The Daily Monitoring Report – Thursday – 26-07-2012
JULY 26th, 2012
- Yesterday, some 146 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad battalions who launched aerial and land attacks against several districts inDamascus, Rif Dimashq, Idlib,Homsand Deir Al-Zour. Thousands of Syrians demonstrated in different places amid the shelling and attacks. (2)
- Al-Assad’s battalions and the Free Syrian Army bring reinforcements toAleppoin an attempt to end the battle that has been taking place in the city for a week now. (1) (2)
- Diplomatic and military defections in the external missions of Al-Assad regime, the last of which was the defection of Abdul Latif Al-Dabagh, the Syrian ambassador in the UAE, only one day after the defection of his wife Lamia Al-Hariri, the Syrian ambassador in Cyprus, and the defection of Mohamed Tahsin Al-Faqeer, the security attaché in Al-Assad’s regime embassy to the Sultanate of Oman. (1) (2) (3)
Field Mobility
- Demonstrations were staged in Al-Shaghur, Juber and Al-Swaiqa districts inDamascus, Herista, Zamalka and Hamoria in Rif Dimashq. Other demos were staged in Kaft Nibl and Al-Habit in Idlib, and Al-Qosur district in Daraa, Al-Roqa and Al-Mayadin in Deir Al-Zour. (2)
Political Mobility
- Today, Thursday 26/7/2012, the General secretariat of the Syrian National Council would hold one of its most important meetings inDohato consider some issues and developments concerning the situation inSyria. (2)
- Abdul Baset Sida, chairman of the Syrian National Council, said the meeting would consider restructuring the Syrian National Council with a view to activating it and setting rules and mechanisms that would open the door for a wider participation by the different factions of the Syrian opposition, Civil Society Organizations and national Syrian figures. (1) (2)
- A group of 50 Syrian opposition figures including ex-officers, economists, jurists and representatives of different religious factions seek -inBerlin-to draft a new constitution forSyriaas a prelude to the post-Assad regime period. (4)
Internal situation
- More than 1,000 Syrian refugees reached the Jordanian-Syrian borders; most of them were from the Syrian capitalDamascus, which can be considered the biggest exodus movement- in one day- from the Syrian capital toJordansince the eruption of the Syrian revolution. (1) (2)
- The number of Syrian refugees inJordanhit about 160,000. In addition, the Jordanian authorities expected that number to be doubled in terms of the deterioration of the security situation inSyriaafter fighting has reached the capitalDamascusthat is about 120 kilo meters from the Jordanian borders. (2)
- Hundreds of Syrian families reached the Iraqi crossing Al-Qaim at the Syrian borders, while the Iraqi Red Crescent Society is currently working on the preparation of a camp east of Al-Qaim city to shelter the refugees. (2)
- Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said that the exams would be delayed in a number of Syrian universities, especially inDamascusandAlepposine die. (1) (4)
Activities of Civil Organizations
- The United Nations has halved the number of international aid workers deployed inSyriain the past week due to the deteriorating security situation inDamascus, a U.N. source said on Wednesday. “I believe 30 international staff are left inSyrianow,” the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. (3)
- The activities of the Qatari donation campaign, launched yesterday by charitable organizations to help the Syrian people, continued. The 5-day campaign, “All for Sham,” aims at collecting tens of million dollars for meeting needs of Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) or Syrian refugees in neighboring countries -Jordan,LebanonandTurkey. Head of the campaign Dr. Faisal bin Jassem Al-Thani told a news conference Tuesday the donation campaign, due until July 29, would be offering food, shelter, medicine and medical equipment for the needy Syrians. (1) (2)
Political stances
Syria
- A security source with the Assad regime said that the most important battle in Aleppo aims at regaining control of the districts located between the city and the airport that have become under the control of “the terrorists”. (4)
- Well-informed sources in theTurkey’sIstanbulsaid that Mohamed Makhlouf- uncle of Bashar Al-Assad- and his sons are currently making contacts withRussiaandFrancein a bid to find a shelter in case the regime was toppled. (1) (2)
Arab
- TheSaudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Abdullah al- Mouallimi, announced that the Arab group would offer a draft resolution to the UN general assembly. The draft resolution would restate the position of the Arab League Council of Foreign Ministers offering Assad a safe exit, warning him against using chemical weapons, and pressing for humanitarian corridors and security zones inSyria. (2)
-Jordanhas taken precautions in case chemical weapons are used inSyria, the Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Gouda said on Wednesday. (3)
International
- The Turkish leadership considers adopting additional measures for ensuring the state’s safety in terms of reports that the Assad regime has left districts on the Turkish border in northernSyriato the control of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or those support it. (1) (2)
- According to Turkish news reports, the Syrian administration has deliberately left the three districts on the Turkish border in northernSyriato the control of the Democratic Union of Kurdistan (PYD), known as an affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “Damascusleft the region to the PYD both to deploy its troops in the center of the country for its clashes with the Free Syrian Army and to intimidateTurkey,” reliable Turkish sources told the Hürriyet Daily News. (2)
-Turkeysaid Wednesday it will keep supplying energy toSyriadespite previously threatening to halt exports to its conflict-wracked neighbor. “The Syrian people need electricity now more than ever. We will continue to provide it,” Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said, theAnatolianews agency reported. On the other hand, Bülent Arınç, Deputy Prime Minister ofTurkey, said that the issue of stopping providingSyriawith energy is on the cards. (2)
- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world powers on Wednesday to urgently unite to end the bloodshed inSyria, recalling the inertia of the United Nations in 1995 as genocide occurred in the Bosnian town ofSrebrenica. In Srebrenica, he said, “the United Nations did not live up to its responsibility. The international community failed in preventing the genocide that unfolded. Too many men and boys died in Srebrenica – needlessly, savagely.” (1) (2) (3) (4)
- “The Syrian people will pay the price for this failure (to act),” Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig told a U.N. Security Council debate on the Middle East on Wednesday. (3)
-Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin saidWashingtonwould “bear the responsibility for the likely catastrophic consequences of such steps.” in reference to taking any step outside the UN Security Council. (3)
- Russia has told the Syrian government clearly that it is unacceptable to threaten to use chemical weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in its strongest condemnation of a recent warning by a Syrian official. In a meeting withSyria’s ambassador toMoscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov “laid out in an extremely clear formRussia’s position on the inadmissibility of any threats of the use of chemical weapons”, the ministry said. (1) (2) (3)
-Syriahas assuredRussiathat its chemical weapons are secure, a Russian deputy foreign minister said Wednesday, repeatingMoscow’s calls forDamascusnot to use its stockpile. “We have received firm assurances fromDamascusthat the security of these arsenals is fully ensured,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in an interview with the ITAR-TASS news agency. (1) (2)
Sources
1
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Asharq Al-Awsat
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2
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Aljazeera.net
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3
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Reuters
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4
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The AFP
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5
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The AP
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6
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The Guardian
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7
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The Telegraph
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