The Daily Monitoring Report – Tuesday – 24-07-2012

July 24^th, 2012

- Some 154 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad forces, mostly in Damascus, Rif Dimashq, Aleppo and Daraa. 15 prisoners martyred in Aleppo Central Prison. Al-Assad’s forces continued their shelling against several places, amid growing clashes between Al-Assad’s battalions and the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo.⁽²⁾

Military SituationPolitical Mobility

- Chairman of the Syrian National Council Abdul Basit Sida said, “The regime which kills children and rape women is willing to use chemical weapons”. He also called on the International Community to take the required measures to ban that.^(1)(2)(3)

- Sida accused some Syrian Kurdish groups of cooperating with the regime in some Kurdish districts northern the country, saying, “The areas on which the two Kurdish parties raised their flags are mere areas which were given by Bashar Al-Assad to one of these two parties”. He means the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Kurdish Democratic United Party.⁽²⁾

Activities of Civil Organizations

- The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström unveiled a plan- set by the EU- for helping Syrian refugees and enhancing humanitarian aid for Syria’s neighboring countries to help them to deal with the aggravating refugees’ crisis.^(1)(2)(3)(4)

- The European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid Christalina Gheorghieva pledged to allocate €20 million for the Syrian civilians.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

Political Stances

Syrian

- Jihad Maqdisi, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria. All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.” He emphasized that such weapons are stored and secured and will never be sued against civilians or even fighters in densely populated areas.^{(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)}

- Jihad Maqdisi, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the Assad regime refused the Arab League calls for Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad to quit in return for a safe exit. He described that as a “blatant intervention” in the Syrian internal affairs, adding that he was sorry that the Arab league “descended to this level”.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾

- In statements, Jihad Maqdisi, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman, pledged to restore hegemony “within few days” over the Syrian border crossings with Iraq and Turkey controlled by the Free Syrian Army during the past two days. He also admitted that there are two crossings became outside the control of Al-Assad’s regime.⁽²⁾

Arab

- The Iraqi government said on Monday it rejected Arab League calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to quit, saying it was for the Syrian people alone to decide their fate and others “should not interfere.”^(1)(2)(3)

- The Lebanese President Michel Sleiman on Monday accused Syria of violating Lebanese territory after a house in the east of the country was hit by a blast and shells fell on the northern border, AFP reported. In a rare protest against Syria, the Lebanese president “has asked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to send a letter to Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon, addressing the Syrian authorities, to protest this issue,” a statement said.⁽²⁾⁽⁴⁾

- Jordan’s Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh told Al Jazeera that his government is in on high alert due to the developments in Syria.  He added that this crisis is an utmost priority for Jordan, as is the need to provide Syrian refugees with proper and humane living conditions as their numbers continue to grow in Jordan. Tarawneh added that the world is still standing the “grey area” regarding this crisis.⁽²⁾

International

- The statements of Jihad Makdissi, spokesman for Syria’s Foreign Ministry, in which he said that the regime would use chemical and biological weapons in case of an “external aggression”, provoked a storm of international criticism.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

- Barack Obama, the US president, has said that the government of Bashar al-Assad will be held accountable if it makes the “tragic mistake” of using chemical and biological weapons, which Damascus admitted to possessing on Monday. Referring to the stockpile of weapons, specifically, Obama said: Given the regime’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, we will continue to make it clear to Assad and those around him that the world is watching and that they will be held accountable by the international community and the United States should they make the tragic mistake of using those weapons.^(2)(3)(6)(7)

- Syria’s threat to use chemical weapons against foreign intervention is “unacceptable”, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday. “This is typical of the complete illusion of this regime, that they are the victims of external aggression,” Hague told reporters at a European Union foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. “What is actually happening is their own people are rising up against a brutal police state … and in any case it is unacceptable to say that they would use chemical weapons under any circumstances” he added.^(1)(2)(3)

- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday it would be “reprehensible” for Syria to use chemical weapons after Damascus warned it could deploy them if it felt threatened by foreign intervention. Ban said he was concerned about the possibility that Syria “may be tempted” to use chemical weapons. “It would be reprehensible if anyone in Syria would use weapons of mass destruction,” he told reporters during a visit to Serbia.^(1)(2)(3)

- Yesterday, Foreign ministers from the European Union’s 27 member states tightened sanctions against the Syrian regime, and described a threat by the Syrian government to use chemical weapons in the event of international military intervention as “monstrous” and “unacceptable”. After their meeting in Brussels, the foreign ministers issued a statement saying that “the EU is seriously concerned about the potential use of chemical weapons in Syria”. Ministers also made it obligatory for member states to inspect aircraft and ships if they suspect “the cargo contains arms or equipment for internal repression” destined for Syria.^(1)(2)(3)(4)

- Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Monday that he encouraged Russia to work with the West to end the violence in Syria and seek new ways to resolve the crisis. After talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Monti said Italy understands Russia’s concern over any U.N. Security Council resolution that could allow for military intervention but that the situation could get out of control if no resolution is adopted.^(1)(2)(3)

- American sources said that the US administration is currently considering means of offering more support for the Syrian opposition forces, including providing them with more contact equipment and the exchange of the intelligence information.⁽¹⁾⁽³⁾

- Wall Street Journal quoted some American officials as saying the US administration is working “out of the limelight” on stopping the weapons and oil shipments from Iran to Syria in an attempt to accelerate the overthrow of Al-Assad.⁽¹⁾⁽⁴⁾

- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday of a protracted civil war in Syria should President Bashar Assad be “unconstitutionally” removed from power by rebel fighters. “We are afraid that if the country’s current leadership is removed from power unconstitutionally, then the opposition and today’s leadership may simply change places,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying. Putin warned that in that case “a civil war will stretch on for who knows how long.” “We do not want the situation to develop according to the bloody scenario of civil war and continue for no-one knows how many years as it happened in Afghanistan,” Putin was quoted as saying in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾

- In a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council, Ambassador Haim Waxman, Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said the Syrian soldiers crossed into the Golan Heights area amid fighting between Syrian security forces and opposition groups on Thursday. “Their action represents a blatant violation of (the 1974 ceasefire) agreement, with potentially far-reaching implications for the security and stability of the region,” Waxman wrote.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾

Sources

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