The Daily Monitoring Report – Thursday – 09-08-2012

August 9^th, 2012

- Some 150 people were martyred at the hands of the Assad battalions, mostly inAleppo. Al-Assad’s forces withdrew from parts of Salah El-Din district inAleppoafter fierce clashes with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters. Zabdani was declared a war-torn district. (1) (2)

Internal Situation:

- The Local Coordination Committees said that people of the Houla city ofHomslive in bad humanitarian and health conditions in light of shortage of basic foodstuffs, drugs and energy, particularly gas, gasoline and fuel oil. Houla has been under a blockade for two months. Its field hospitals, which are targeted by government forces, are unable to provide medical care for the wounded because of the lack of qualified personnel. (1)

Activities of Civil Organizations:

- Amnesty International condemns the violent bombing launched by the Assad troops on the city ofAleppo. It released satellite images, which appeared to show more than 600 probable artillery impact craters were identified inAleppoand Anadan, in the vicinity ofAleppo. (1) (3) (4)

Political mobility

- Burhan Ghalioun, ex-leader and current political bureau chief of the Syrian National Council (SNC), said that the stances of the Iranian minister Salehi “assert that the Iranians’ presence in Syria is not innocent”, adding that ” It is not coincidental to witness Iranian military retired personnel in Damascus under the title of “a pilgrimage visit” while Syria is suffering from boiling events in the struggle waged by its people. Such a matter is highly evidenced by the fact that the Iranian government and officials have never hidden their support to Al-Assad and his regime, in addition to the repetition of the statements thatSyria is an essential lynchpin of the resistance axis and that its regime would not be overthrown.” (1)

Political stances

Arab

- The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Secretariat General said that the foreign ministers of the Gulf will hold an exceptional meeting in Jeddah city next Sunday under the headship ofSaudi Arabia with a view to discussing the recent developments inSyria. (2)

- The Secretary-General of the Islamic Cooperation Organization Professor Akmal Al Deen Ehsan Ougli unveiled that the Assad government would not attend the Mecca’s exceptional summit that would be held on current August 14^th, 15^th. (1) (2)

- The Lebanese government officially informedIranthat it would not attend the meeting onSyriathat would be held inTehranon Thursday “in line with its policy of restraint.” (4)

International

- French foreign ministry said that France would head a ministerial meeting of the member states of the UN Security Council on August 30^th. It is worth mentioning that that meeting would focus on the humanitarian situation inSyria and its neighboring countries. It also added that it wants to highlight its support to the Syrian people, its growing concern about the region’s stability and its adherence to having a pluralistic democratic regime achieved inSyria. (2) (3) (4)

- A senior aide to President Barack Obama did not rule out on Wednesday the eventual creation of a no-fly zone over a patch ofSyriathat increasingly appears to be controlled by anti-government rebels. “The United States government always looks at situations and looks at what types of scenarios might unfold, and then accordingly looks at what types of contingency plans might be available to deal with certain circumstances,” said John Brennan, Obama’s senior counter-terrorism adviser.(2)

- The former French president Sarkozy called for an urgent international intervention inSyria, noting that there are great similarities with the Libyan crisis. He also added that he had spoken at length to Syrian opposition leader Abdulbaset Sieda this week and they agreed on the need for foreign intervention in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (3)

- A military general called a news conference at the Defense Ministry on Wednesday to deny a claim by a Syrian rebel group that he had been killed in clashes outsideDamascus. Major-General Vladimir Kuzheyev said “I want to confirm that I am alive and well, I am in good health and live in Moscow,” On the other hand, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) asserted that the aforementioned Russian major general has been killed.” (1) (3)

Sources

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