The Daily Monitoring Report – Friday – 27-07-2012

JULY 27^th, 2012

- Yesterday (Thursday), some 180 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad battalions, mostly inDamascus, Rif Dimashq,Aleppo and Daraa. Moreover, theUSA warned against committing more massacres inAleppo, amid the continuation of clashes and shelling inDamascus and many other regions. (2)

- A Syrian parliamentarian representing the northern of provinceAlepposaid on Friday she has defected toTurkey, becoming the first member of the rubberstamp assembly elected in May and dominated by President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Party to defect. “I have crossed toTurkeyand defected from this tyrannical regime … because of the repression and savage torture against a nation demanding the minimum of rights,” Ikhlas al-Badawi told Sky News Arabia. (3)

Field situation

- Evening demonstrations took place in the districts of Qabratkeh, Palestine Camp, Al Qanawat, Dummer al-Balad, Dummer project inDamascus. In addition, many demonstrations erupted in Saqba, Kafr Batna, Douma, Harasta, Al-Tall, Kiswe in Rif Dimashq. (2)

- Evening demonstrations took place in Siff Al-Dawla, Hanano housing inAleppo, Kafr Takharim and Kafr Nabl in Idleb, in addition to Al-Miadin in Deir Ez Zor and many other regions inSyria. (2)

Political mobility

- Chairman of the Syrian National Council (SNC) Abdul Basit Sida said that the time has become ripe for considering the issue of the transitional government, asserting that that issue should be discussed with all opposition factions and field forces. (2)

- Chairman of the Syrian National Council (SNC) Abdul Basit Sida said that the idea of the safe exit for Bashar Al-Assad is on the cards, but it should be governed by some rules, because it is not easy to offer such an idea to the Syrian people after one year and half of killings and bloodshed. (1) (2)

- Burhan Ghalioun, ex-leader and current political bureau chief of the Syrian National Council (SNC), pointed out that “The essential issues currently being discussed in the SNC’s meeting is the restructuring of the SNC and reforming it, and the implementation of a plan for increasing the participation, in addition to the whole political situation and the international stances towards the incidents in Syria.” (1)

- Gen. Manaf Tlass said that he is looking forward to the support of theSaudi Arabiaand other forces. He also welcomed cooperating with the Syrian National Council and the Free Syrian Army, noting that there are some members of the Assad regime do not have Syrian blood on their hands. (2) (3) (4)

Internal situation

-Iraqreceived 800 Syrian refugees, including 5 injured people from the border area of Albu Kamal. In addition, a local source said that the health bodies provided the injured people with the first aid and referred one of them to ar-Ramadi hospital. (2)

 Activities of Civil Organizations

- UN heritage agency UNESCO on Thursday urged forces fighting inSyria to avoid damage to historically important cultural sites, in particular in the country’s second-largest cityAleppo. “In light of escalated violence in the vicinity of several historic urban areas in Syria, the director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova reiterates her appeal… to all parties involved in the conflict to protect all Syrian cultural heritage,” the agency said in a statement. It said UNESCO was “particularly alarmed over reports of heavy fighting in Aleppo”, which is a world heritage site, and was concerned over other heritage sites including the Crac des Chevaliers crusader castle and the ruins of Palmyra. The statement said UNESCO had also alerted international customs and police bodies to be on the lookout for stolen artifacts from the country. “In the current context of civil strife, UNESCO is also particularly concerned about the risks of looting and pillaging of cultural property,” it said. (4)

International stances

Syria

- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree Thursday to establish a court specializing in cases involving “terrorism” inDamascus. (1)

International

- Turkey warned the Syrian regime against “supporting the armed terrorist groups” in reference to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), threatening to resort to the confidential “Adana agreement” that one of its provisions allows Turkey to pursue the fighters inside the Syrian lands “in case its safety was in danger”. (1) (2) (3) (4)

- Erdogan said on Thursday Assad and those close to him were about to leave power and preparations were under way for a “new era” inTurkey’s southern neighbor. (1)

-   The US State Department said on Thursday that credible reports of tank columns moving on Aleppo along with air strikes by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft represented a serious escalation of the government’s efforts to crush an armed rebellion. “This is the concern: that we will see a massacre inAleppoand that’s what the regime appears to be lining up for,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “Our hearts are with the people ofAleppo”, she added. (2) (3)

-Ukrainestarted evacuating its citizens fromSyria, the Ukraine FM spokesman Oleksandr Dikusarov said. It is noteworthy that their number hits about 5,000 persons; most of them are women and children. (2)

- A flotilla of Russian warships off the coast ofSyriawill not dock at a port leased byMoscowin the violence-stricken Middle East country,Russia’s navy chief has said. “The joint fleet flotilla will not enter theportofTartus,” Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov said. “It is carrying out military drills in theMediterranean.” (2)

-Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi has once again reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s support forSyria, sayingTehranmaintains an “unchangeable” stance on the Arab country. “Under the circumstances that all big powers have been united to inflict damage on the Syrian nation, the Iranian people have an unchangeable stance on Syrians and will always stand by them,” said Rahimi in a meeting withSyria’s Deputy Prime Minister Omar Ibrahim Ghalawanji inTehranon Wednesday. (2) (3)

Sources

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