Daily Newsletter – 29/10/2013

Syrian Coalition Strongly Condemns Destruction of Christian Statues

Abda: Brahimi Says Assad Must be Part of the Process
Anas al Abda, member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee, said that the Syrian National Council’s proposal to the Syrian Coalition calls for the Arab League to remove…
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Assad sacks Qadri Jamil, and only wants to negotiate with himself.
Bashar al-Assad sacked Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil today, for being absent from work, according to official sources of media institutions of the regime…
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Death Toll: 25 Today, 76 Yesterday
The Local Coordination Committees documented 76 yesterday; 25 people killed as of six in the evening today, including two children and two women and a person under torture, citing 6 people in both Damascus and its countryside and Aleppo, 5 in Dara’a , 4 in Homs, 2 in each of Idlib and Deir Ezzor . (Source: Local Coordination Committees)

Regime targets Yarmouk refugee camp amid a 10-month crippling siege
Regime forces shelled the Yarmouk neighborhood of Damascus with mortar rounds and various heavy weapons, wounding a number of people and destroying a number of houses. A two-day-old baby girl died in the Yarmouk refugee camp yesterday because of the suffocating siege imposed on the city. The neighborhood includes tens of thousands trapped inside for the 10th month in a row and who are suffering from lack of food and medicine and medical supplies and access to fuel and electricity. Elsewhere today, several civil and international organizations evacuated around 500 civilians from the besieged city of Muadamiya in the countryside of Damascus. Regime forces have targeted cities and towns in Eastern Ghouta with rockets launchers and mortar rounds, which resulted in the fall of a number of civilian casualties and the destruction of a number of houses. In the meantime, violent clashes took place between the Free Syrian Army and regime forces on the road to Damascus International Airport. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Smart News Agency)

Regime warplanes strike al Wae’r neighborhood in Homs
Regime’s warplanes renewed the airstrikes on al Wae’r neighborhood in Homs, killing three people. The air raids were accompanied by firing mortar shells on the neighborhood. The regime forces also shelled al Rastan in rural Homs with heavy artillery and rocket launchers which resulted in wounding a number of civilians who were offered First Aid in nearby medical centers. The regime also shelled al Hula and al Ghannto with heavy artillery and caused a number of injuries among civilians. (Source : Syrian Coalition + Smart News Agency )

FSA overruns al Mahd checkpoint in Rural Hama and kills 10 of Assad’s troops
The Free Syrian Army targeted the al Mahd checkpoint in Suqalbiya in Hama with mortar rounds which led to the death of 10 Assad troops and the destruction of a tank. The Free Syrian Army also destroyed a tank in the village of Asafrah in Eastern rural Hama. Regime forces stationed in al Hamra checkpoint also shelled the villages of Tal Mahser and Rabiah with heavy artillery with no reports of casualties. Regime forces also arrested dozens of civilians in the city of Salamiya amid heavy gunfire. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Smart News Agency)

Regime targets the town of Bianon in Aleppo and clashes around the Nebbul and Zahra
Regime forces shelled the town of Bianon in rural Aleppo with heavy artillery and rocket launchers, which led to the martyrdom of one person and injuring a number of civilians, as regime’s warplanes targeted the towns of Andan and Kafr Ammah near al Atareb, causing a number of injuries, some of them critically. Meanwhile, the regime shelled the town of Meyer in rural Aleppo with heavy artillery and wounded a number of civilians. These attacks coincided with violent clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the regime’s forces in the towns of Nebbul and Zahra where some regime troops were killed. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Local Coordination Committees)

Violence prevents OPCW From Accessing 2 Chemical Sites
According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, acts of violence prevented the inspectors from reaching two chemical weapons sites inside Syria in the framework of its mission to get rid of the Syrian chemical arsenal. This comes at a time when the organization is preparing to deliver the first report on the mission to the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon praised what he described as “the regime of Bashar al Assad’s respect for a specific deadline for the destruction of the military capabilities of Syria’s chemical weapons” which the regime has always described as “Syrian military honor that cannot be waived.” However, Assad was forced to acquiesce to American decisions for fear of international military strikes on his military positions in response to the massacres committed by the chemical bombs dropped in East Ghouta that claimed the lives of over 1,400 residents of the area. Moon said that the inspectors of the Agency for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were not able to visit all the sites “for security reasons“ without going  into further details. The Secretary-General said in a report to the UN Security Council that the inspectors “confirmed the destruction of the ability to produce chemical weapons and the mixing and filling of chemical weapons in all sites that they were able to visit. The organization said in a statement that “the inspectors visited 21 sites out of 23,” and added that “efforts will continue to secure the conditions necessary to achieve a safe entrance to these sites.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)

Brahimi in Damascus
The international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held talks in Damascus with Bashar al-Assad, the
regime’s Vice Foreign Minister and the National Coordinating Commission. French press sources quoted Brahimi as saying: “Assad can contribute in the transitional phase in Syria without leading it” The Syrian Coalition spoke out about Brahimi’s view that Iran’s participation in Geneva is “normal and necessary”. Damascus is the eighth stop in a regional tour by Brahimi that include Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, with the exception of Saudi Arabia which, according to informed sources, refused to receive him. The visit comes in an attempt to rally international support around the “Geneva 2” which is expected to take place on November 23rd. (Source: Syrian Coalition)