| Syria crisis: UN mission given 30 day extension - Friday 20 July 2012 |
| Friday, 20 July 2012 18:21 | |||
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• UK says Syria now obliged to comply with peace plan Damascenes have mixed emotions after an extraordinary week, according to activist Majd Arar from the northern district of Malki. Speaking via Skype he said the atmosphere in the city had changed despite the government regaining control of the centre of the city.
But Arar, who lives five minutes from the scene of Wednesday's attack, said people were beginning to lose some sense of fear.
Asked how long the regime would last he said: I don't want to be very optimistic. It is the capital, and he [Assad] will be defending the capital until to the last man [is standing]. So we expect [it will take] time - 30, 60 days. No one knows. Today, Arar witnessed the funeral motorcades of the officials assassinated on Wednesday. Two of the motorcades headed east, another that Arar believed included the body of Assef Shawkwat was taken to a military airport.
The security situation in the area is calmer, he said. "It has levelled down today, given what it was yesterday," Arar said. Here's a summary of the latest developments relating to Syria: • The UN security council has unanimously approved a 30-day extension to the monitoring mission in Syria (see 4.18pm). • A triple funeral has taken place for Dawoud Rajha, Assef Shawkat and Hassan Turkmani – key figures in the regime who were assassinated on Wednesday. The government news agency's report does not mention any members of the Assad family attending (see 4.10pm). • State TV announced that a fourth senior official – Hisham Ikhtyar – has died as a result of Wednesday's attack. • President Assad's forces have regained some control lost in the wake of Wednesday's assassination attack. The Free Syrian Army said it had withdrawn from the Midan area of Damascus, which the government said it now control. Syrian troops have also retaken a border crossing to Turkey where rebels were filmed tearing down a placard of Assad on Thursday. • Russia has again postponed its attempt to deliver controversial attack helicopters to Syria, allegedly on the grounds that the security situation there is now too dangerous. • Thousands of Iraqis have been evacuated from Syria, and up to 30,000 cars from Syria have reportedly crossed into Lebanon during the last 48 hours. • Syria has denied Russian suggestions that President Assad is ready to stand down. The information ministry said the claim was "completely devoid of truth". The controversial attack helicopters that Russia was due to deliver to Syria have been unloaded from the MV Alaev and are now back on dry land – in the Russian port of Baltiysk (Kaliningrad region), RIA Novosti reports. Novosti quotes a security source as saying: "These helicopters are now on the shore. A decision from Rosoboronexport on what to do with them is expected shortly." Earlier, a Russian military-diplomatic source told Interfax that because the military-political situation inside Syria has worsened, safe shipment of the helicopters cannot be guaranteed (see 1.19pm). The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, in south-east Damascus, is not controlled by the rebels, as some earlier reports suggested, a source in the camp told the Guardian. The source said members of the Free Syrian Army were fighting tanks in the area and trying to prevent the security forces from entering. But they have been overrun after Palestinian factions, close to the regime, sided with the government troops. The diplomatic blog, UN Report, has a full-text of the UK-tabled resolution to extend Unsmis. Here's what it says:
The UK mission in New York tweeted this:
The UN security council has unanimously approved a 30-day extension to the monitoring mission in Syria. The Syrian government news agency now has a report and photographs of today's triple funeral for Dawoud Rajha, Assef Shawkat and Hassan Turkmani – key figures in the regime who were assassinated on Wednesday.
Interestingly – and despite the fact that Shawkat was President Assad's brother-in-law – the report does not mention any members of the Assad family attending the funeral. The exodus from Syria into Lebanon continues. Hala Gorani of CNN tweets:
The Assad regime's loss of control of its borders is indicative of its collapse, according to Michael Young, a columnist with Beirut's Daily Star newspaper. "If you lose the borders you are allowing the creation of safe zones for weapons to come through. The Syrian regime holds the cities. But it doesn't control rural areas. And at night its control over the cities is iffy. This is a new phenomenon," he told Guardian reporter Luke Harding. Young said that it was unclear who was behind Wednesday's devastating bombing, which killed four top members of Assad's military-security hierarchy. Asked who was responsible, he said: "I don't know". Young said there was no evidence for the widespread "conspiracy theory" doing the rounds in the region that the blast may have been an "inside job", adding: "I would say all the versions are in some way decisively wrong." He agreed there was no realistic prospect that President Assad would flee Damascus – pointing out that if this were to happen "everything would crumble". Assad's senior military commanders would also stop him from going: "I don't think anyone could allow Assad to leave. It would be a sign that the end is coming." Assad's forces are in control of central Damascus where there is much fear and suspicion but also support for the president, according to the Dutch journalist Sander van Hoorn. Fighting has receded to the outskirts of the city, he told the Guardian from Damascus.
The rebels can't hold territory, he said.
After Wednesday's assassinations "people who felt safe in Damascus all of a sudden didn't" Van Hoorn said.
Van Hoorn, who works for the Dutch broadcaster NOS Nieuws, said he did not witness any celebrations after the assassinations.
Van Hoorn described the reporting restrictions he has been under. Reporting in and around Damascus is not possible without a government minder, not least because of pressure from the security services, he said.
Asked to compare the picture on the ground with the one painted by activists, he said:
Van Hoorn interviewed the head of the UN monitoring mission Major General Robert Mood, before he left Syria on Thursday.
Asked to predict what will happen, Van Hoorn said:
A Syrian brigadier-general and 20 other military officers, including four colonels, were among 710 people who fled from Syria to Turkey overnight, Reuters reports citing a Turkish official. The latest defections brought the number of Syrian generals sheltering in Turkey to 22, the official said. A total of 43,387 Syrian refugees are registered as living in Turkey. The Iraqi authorities appear unhappy with Free Syrian Army control of border posts. BBC Middle East producer Cara Swift tweets:
Switzerland has set up a joint commission with the United Arab Emirates to investigate whether hand grenades exported to the UAE were sent on to Syria, AP reports. Earlier this month, the Swiss newspaper Sonntag Zeitung reported that a journalist accompanying rebels in the town of Marea photographed grenades with markings that showed they were manufactured between 1992 and 2005 by the state-owned RUAG company in Bern. Initial investigations by the Swiss government suggested the grenades were part of a consignment of 225,162 grenades shipped to the UAE in 2003. A photo from today's funeral of Gen Dawoud Rajha, the Syrian defence minister, who was one of those assassinated on Wednesday:
Syrian banks are reported to be running out of cash and a rush to find safe housing has caused rents in some places to spike to $100 per night, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said today. The UNHCR's chief spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, told a briefing in Geneva:
As we approach the end of another week – and an eventful one in Syria – we have compiled some highlights from the government news agency's Twitter feed over the last seven days. The Russians don't seem to be having much luck in their attempts to deliver three attack helicopters to Syria. Or perhaps they are just not trying very hard. Last month, a ship carrying the controversial aircraft from Russia had to turn back off the Scottish coast, and now there's a further delay. A Russian military-diplomatic source has told Interfax [in Russian] that increased attacks from the Syrian opposition, including Wednesday's assassination of several top officials, have led to a worsening of the military-political situation inside Syria, and mean safe shipment of the helicopters cannot be guaranteed. Here's a summary of events so far today: • President Assad's forces have regained some control lost in the wake of Wednesday's assassination attack. The Free Syrian Army said it had withdrawn from the Midan area of Damascus, which the government said it now control. Syrian troops have also retaken a border crossing to Turkey where rebels were filmed tearing down a placard of Assad on Thursday. • State TV announced that a fourth senior official has died after Wednesday's attack. Intelligence chief Hisham Bekhtyar, died from wounds, it said. Meanwhile, the funeral was held today for defence minister Dawoud Rajha. • The UN's high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, has expressed grave concern, for those fleeing the violence in Syria. Thousands of Iraqis have been evacuated from Syria, and up to 30,000 Syrians have travelled to Lebanon in the last 48 hours. • Syria has denied Russian suggestions that Assad is ready to stand down. The information ministry said the claim was "completely devoid of truth". • Thursday saw the highest total of deaths in Syria since the uprising began, according to activists. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented 206 civilian deaths, plus at least 98 deaths among the regime's forces. • A senior Iraqi government official said Iraqi border forces had witnessed the executions of several Syrian army soldiers at the hands of the rebels, according to the New York Times. Iraqi officials confirmed the seizures of four crossings and said the frontier was shut and additional Iraqi troops sent there as a precaution, it said. • The security council is due to vote on a UK tabled proposal to extend the UN's monitoring mission in Syria for another 30 days. Russia said it is willing to back extending the mission for 45 days under another draft tabled by Pakistan. Both proposals are expected to be put to a vote later today. • Assad has amassed up to $1.5bn (£950m) for his family and his close associates, according to analysts, despite moves in London, Switzerland and the US to freeze the assets of his regime. Many of Assad's assets are held in Russia, Hong Kong and a range of offshore tax havens to spread the risk of seizure, according to London-based business intelligence firm Alaco. Syria has denied Russian suggestions that Assad is ready to stand down (see 11.07am). Reuters quotes the information ministry saying the claim was "completely devoid of truth".
Sander van Hoorn, one of the few international journalists reporting from Damascus, describes the scene at the funeral of defence minster Dawoud Rajha, who was killed in Wednesday's attack.
The UN refugee agency says it fears for the safety of 88,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria, after a family of seven was found shot dead in a Damascus apartment. Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming says the family was "murdered" by unknown assailants and three other Iraqi refugees were killed by gunfire last week, AP reports. She told reporters Friday in Geneva that thousands of refugees, mainly Iraqi, who have been living in the Damascus suburb of Seida Zeinab have fled their homes due to violence and "targeted threats." Fleming said the agency was told that Iraq sent two planes to retrieve its citizens living in Syria, and plans to send more. Rebels have confirmed they have withdrawn from the Midan district of Damascus, Reuters reports.
Interesting remark from Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group, quoted by Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times (subscription):
From Paris, our correspondent Kim Willsher clarifies the Russian ambassador's remark about President Assad being ready to step down "in a civilised manner" (see 9.47am). Ambassador Alexandre Orlov was speaking on French RFI radio this morning. When asked if it was over for Assad, he said:
The Free Syrian Army is said to be in control of Yarmouk Palestinian camp in Damascus. This is not independently confirmed.
Iraq is evacuating hundreds of its citizens from Damascus by air because clashes between Syrian soldiers and rebels have left land routes too dangerous, AP reports citing officials.
Yesterday saw the highest total of deaths in Syria since the uprising began, according to activists. The Local Coordination Committees, which documents civilian deaths, said 217 civilians were killed on Thursday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented 206 civilian deaths, plus at least 98 deaths among the regime's forces. The highest civilian tolls were in Damascus countryside (54) and Deir Azzour (51), it said. As usual, it is difficult to verify these figures because of the Syrian government's restrictions. Turkish journalist Mehmet Aksakal claims the Syrian army has retaken control of at least one Turkish/Syria border point taken by rebels on Thursday. Speaking by phone from the border area he said:
Aksakal said it was possible that the checkpoint would fall again to the rebels because the Syrian military is spread thinly in the area.
Yesterday video of the Bab al-Hamal crossing showed rebels tearing down a placard of Bashar al-Assad. The rebels who have been involved in the clashes are local groups, loosely tied to the Free Syrian Army, he said.
There are two main borders between Turkey and Syria, where most of the trade and passengers cross: one between Kilis in Turkey and the rebel controlled town of Azzaz; and another between Cilegozu in Turkey and Bab al-Hawa where rebels were filmed yesterday. This Google maps shows the main border points into Turkey. The Cilegozu border has been closed for two weeks, while fighting has raged between rebels and Syrian army in Azzaz, according to Aksakal. He said there were also many smaller border points into Kurdish areas that don't tend to be used for international crossings. Most have been closed for months. Jarablus, another border crossing towards the east, is under Kurdish control, he said. Last month the Syrian government withdrew about 95% of the Syrian soldiers stationed in Kurdish areas, Aksakal claimed. But last week the Syrian army attacked Jarablus with helicopters. Eight rebels and two Syrian soldiers were bought to hospital in Turkey, Aksakal reports. The Kurdish area is free of the Syria government, he claimed. Within the last week up to 5,000 refugees have crossed the border. They included at least three generals and other officers. Despite the Russian ambassador's remark (see 9.47am), Assad may not be willing to go after all:
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV reports that Hisham Ikhtiar, chief of the Syrian national security bureau, has died. He was said to have been injured in the blast that targeted other senior officials on Wednesday. Meanwhile, funerals are said to be taking place for other victims of the blast, though apparently they are not being televised in Syria. The Russian ambassador in Paris is reported as saying that President Assad is ready to step down, but "in a civilised manner". Dutch journalist Sander van Hoorn is tweeting from Damascus:
Egypt: Omar Suleiman, the former Murabarak regime's intelligence chief – often referred to as "torturer-in-chief" – is to be given a military funeral. Suleiman died in the US yesterday while having medical tests. The Egypt Independent reports:
On Twitter, Sarah Carr posted this six-word epitaph:
Syrian state-run TV says government troops have recovered full control of the Midan district of Damascus, AP reports.
(all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Here's a roundup of the latest developments on Syria: • Rebel fighters took over the country's border crossings into Turkey and Iraq as diplomacy reached a dead end. The capture of the crossings – reportedly including all into Iraq – appeared to represent a dramatic new challenge to Bashar al-Assad's control and will likely prove crucial in funnelling arms and supplies into besieged rebel areas. • A senior Iraqi government official said Iraqi border forces had witnessed the executions of several Syrian army soldiers at the hands of the rebels, according to the New York Times. Iraqi officials confirmed the seizures of four crossings and said the frontier was shut and additional Iraqi troops sent there as a precaution, it said. • The UK, US and France rounded on Russia and China following the veto of a UN draft resolution on fresh Syrian sanctions, lambasting the move as "inexcusable" and accusing Moscow of buying time for Assad to "smash the opposition". Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, condemned the two countries vetoing the resolution as "inexcusable and indefensible". • The security council is due to vote on a UK tabled proposal to extend the UN's monitoring mission in Syria for another 30 days. Russia said it is willing to back extending the mission for 45 days under another draft tabled by Pakistan. Both proposals are expected to be put to a vote later today. • "This is a battle that looks, unfortunately, as if it's going to be decided by brute force rather than negotiations that the international community had hoped," says Ian Black in a new Guardian video. Martin Chulov warns of the dangers of more violence if, and when, the regime falls. • In Damascus rebels torched the main police headquarters as law and order continued to break down in the capital. The battle for parts of the capital raged into the early hours of Friday, with corpses piled in the streets. In some neighbourhoods, residents said there were signs the government's presence was diminishing. • Assad has amassed up to $1.5bn (£950m) for his family and his close associates, according to analysts, despite moves in London, Switzerland and the US to freeze the assets of his regime. Many of Assad's assets are held in Russia, Hong Kong and a range of offshore tax havens to spread the risk of seizure, according to London-based business intelligence firm Alaco. • About 20,000 Syrians have travelled across the main border crossing into Lebanon over the past 24 hours, a Lebanese security source working at the border told Reuters. The number of Syrians, many of them day-workers, who travel through the official Masnaa border crossing usually hovers around 5,000 per day, the source said. The US government has mapped the unfolding refugee crisis. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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