Daily Newsletter – 29/9/2013

Regime aircrafts take advantage of love for studying and kill 14 martyrs in their place of study, Coalition: Al Raqqa massacre is a clear violation of the Geneva

In a new violation of the Geneva Convention Bashar Al Assad’s regime launched air raids which dropped explosive barrels on Ibn Tufayl Commercial School located on the coastal road of the Euphrates River in liberated Al Raqqa, resulting in the deaths of more than 14 people and wounding dozens of others, most of them students. In response, the Coalition requested of the international community in a statement today the need to “intensify international efforts to prevent the regime from using any type of conventional or unconventional weapons traditionally used against the Syrian people;” the Coalition added that “the regime launched this attack in conjunction with the gathering of students in the schoolyard during the first days of school, turning the students’ longing for the start of a new school year to pieces spread all over the place.” This comes in conjunction with an assault by ISIS on the Church of Our Lady Bshara last week in Al Raqqa. Analysts consider “that the operations witnessed in Al Raqqa this week, with their sudden appearance, prove the existence of a closely coordinated b relationship between the regime and ISIS.” This was confirmed by the President of the Syrian National Coalition in a speech to the Friends of the Syrian People at the United Nations, saying “the phenomenon of extremism is far from the character of the Syrian people.” 

(Source: Coalition)

The Coalition condemns the regime for killing journalists while performing their professional duties

The Syrian National Coalition demanded that all groups concerned with the journalists rights to condemn the regime’s killing of the Agence France-Presse Media journalist Murhaf Mudahi (Abu Shujaaa), while carrying out his journalistic duty in Deir El Zour, where died as a result of the continuous shelling on various parts of the city. A request to all international organizations, at the head of them, Reporters Without Borders, “to do what they are capable of in order to fulfill their responsibilities to Syrian journalists.”

(Source: Coalition)

Al Moalem: There is no negotiation on the resignation of Bashar Al Assad, Nashar: Assad’s departure is a pillar for the Coalition

Syrian Foreign Minister of the Syrian regime, Walid al-Moalem, rejected to negotiate on the principle of Bashar al-Assad’s resignation during the Geneva Peace Conference, which may be held in November. It is likely that a transitional government will be formed which is supposed to receive full powers opening the door to the possibility of Bashar al-Assad leaving power according to the demands of all anti-regime groups. In turn a member of the Syrian National Coalition, Samir Nashar, emphasized in an interview on Al-Arabiya “the necessity of the departure of Assad and holding the regime accountable, which is responsible for massacres and not merely disarmamement of the tool used to commit the crime as was laid out in the Security Council’s proposal, noting that all the indicators and evidence pointed to the regime’s involvement in using chemicals and missiles which carried chemical warheads launched from places under the control of the regime as stated in a United Nations investigators report. “

(Source: Coalition + Al Quds Al Arabi)

Al Moallem does not recognize the Coalition as a legitimate representative of the opposition and calls for activating other political blocs

Foreign Minister of the Syrian regime, Walid al-Moallem, announced that the Syrian National Coalition does not represent parties opposed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the Geneva conference, adding that “the Syrian opposition,” according to him, must be represented by “licensed parties.” Al Moallem said “There is a national internal opposition that nobody reaches out to for its participation, and if we want to represent a majority of the components of the Syrian people, we must expand the circle of participation.”

(Source: Al Quds Al Arabi)

33 Martyrs in Syria until this evening and 70 martyrs yesterday

Local Coordination Committees in Syria documented 70 martyrs in Syria yesterday, 33 of them until 6 PM this evening, among them two women. Also, 14 people were martyred in Al Raqqa, eight in Damascus and its countryside, seven in Daraa, two in Homs, and a martyr in each of Hama and Deir El Zour.

(Local Coordination Committees)

Clashes around Damascus and the FSA announces the start of Al Qadisiya battle in Al Qalamoun

The FSA battled in Yarmouk Cam, Barzah, and Jobar in the midst of shelling by regime forces on residential area resulting in many injuries, many of them critical due to the forced siege on the area. Clashes occurred in Moadamiat Al Shaam and on the international highway in Al Qalamoun. Regime forces shelled with heavy mortars the city of Kisweh in the Damascus countryside resulting in three people being martyred and injuring others. Yesterday the FSA announced the start of Al Qadisiya battle in Al Qalamoun taking control of the Air Force Intelligence checkpoint on Al Nasiriya Street at the Dayr Attia crossing. In Al Quteifa the FSA launched seven grad rockets on Al Nasiriya military airport, took control of the 413th fuel storage facility, and targeted the 128th Batallion destroying four tanks and killing a number of the regime’s forces. The FSA was also able to take control of five tanks a shelka and various amounts of ammunition and arms from the ammunitions depots. The FSA also targeted regime forces in Al Htayta with direct hits on regime forces resulting in the loss of materials and soldiers.

(Source: Coalition + Local Coordination Committees) 

The FSA continues to control buildings of the customs border crossing in Daraa

The FSA took control of most of the customs border crossing buildings in Daraa on the border between Jordan and Syria. The brigades said that the only places left are those outside the Syrian territory of the border crossing and fierce battles were still taking place between them and the regime forces. The FSA targeted regime strongholds around the city of Tafas with tank mortars and rockets in a battle they called “Uniting the Ranks” resulting in heavy losses among the regime’s ranks.  The districts of Daraa Al Balad, Al Sad Street, and Daraa Camp were targeted with heavy shelling from regime forces by way of rockets and heavy mortars resulting in the martyrdom of many civilians and the injury of several others.

(Source: Coalition + Al Jazeera)

Clashes in Al Qusoor District and Joorat Al Shayah in Homs, Arrests in Hama

On and off clashes occurred today between the FSA and regime forces in Al Qusoor district and Joorat Al Shayah in Homs amidst mortar shelling by regime forces on the area. Regime forces also shelled the city of Al Rastan with heavy mortars resulting in the martyrdom of three people and injuring others. In Hama daily shelling continues on the province’s eastern and northern countryside, as for the city, fierce clashes between the FSA and regime forces took place on the Aleppo Road district and regime forces fired light and medium weapons in Al Qusoor district. Regime forces conducted an arrest and detention campaign, kidnapping two youth and a woman from the districts of Qibali, Mughela, and Al Bayad.

(Source: Coalition + Local Coordination Committees)

Fighter jets target Kwayres Airport, Clashes in Sabe Bahrat in Aleppo

Regime fighter jets shelled Kwayres Military Airport in Aleppo, which is besieged by the Free Syrian Army, as heavy mortars fell on the town of Bayanoun, along with fierce clashes between the FSA and regime forces in the villages of Al Razaniya and Rasm El Helou in the southern countryside as regime forces attempted to retake control of the area. The FSA also clashed with regime forces in the Sabe Bahraat area in Aleppo resulting in a large fire burning in a close by building.

(Source: Coalition + Local Coordination Committees)

Regime forces target Jabal Al Zawiye villages with heavy mortars; Oil well explodes in Deir El Zour

Regime forces renewed their shelling with heavy mortars and tanks on a number of villages on Jabal Al Zawiye in the Idleb countryside resulting in the injury of one person, as well as the injury of another civilian near the village of Joseph. The FSA clashed with regime forces on the outskirts of the Deir El Zour military airport at regime forces shelled the area with heavy mortars. An explosion happened in Albu Kamal in the Deir El Zour countryside due to a car bomb in the Al Jamiyat area of the city resulting in material losses only. There were a number of large explosions at one of the oil wells in the eastern Deir El Zour countryside along with regime forces’ shelling of the liberated areas of Deir El Zour with heavy mortars.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will begin its work next week and requests the regime to cooperate with the inspectors

Inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons this weekend will begin their work in preparation for the start of the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal. The Executive Committee of the organization requested that Bashar al – Assad ‘s regime give inspectors “the right to inspect all sites” and to appointment an official to be the main person responsible for the protection of the Organization, and to cooperate with the official United Nations inspectors. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported that the road map endorsed by the Executive Committee of the organization is based on the framework of the agreement reached by the United States and Russia in Geneva in the middle of the month. The Executive Council confirmed in its decision “the regime authorities should provide security for the Organization within seven days after the decision, and provide any additional information complementary to the data submitted on September 19 and related to the chemical weapons, especially “ sepcificying the name of the chemical, any military code names related to the chemical weapons in the weapons stock,  the quantities, and the type of ammunition, and ammunition that is not ready, the amount of stored spare chemical weapons, and the quantities of  ready and non-ready chemical weapons, the location of all chemical weapons, their warehouses storage units, the places of mixture, research centers, chemical weapons research and development facilities, and the geographical coordinates of those sites”. The Council ‘s decision to begin with the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal at the beginning of the month ( November ) and the completion of the destruction in the middle of the first half of  2014.

(Source: Al Hayat)

Bashar al-Assad’s forces targeted a mosque in Jordan and the Jordanian Ministry considers it a breach of national sovereignty

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry submitted a note of protest to the regime’s Embassy in Amman due to a mortar shell which landed on a mosque in the town of Ramtha in the north of the Kingdom close to the Syrian border last Thursday. The Jordanian government has submitted a strong protest to regime authorities responsible for the fall of the mortar shell inside Jordanian territory. The Minister of State for Media and the official government spokesman said that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over a memorandum to the embassy in Amman and stressed the need to take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such a thing in the future.”

(Source: Al Hayat)