The Daily Monitoring Report – Sunday – 22-07-2012

    July 22^nd, 2012

- Some 145 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad forces in different places inSyria. Clashes flare up with the Free Syrian Army that controlled several areas, like the borders withTurkeyandIraq. (2)

Political Mobility

- The Syrian National Council (SNC) sees that extending the period -that the international observers would spend inSyria-would renew the processes of killing suffered by the Syrian people for more than 16 months. (2)

- Defected Brigadier-general Mustafa Al-Sheikh: There is information about using the chemical weapons system. He also asserted that Al-Assad’s regime will only leave after causing a massive bloodshed, adding that the coming days would witness an escalation by Al-Assad’s battalions in bombing Damascusand Aleppo. (1) (3)

Internal situation

- The Syrian National Council (SNC) calls on the United Nations to offer support for the Syrian refugees, unveiling that the number of the Syrian refugees in eachTurkey,Lebanon andJordan exceeded 400,000 ones. (1) (2)

- UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) calls onSyria’s neighbors to keep their borders open for allowing the harmed people to find a safe place, especially after the escalating violence represented in battles and security campaigns conducted by the regime against the rebels. (2)

- UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson said that some one million Syrian refugees were forced to leave their country due to fight till the past week, adding that the refugees in Syria are strictly besieged amid acts of violence, as some of them were threatened to be killed. (2)

Political stance

Arab

-Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned Al-Assad that he would make big mistake in case he used chemical weapons against the rebels. He also said that the international community would move in case that happened, even countries that used to be slack- in the past- with regard to punishing the Assad regime would support an international action against Syria in case that happened. (2)

- Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani called on the government includingLebanon’s top officials and parliament on Friday to “openLebanon’s doors and border to Syrian refugees”. During his Friday sermon, Qabbani said “we are fed up with injustice inSyria, particularly with what happened yesterday near the Masnaa crossing point where gunmen deterred Syrian refugees from entering. (2)

 International

- Francewants “the rapid formation of a provisional government” inSyria, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday. Fabius also said the provisional government should be “representative of the diversity of the Syrian society” and called on the opposition to prepare itself for taking control of the country. (1) (2) (3) (4)

- The White House announced that theUSAis currently watching the chemical weapons and consulting withSyria’s neighbors in that regard. (1) (2) (3)

-Israelis preparing for a possible military intervention inSyriain case the Syrian government hands chemical weapons to the Lebanese Hezbollah. (1)

- The Financial Times said that there has been contact between the US, Israel and Jordan aimed at securing the Syrian chemical arsenal so as not to be used by the Assad regime or stolen by militant groups. In addition, there have been news reports that theUShas formulated a secret plan to send an intervention force intoSyriato secure those weapons in the event of the Syrian state’s collapse so as not to be used later by Hezbollah or even by militant groups affiliated to al-Qaeda. (2)

- Experts think that the Russian-Chinese veto in the UN Security Council on Syria frustrated all America’s strategic options except for enhancing support for the Syrian rebels outside the United Nations, but they ruled out a US direct military intervention. (2)

-  Richard Haass, president of the US Council on Foreign Relations, called on the USA and other countries- that have the same American stance- to form a coalition of the NATO’s states and some other Arab countries to “Impose further sanctions against the Assad regime, offer support for the opposition, launch attacks against the weapons’ storage facilities and prepare for the post-Assad era.” (2)

Sources

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