The Daily Monitoring Report – Wednesday – 25-07-2012

 JULY 25^th, 2012

- Yesterday (Tuesday), some 182 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad forces. Al-Assad’s battalions committed a new massacre inHamacountryside. Thousands of soldiers affiliated to Al-Assad’s battalions withdrew fromAl-ZawiaMountainto Idlib to face the Free Syrian Army (FSA) inAleppo. (2) (3)

Internal situation

- Thousands of Syrians left their homes, heading forLebanon,Turkey andJordan due to the increasing shelling and acts of violence inSyria. (2)

- Brigadier Abdul Razek Aslan Al-Laz, who defected from the police apparatus inDamascus, said that the number of the Syrian revolution’s detainees hit 200,000 people, adding that most of them were arbitrarily detained, as they were arrested without having any law allowing that. (2)

Activities of Civil Organizations

- The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that the situation in Damascus is difficult in the past 48 hours in terms of the escape of the inhabitants to other safe places, noting that the priority should be given now to “satisfying the needs of thousands of people who left their homes and temporarily resorted to the schools’ premises” numbering 3,300 persons. (4)

Political stances

Syria 

   – Al-Assad appointed Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, the former head of General Intelligence, to the key post of head of the National Security Council to supervise the work of intelligence apparatus, and he would also directly submit reports to Al-Assad. His predecessor, Maj. Gen. Hisham Ikhtiyar, died of wounds sustained in theDamascusbombing. (1) (2) (4)

Arab

-Iraqwill set up camps at two of its three border crossings withSyriato provide support for Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict in their homeland, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. The camps will be erected close to the frontier towns of Al-Qaim and Rabiyah, known inSyriaas Albu Kamal and Yarabiyah, respectively. (4)

- A Saudi official source said that the donation campaign- launched by the Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in favor of the Syrian people- would collect about $32 million. (4)

International

-USSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the opposition fighters achieved territorial gains that might be leveraged into safe havens. “We have to work closely with the opposition,” she said, “because more and more territory is being taken and it will, eventually, result in a safe haven insideSyria, which will then provide a base for further actions by the opposition.” (1) (2) (3) (4)

- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed it was time to look at “day-after issues” such as how to govern a post-Assad Syria and how to avert a bloodbath of sectarian reprisals. “We do believe it is not too late for the Assad regime to commence with planning for a transition, to find a way that ends violence by beginning the kind of serious discussions that have not occurred to date,”Clintonsaid yesterday. (3) (4)

-Russiachided its longtime allySyriaon Tuesday over its threat to use chemical weapons in case of a foreign attack, butMoscowgave no sign it was abandoning President Bashar Assad’s regime, despite growing international condemnation over the violence in the Arab country. In a statement that reflected a degree of irritation with Assad, the Russian Foreign Ministry remindedSyriathat it had ratified a global convention banning the use of chemical weapons. It added thatRussiaexpectsSyriato “unfailingly honor its international obligations.” (3)

- A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Masoud Jazayeri, said any foreign powers intervening inSyria, especially the “hated Arabs” – a reference toIran’s regional rivalsSaudi ArabiaandQatar- would suffer “decisive blows”. (1) (3) (4)

- The “Israeli” Haaretz newspaper quoted a senior “Israeli” official- who was not named- as saying Assad has been moving some of the chemical stockpiles to bases that are removed from the fighting or more secure. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime has taken precautions to avoid chemical weapons falling into rebel hands or al-Qaeda, the source said, adding that theSyriaregime ‘acting responsibly’ on chemical weapons. (2)

Sources

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