The Daily Monitoring Report – Friday – 06-07-2012

                                                                                   July 6^th, 2012

- Yesterday (Thursday), some 77 people were martyred at the hands of Al-Assad’s battalions, mostly in Idleb and Rif Dimashq. This came at a time when most of the Syrian governorates were exposed to shelling by cannons and tanks. In addition, dissensions increased among the governmental army’s ranks.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

Field Mobility

- Evening demonstrations erupted in Binnish, Kafr Auok and Jisr Al-Shughour in Idleb governorate.⁽⁴⁾

Internal Situation

- A witness in Damascus said that the house of the defected senior officer General Manaf Mostafa Tlass in the Syrian capital was completely robbed on the part of the Assad security officers on Thursday, adding they “took everything”⁽³⁾

- An explosive device exploded at the 8th of March Street in the coastal Latakia city, the matter which led to causing many injuries.⁽⁴⁾

- The governmental shops in Syria recovered anew in the recent period, as the Assad government was forced to backtrack on previously-taken steps towards adopting the Market economy system, in an attempt- on the part of the regime- to overcome difficulties caused by the current crisis that the state currently witnesses.^(1)(2)(3)

- The Assad government’s subsidies to basic commodities would swallow up at least 30% out of some $27 billion that the government indents to spend this year according to the public budget’s data. In addition, economists and bankers pointed out that the government is currently withdrawing from the foreign currency reserve and also typing new money for financing the deficit that is expected to officially and severely soar to hit 6.7% in 2012 due to the decrease in the taxes and customs’ revenues, in addition to the increase in the energy subsidy’s bill.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾

Activities of Civil Organizations

- Zayed Hammad, head of the Jordanian Ketab and Sunna Society which takes care of more than 50,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, said that “over 1,000 Syrians fled to the kingdom since dawn on Thursday.”⁽⁴⁾

Political Stances

Syria

- Adeeb Al-Sheshkeli, member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), said that the international community imposed 12 different kinds of sanctions against Syria, but they did not succeed in preventing Assad from killing his people.⁽⁵⁾

- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claimed that he would have been toppled like the Shah of Iran if his people had not been behind him. Al-Assad- in an interview with Turkey’s Cumhuriyet daily- said “Everybody was calculating that I would fall in a small amount of time. They all miscalculated.”^(1)(2)(3)

- Al-Assad- in an interview with Turkey’s Cumhuriyet daily published yesterday- blamed the revolt on Islamist militants from hostile Arab countries and an alleged western plot to break up Syria or plunge it into civil war. “The big game targeting Syria is much bigger than we expected,” he said. “The fight against terrorism will continue decisively in the face of this.” He added.⁽²⁾

Arab

- Arab League’s deputy secretary general Ahmed Bin Hilli asserted that the solution to the Syrian crisis would only be a political one and by the Syrians themselves. He also asserted that the crisis would not be militarily solved. Moreover, he called on all concerned bodies to abide by the plan of the international envoy to Syria Kofi Annan. Add to that, he warned that prolonging the crisis would lead to catastrophic consequences, calling on Assad government to stop using such an excessive violence.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said authorities are worried that extremists could gain another foothold in Syria, posing a new threat to the stability of the entire region. “We have solid information and intelligence that members of al-Qaida’s terrorist network have gone to Syria,” he told reporters in Baghdad. Zebari did not elaborate or provide details but said his main concern is “extremist, terrorist groups taking root in neighboring countries.” Zebari also said on Thursday that a Yemen-style power transfer was unlikely in Syria because its President Bashar al-Assad would refuse to step down. “Personally I think the Yemeni model would not succeed in Syria. In Yemen, there were supporters of that model, but it is not the case in Syria,” Zebari told reporters. “I do not think the Syrian president would simply give up power despite increasing pressure,” he added.^{(1)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)}

- A Lebanese MP and core member of the country’s anti-Syrian opposition escaped an assassination bid on yesterday morning, a high-ranking security official told AFP. “Our evidence shows that the operation was serious,” the official said, describing the failed bid to murder MP Boutros Harb as “part of a series of assassination attempts” targeting politicians in Lebanon. Harb earlier said that Lebanese security forces had warned him they had found “bomb detonators in a lift” in the building housing his office in Beirut, after three suspects tried to dismantle the lift door. The suspects later fled. Harb considered that attempt as a political message to cause sedition in Lebanon and distract people’s attention from what is currently happening in Syria.⁽²⁾⁽⁴⁾

International

- A diplomatic source said that Paris meeting would condemn suppression anew, and announce tangible matters for exerting further pressure on the Syrian regime, in addition to backing the inhabitants and opposition.⁽⁴⁾

- The head of U.N. monitors in Syria Robert Mood said on Thursday the mission must stay, despite the fact that the ceasefire they were sent to police is non-existent and violence is reaching an “unprecedented level”. General Robert Mood said also the 300-strong mission should be restructured to help support the political dialogue that foreign powers say is the only way out of the crisis. “Now we are in a situation where we have the contacts and knowledge, but we have no ceasefire. So it is time to stop spreading ourselves out too thin and restructure in a way that will allow us, once we resume our activities, to conduct targeted tasks that require longer periods of stay in particular areas,” Mood told a news conference in Damascus.^(1)(3)(4)

- WikiLeaks begins publishing tranche of Syria emails. WikiLeaks published the first of nearly 2.5 million emails relating to Syria, some of its political figures, ministries and companies on Thursday that encompass the period from August 2006 to March 2012.^{(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)}

- Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said that those emails will reveal “how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another” “The material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s opponents,” said Assange. The first tranche appeared to show that Finmeccanica, an Italian defense giant with extensive interests in the UK, supplied communications equipment and expertise about helicopters to the Syrian regime, even after it had launched a violent crackdown on peaceful protests that began in March 2011.^(1)(2)(3)

- Switzerland freezes arms exports to the UAE after a report said a Swiss-made hand grenade originally shipped to the Gulf state had been found in Syria. A Swiss newspaper published a picture of a hand grenade produced by Swiss weapons manufacturer RUAG which it said had been taken in the Syrian town of Marea last month, despite the fact that Switzerland stopped arms exports to Syria in 1998.⁽³⁾⁽⁷⁾

- Syrians must be able to decide their own fate free of impositions by other countries, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, according to a statement posted on his official website on Thursday. Ahmadinejad also accused the United States and its allies of opposing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with the goal of dominating the Middle East and propping up Israel.⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾

- Russia confirmed yesterday receiving requests from its Western partners to help end the conflict in Syria by offering President Bashar al-Assad asylum, but said it had dismissed the idea as a joke. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the idea was first raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her June meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first trip to Europe since his election to a third term. “Our side thought this was a joke and responded with a joke, how about you, the Germans, take Mr. Assad instead,” Lavrov said at a joint press appearance with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.^(1)(4)(7)

- China joins Russia and announced that it would not participate in the Friends of Syria Group” conference hosted by Paris.^(1)(2)(3)(4)

Sources

1	Asharq Al-Awsat
2	Aljazeera net
3	Reuters
4	AFP
5	AP
6	Guardian
7	Telegraph