The Daily Monitoring Report – Friday – 20-07-2012

      July 20^th, 2012

- Yesterday, 204 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad troops. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) attacks headquarters ofDamascus police. The FSA takes control of posts onSyria’s borders withTurkey andIraq. Activists call on the Syrians to take to street today (Friday) in demonstrations called “Ramadan the victory will be achieved inDamascus.” (1) (2) (4)

Internal Situation

-Damascusturns into a ghost town after a night of heavy shelling. (1) (2)

- The number of Syrian refugees who arrive in the city ofAl-Ramtha, near the Jordanian-Syrian border, has massively increased. The Jordanian government is preparing to open the first camp in the Mafraq area of Al-Zaatari north east of the country to accommodate the huge number of refugees through securing the required funds from international bodies. (1) (2)

Political stances

Syria

- An Assad security source said that a “national funeral” of the security officials who were killed Wednesday will be arranged Friday, with no further information about whether Al-Assad will take part or not. (4)

- Bashar Al-Jaafari, representative of the Assad regime in the UN Security Council, welcomed the Russian-Chinese veto in the Security Council, expressing his astonishment at the Security Council’s rushing to condemn the Assad regime, while declining to condemn the bombing of the national security headquarters in Damascus in which a number of military commanders and senior security officials were killed. (1) (2) (5)

International 

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls for formation of a transitional government inSyriaincluding opposition members and independents in which al-Assad would not be present. Erdogan added that the transitional government should prepare for elections and facilitate the establishment of political parties. (2)

- Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, calls on the Assad regime to make sacrifices preservingSyria’s highest interests and to avoid a civil war. (2)

- British military intelligence chiefs said there was a “high probability” of the Assad regime resorting to chemical weapons following the assassination of three senior Syrian military figures in a bomb attack on Wednesday inDamascus. (7)

- British Prime Minister David Cameron calls on Bashar Assad to step down, stressing the need to change the regime inDamascusin order to avoid the outbreak of civil war. (1) (2)

- TheUSPresident Barack Obama says that what is going on inSyriarequires that theUnited Statesdoes its best to protect the security ofIsrael. (2) (3)

- TheUSlawmakers passed on Thursday a bill breaking contracts between the Pentagon and Russian state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport. The bill was introduced by Democrat Congressman Jim Moran, who said, “It is beyond unacceptable for the United States Government to work with a firm that is arming the oppressive Syrian regime.” (2)

- The British government has frozen about 100 million pounds ($156.5 million) of assets owned by members of Bashar Al-Assad’s family. (2)

- General Robert Mood, head of the UN observer team in leftDamascusfollowing expiration of the 90-day mission, calling for an end to the bloodshed in the country. (1) (2) (5)

- TheUSWhite House rushed to express opposition to extending the mandate of the UN observer mission inSyriaafter the Russian-Chinese veto. (1) (2)

- Susan Rice, the American envoy to the United Nations, said that after failure of the UN Security Council,Washingtonwill work, from now on, outside the Council to bring more pressures on the Assad regime, without clarifying the mechanism of that pressure. (1) (2) (5) (7)

- TheUSenvoy to the UN Susan Rice says her country might agree to limited and final extension of the mandate of the UN observer mission inSyriaso that the mission and workers can safely and orderly withdraw fromSyria. (1) (2)

-United States,BritainandFranceaccuseRussiaandChinaof buying time for the Assad regime to smash the opposition. (6)

-UKambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant criticizesRussiaandChinafor their use of veto. He says, “The two countries argued to extend mandate of the UN observer mission inSyria, and they know that the mission is not able to work effectively inSyriadue to the Assad regime’s refusal to cooperate with it.” (1)

- Ambassador Li Baodong, permanent representative ofChinato the UN, condemned what he called “terrorist attacks inDamascus.” (1)

- A top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin says thatRussiahas not discussed hosting Bashar Al-Assad. (1)

-VenezuelacondemnsDamascusbombing, urging the foreign powers not to militarily intervene inSyria.Venezuelaexpressed its “deepest condolences to the brave Syrian people, especially families of the victims of this new crime.” (2)

Sources

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