#axzz2JFNB1k55

Bullying of Syrian students rife

In Syria, Muayid dreamed of becoming an international lawyer, but now the 16-year old says the bullying he faces at school in Lebanon is so bad he hopes to drop out at the end of this year.

“We’re outcasts here,” he tells The Daily Star. “Even the teachers don’t address us in class; it’s like we’re just sitting there. Sometimes they get mad at us, but they don’t get mad at the Lebanese students.”

His brother, Muqtadi, 13, agrees.

“I don’t have friends – no one wants to hang out with me,” he says. “Even when I answer a question, for example, in Arabic class, they all laugh at me ... They make fun of Syria and they tell on us a lot too.”

Muayid and Muqtadi, along with their parents and four siblings, fled Deraa in southeast Syria about six months ago and settled in the impoverished Beirut suburb of Nabaa, where many Syrian families struggle to pay the ever-rising rents. Their mother, Fatima, says they survive on yogurt and bread in order to afford to educate their five school-aged children, who all attend different schools

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/refug...lee-syrias-war

Refugees again, Palestinians flee Syria's war

When Syrian warplanes bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus last December, Umm Sami rounded up her three sons, shut the windows and locked the doors so they could neither hear nor heed the call to arms by rebels and pro-government gunmen fighting in the streets.

Then she told her sons they were leaving their home in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital for neighboring Lebanon, where they would wait out Syria's civil war.

"There will be no more martyrs for Palestine in my family," the 45-year-old widow said. "This war is a Syrian problem."

Now safe in Lebanon, Umm Sami and her family have joined thousands of other Palestinian refugees who have found shelter in the country since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted nearly two years ago. The conflict has left more than 2 million people internally displaced, and pushed 650,000 more to seek refuge abroad.

Umm Sami's resolve to keep her sons out of the fight in Syria ties into a deep-rooted sentiment among a generation of Palestinian refugees who say they are fed up with being dragged into the region's conflicts on a promise of getting their own state.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...=MasterAccount

Who supports who in Syria?

We look at how support for the regime and the rebels has ebbed and flowed and how it is impacting the battle for Syria.

The second anniversary of the Syrian uprising is less than two months away, and there is still no end to the fighting in sight. With hundreds of people killed in Syria every day, opposition rebels want better weapons.

There are reports the Syrian army has brought reinforcements in to central parts of the country and it has also launched an offensive to retake territory rebels have held for months.

But despite significant advances by the rebels this week, the opposition is still outgunned by the Syrian army. The result is a deadlock.

The opposition is concerned that it does not have enough international support. Some members of the Syrian Opposition Coalition say promises to supply aid are not being kept.

This week, a senior member of the Saudi royal family expressed alarm at the progress of what he called extremist elements in the Syrian opposition.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a brother of the current Saudi foreign minister, called for efforts to step up arms support for moderate Syrian rebel groups.

https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria

The Turkish villagers who provide food to the Syrians are asking officials for help but have not received an answer so far.
12:52 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Correction: Vid of announcing the Syriac Syrian Military Council to fight along the FSA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGbsKFUwuFE&sns=em … (with a bonus Aramaic outtro)
3:13 PM

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

1,539 x'd last nite jordan. aged 85 yrs, to only 10 days. Cold but no rain. 40,000+ arrivals in Jan so far, incl. 24,000 children
12:38 AM

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

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Sunday, the Local Coordination Committees were able to confirm 106 martyrs including 5 women, 11 children, and 3 who were tortured to death; there were 41 in Damascus and Damascus suburbs, 18 in Homs, 16 in Aleppo, 10 in Daraa, 9 in Idlib, 7 in Hama, 2 in Hasakeh, 2 in Deir Ezzor and 1 in Latakia.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
At least 49,172 people killed so far in Syria