Syrian Coalition accepts peace talks and says Assad must go
The General Assembly of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces (GA) convened in Istanbul on November 9-11 to discuss, amongst other issues, the participation in “Geneva II” conference. The GA endorsed the Syrian Coalition’s readiness to participate in a Geneva conference based on the transfer of power to a transitional governing body (TGB). This body should include full executive powers including presidential powers with control over military and security apparatus. Furthermore, the Assad Regime and those associated with him will have no role in the transitional period and future Syria. The Syrian Coalition stipulates that prior to the conference access for relief convoys, including the Red Cross and the Red Crescent IFRC and other international relief agencies, to all besieged areas must be ensured, and prisoners, especially women and children, must be released…Read more
Jarba: Internal colonialism is worst kind of colonialism Ahmad Jarba, President of the Syrian Coalition, stressed that “the worst kind of colonialism is the one practiced by internal hands disguised as patriotism in order to exercise the worst forms of political, social, and economic oppression under glittery and false slogans...Read more
Death Toll: 34 killed in Syria today, 62 yesterday Local Coordination Committees in Syria documented 62 killed yesterday, while 34 people were documented as being killed as of press time today. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, today’s martyr count includes three children and two women, also citing three people who died under torture. Martyrs were cited as: 6 fighters of the Free Syrian Army, 11 people in Damascus, 7 in Dara’a, 6 in Homs, 3 in Aleppo, and 1 in Hama. (Local Coordination Committees + Syrian Network for Human Rights)
Mortar shelling kills 5 children in Damascus Five children were killed when several mortar rounds hit Tahrir Square and al Qasaa’ in central Damascus today. The Free Syrian Army attacked Assad forces headquartered in al Taiybeh in Jobar district with homemade rockets, killing all troops inside the headquarters and destroying part of it. Meanwhile, five people were killed and others were injured in the neighborhood of Kashkool near Jaramana after a stray mortar shell fell on the neighborhood. Also, regimes forces stationed at “20” and “14” Brigades in Qutaifa killed five civilians with heavy artillery fire in Jeroud city in the Qalamun area near Damascus. Violent clashes also took place between the Free Syrian Army and regime forces in Marj Al Sultan in rural Damascus. Additional clashes took place between the Free Syrian Army and the terrorist Hezbollah militia on the outskirts of the towns of Hujaira and Sayeda Zeinab amid missile and artillery strikes on the region. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Smart News Agency)
FSA capture parts of “61” Brigade in Quneitra The Free Syrian Army took control of the fourth platoon of the “61” Brigade in Hieran area in rural Quneitra taking nine soldiers captive as well as inflicting casualties among the Assad troops. A number of civilians were killed and others wounded due to regime shelling on the town of Inkhil in rural Dara’a, killing a number of people and wounding others. Two civilians were also killed and others wounded by regime rockets that hit the towns of Giza and Dae’l. The towns of Nawa and Sheikh Misqeen also came under heavy artillery shelling which resulted in a number of civilian casualties. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Smart News Agency)
Regime intensify bombardment on rural Homs Regime warplanes launched air raids on the town of Mahin in Homs after it came under the control of the Free Syrian Army with no reports of casualties. Regime forces also shelled the village of Eidon, the towns of Al Ghannto and Talbisa, and the city of Rastan in the Homs Governorate with both Gvozdika guns and mortars, which led to the wounding of a number of civilians and the destruction of a number of houses. In Hama, the town of Altrimssh came under artillery bombardment by the Assad regime wounding a number of civilians, some of whom were taken to nearby medical centers in critical condition.
Five Assad soldiers killed in Aleppo, Al Tawhid imposes a curfew Five regime soldiers were killed and others wounded during clashes with the Free Syrian Army in the neighborhood of Bab al Nasr of Aleppo. There are also ongoing clashes between the two sides inside the “80” Brigade and in the area around Aleppo’s International Airport amid aerial raids and artillery shelling on the area. Meanwhile, the Al Tawhid Brigade, in coordination with other revolutionary factions, announced a curfew in all liberated districts of Aleppo between seven o’clock at night until seven in the morning. The curfew is to take effect starting today. The curfew was imposed in view of the conditions experienced by the city of Aleppo and as an effort to preserve the safety of civilians in light of recent military developments and security breakthroughs.
Zebari and Davutoğlu stress the need for peaceful transition of power in Syria At a joint press conference in Baghdad with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari alluded to differences with Turkey on how to resolve the Syrian crisis but confirmed their agreement on the need for a peaceful transfer of power. “The world realizes the difficulty of a military solution in Syria, and the best solution to what is happening is not militarization, but dialogue between the opposition and the regime” Zebari said. He added that Ankara and Baghdad “agree on the need for prevention of chaos in Syria” and that both countries should be able to cooperate on the solution for a peaceful transition of power in Syria despite their differences because they agree to support a transition and work for it.” For his part, Davutoğlu said that the Assad regime has opened the door for militant groups to enter Syria. He stressed that Assad’s regime is one of the greatest meddlers in the affairs of the countries in the region, adding that Assad “is responsible for many of the terrorist acts in Iraq and Lebanon. Davutoğlu also said that “history has not seen such a tyrant like Bashar al Assad who bombs his people with warplanes and artillery and kills the population en masse.” (Source: Al Haiyat + Syrian Coalition)
Human Rights Watch: Widespread Use of Incendiary Weapons by Assad Human Rights Watch confirmed that the Syrian Air Force used incendiary bombs in dozens of attacks over the past year, including a half-ton bomb that killed 37 people at a school in Aleppo province. The organization called on the international community to condemn Assad’s use of incendiary weapons just as they have its use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs, noting that it must also tighten international laws that restrict the spread of those weapons. A weapons specialist in the organization said that “Syria has used incendiary weapons to inflict terrible harm on civilians, including many children.” The human rights organization indicated that the Syrian Air Force carried out at least 56 incendiary weapons attacks from November 2012 through September 2013. The organization documented one of the first cases of the use of incendiary bombs in the district of Darya in Damascus, pointing out that all of these weapons were Soviet-made. (Source: Reuters + Syrian Coalition)
Italian Navy rescues 176 Syrians The Italian Navy rescued 176 Syrian refugees, including 146 men, 11 women, three of them pregnant, and 20 children, including one with disabilities, who were on a small boat that smugglers abandoned in the middle of the sea. The operation was carried out at the request of the Catania prosecutor after the suspect boat was observed 500 km southeast of the port of Capo Passero in eastern Sicily at a time when the weather was getting worse. The monitoring process was carried out by a small submarine that was being used for the first time. The Syrian refugees were taken to Stromboli by boat and then transferred to the Italian ship San Marco where they underwent a medical examination and were photographed by a team of police. (Source: Al-Riyadh newspaper)
Putin and Saudi King discuss Syrian crisis During a telephone call yesterday with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed pushing international efforts to develop a solution to the Syrian crisis. Putin and the Saudi King expressed “their common interest in the promotion of cooperation between the two countries and the importance of maintaining contacts at various levels” in order to help resolve global problems, focusing their attention during the phone call on the discussion of issues related to the settlement of the Syrian crisis and finding a solution to what is happening in Syria. (Source: Al Haiyat + Syrian Coalition)
