Aleppo Besieged As Assad and Rebels Claim Victories

The fighting in and around Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, continues and the number of refugees is soaring. 200,000 have fled the city as a result of the brutal fighting on the streets and in the buildings of multiple neighborhoods around the city.

Both Assad and rebel forces have claimed victories. Assad's forces have claimed that they've overrun rebel held areas and retaken the city after more than a week's worth of artillery assaults and airstrikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, reported heavy shelling in Salaheddine today, suggesting the district or parts of it are still under rebel control. An officer interviewed by the state-run TV channel said “mercenaries” from other countries, including Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, were helping the rebels in Aleppo.

Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been battling rebels who seized several neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city and its commercial hub, since last week. The army pounded the city with heavy artillery and helicopter gunships, opposition groups say.

Motee al-Bateen, a member of the executive committee of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group, said he couldn’t confirm that Salaheddine has fallen into army hands.

“How much territory the opposition holds is not important,” he said by telephone from Istanbul today. “What’s important is to engage the troops in cycles of attack-and- retreat to exhaust them.”

Al-Bateen said the army was using mortars, rocket launchers and tanks to shell areas from a distance and avoid engaging rebels in close combat.

Rebels note that despite the artillery and airstrikes, they've continued to hold on to Aleppo. Moreover, they've noted that Assad's forces haven't invaded the city en masse, precisely because they'd be facing an uphill battle in a brutal urban setting.

Rebel forces also announced that they captured a significant military base near Aleppo. They managed to capture the position after heavy fighting, and gained heavy weapons to supplement their own weapons.

Pro-Assad groups have claimed that Assad's forces have assassinated a Saudi official, Bandar bin Sultan, who they claim involved in plotting to eliminate key members of the Syrian defense and intel establishment earlier this month. However, there's no evidence to substantiate those claims, but it does show the animosity between Syria and Saudi Arabia is growing. The Saudis have been working to bring Assad's regime to an end, both by diplomacy and by covert means.

Meanwhile, another Syrian official has defected. At the same time, a Chinese news outlet is reporting that Assad's continuing to claim that he seeks to carry out the terms of the Arab League/Kofi Annan plan to end the violence. It's just so much talk since Assad could have simply brought the violence to an end by reining in his brutal crackdown. He has no intention of giving up power peacefully, and is seeking retribution against those that questioned his regime.

At the same time, concerns are mounting that al Qaeda and other Islamists are taking advantage of the chaos to gain a foothold in Syria.

Attacks On Pro-Government TV Station Highlight Assad's Troubles

Bashar al Assad's regime is continuing to come under attack, both in the halls of diplomatic centers and in Damascus itself. Today, there are conflicting reports over what happened at a pro-government television station. An attack apparently damaged the station and resulted in several deaths, but who was behind the attack differs depending on the account.

Syria said Wednesday that rebels stormed a pro-government television station in a Damascus suburb, killing employees and blowing up the station in an audacious predawn assault, but rebels said the attackers were defectors from the elite Republican Guard, considered to be the most loyal core defenders of President Bashar al-Assad.

If the rebel claim is confirmed, the attack would constitute a significant breach of security for the inner circle of President Assad, who said on Tuesday that Syria was now in a state of war — a markedly different description of a conflict he had previously characterized as a crime wave by foreign-backed terrorists. The attack on the television station also came against the backdrop of increasingly bold and organized rebel assaults in the Damascus area and an increased pace of high-level military defections.

It also came as Kofi Annan, the special envoy to Syria from the United Nations and the Arab League whose peace plan has been paralyzed since he announced it more than two months ago, said he would convene a ministerial-level meeting on Saturday in Geneva representing what he has called countries of influence in the conflict, including the five permanent members of the Security Council and representatives from the Arab League and Turkey. But the list of invitees conspicuously omitted Iran, Syria’s most important regional ally, which Mr. Annan had wanted to include. The United States had expressed strong objections to Iran’s participation, contending that it has aided and abetted the Syrian leader’s harsh repression in the 16-month-old conflict.

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The attack on al-Ikhbaria began before dawn when assailants “planted explosive devices in the headquarters of al-Ikhbaria following their ransacking and destroying of the satellite channel studios, including the newsroom studio, which was entirely destroyed,” the official Syrian news agency, SANA, reported.

The news agency referred to the assailants as terrorists — the usual official language to denote armed opponents of Mr. Assad’s government. While initial reports from SANA said three employees were killed, a subsequent official estimate put the death toll at seven.

The station, privately owned but strongly supportive of the government, is in the town of Drousha, around 14 miles south of Damascus.

The Associated Press quoted one of its photographers who visited the compound as saying five portable buildings used for offices and studios had collapsed, with blood on the floor and wooden partitions still on fire. Some walls had bullet holes, the photographer said.

Hours later, The A.P. said, the station was able to broadcast a rally in Damascus’s main square against the attack on its premises.

Col. Malik Kurdi, a spokesman in Turkey for a rebel commander, Riad al-Assad of the Free Syrian Army, said the attack was the result of the defection of a group of Republican Guards who had decided to change sides and attacked other guards at the station who had remained loyal.

Meanwhile, everyone is essentially conceding that Kofi Annan's efforts have failed and that the country has lurched into a civil war whose body count continues escalating.

Well, most folks realize that it's a civil war - a few are still splitting hairs and calling this an insurrection even though rebel groups are holding and gaining territory at the expense of the regime.

In fact, the number killed since Annan began his efforts to enact the Arab League peace plan has accelerated at a frightening pace - in part because the rebel forces have grown more audacious in their efforts and the regime's crackdown has become even more brutal.

What's clear is that civilians are being purposefully targeted by Assad's regime - a textbook definition of crimes against humanity and war crimes. That cannot be allowed to stand.

Truce and Lies

No surprises here. Bashar al-Assad's regime is saying that they're complying with the terms of ceasefire offered up by the Arab League and UN envoy Kofi Annan. The facts on the ground indicate something else entirely.

Assad's security forces have again intensified their assaults on rebel areas and increased the body county.

Syria's assurance that its forces are complying with a cease-fire deal have been condemned as a "blatant lie" by France, as 32 people were reportedly killed even after guns were supposed to be silent.

In scarcely diplomatic language, the French foreign ministry spokesman said: "The Syrian foreign minister's statements this morning, affirming an initial implementation of the Annan plan by the Damascus regime, are a fresh expression of this blatant and unacceptable lie.”

"They are indicative of a feeling of impunity against which the international community absolutely must react," the spokesman, Bernard Valero, told reporters in Paris.

Visiting Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem had earlier said troops were already pulling back from cities in line with a peace plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan.
But, citing Syrian sources and satellite images, Valero said "none of the elements" of Annan's plan had been implemented.

"There is what the regime's representatives are saying and then there is the reality," he said. "On average 100 people are dying each day and it continues. Today, Syrian security forces are still firing on populated areas and using heavy weapons, armored vehicles and helicopters. That's the reality."

Homs remained under constant fire from Assad's forces, and the bulk of those killed or injured were in the city. Assad can continue killing dozens of Syrians daily and there's not a thing anyone seems willing to do as long as Russia and China continue supporting the regime and thwarting stronger measures at the UN.

Syria's Shell Game

Bashar al-Assad knows one thing quite well - how to remain in power and to preserve his military assets. The UN and Arab League have been trying to get Assad to stop his brutal crackdown against opposition groups looking for social and political reform, and UN Envoy Kofi Annan claimed to have a deal in place that would bring about a ceasefire.

The only problem is that Assad has no interest in a ceasefire. He's looking to crush the opposition and eliminate an existential threat to his regime.

So, he's giving some signals that he's complying, all while accelerating and intensifying the crackdown elsewhere. He's moving tanks and artillery from one place to another as though that will somehow mean his regime is complying with the terms of the ceasefire.

He can move tanks and artillery from one town to a neighboring town, but those tanks and artillery can still rain down death and mayhem - and they are.

US Ambassador Robert Ford released commercial satellite photos of different areas of Syria to show the shell game underway.

It's nothing I haven't expected to see. After all, Assad is working under the same rules his father did - when your regime is under threat, crush the opposition and make it an object lesson on never to question the authority of the regime. It's the Hama rules in action.

So, despite the fact that the opposition has more technology and the Internet at its disposal to show the world Assad's brutalization in action, Assad can thumb his nose as the world because the world simply can't act.

UN Envoy Visits Syria as Bloodshed Continues Unabated

The United Nations sent former Secretary General Kofi Annan to Syria to meet with Bashar al-Assad's regime to get them to stop the brutalization of Syrians who seek political and social reforms (and Assad's overthrow). Assad may have given a diplomatic response to Annan, but the real response could be seen by yet another intensification of the crackdown and military assaults against rebel strongholds across the country.

The U.N.-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, said he had received a reply from Damascus to peace proposals that he laid out at the weekend, and wanted further clarifications.

"But given the grave and tragic situation on the ground, everyone must realize that time is of the essence. As (Annan) said in the region, this crisis cannot be allowed to drag on," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement from Geneva.

Official Syrian media accused "armed terrorists" of massacring 15 civilians, including young children, in a pro-government district of the central city of Homs, which has been the focal point of much fighting in recent weeks.

In the southern city of Deraa, cradle of what began a year ago as a peaceful uprising but has gradually evolved into an armed insurgency, opposition activists said government troops had raked buildings with anti-aircraft fire.

There were also reports of a tank bombardment on the village of al-Janoudieh in the northern Idlib region.

Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified as the authorities deny access to rights groups and journalists.

The United Nations says Assad's forces have killed more than 8,000 people in their drive to crush the uprising. Its refugee agency said on Tuesday that some 230,000 Syrians had fled their homes during the past 12 months, of whom around 30,000 have sought safety abroad.

Amnesty International said in a report that Syrians detained during the uprising had suffered widespread torture that amounted to a crime against humanity.

Italy has closed its embassy in Damascus and Russia is calling for a simultaneous cease-fire. Yet, Russia continues plying Assad with weapons. It says that it wont respond with military force to support Assad, but no one would or should expect them to. If that happened, it would further weaken Russian influence in the region.

Homs remains under assault, and civilians are taking the brunt of the casualties despite claims to the contrary from Assad's propagandists.

Meanwhile, Assad and his flacks are hoping to get someone to pay attention to Israel so that Assad can continue brutalizing the Syrian people - people who are demanding that Assad step aside and end his totalitarian regime's grip on the country. Thousands have been killed in the past year, tens of thousands more have been detained and/or disappeared by the regime's security forces.

Assad's loyalists have no problems sanitizing entire areas where rebel forces have held out - Baba Amr was pummeled and while structures are still standing, the neighborhood is wrecked. Thousands were displaced as a result. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are internally displaced because of the violence, and thousands more are trying to get out of the country by any means necessary. That can involve trying to cross minefields set up by Assad's forces to keep them in.

War crimes one and all, but Assad figures that he can play the Israel card to avoid further scrutiny by the rest of the world. Too bad for him that it's not working. People are paying attention to what his regime is doing, and it's the Arab League that are among those who are putting the pressure to his regime.

Syrian Rebel Groups Clamor For Weapons To Finish Assad While Assad's Security Forces Continue Homs Assault

The diplomatic efforts to force Bashar al-Assad continue. Friends of Syria met to discuss efforts, including the United States, European and Arab nations, and have indicated that they're willing to expand sanctions and other efforts to stop the murderous rampage that Assad's security forces have been conducting to end protests against the regime. The brutal crackdown has resulted in thousands dead, including hundreds in the past three weeks in the City of Homs. They're calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Rebel groups, realizing that the diplomatic efforts have gone nowhere and haven't forced Assad to scale back his crackdown, are now clamoring for weapons and the means to topple Assad directly.

The main opposition Syrian National Council outlined on Friday its vision for a post-Assad Syria, and appealed for the weapons required to make that happen.

The SNC announced it was proposing an interim presidential council of national leaders and a truth and reconciliation committee at a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group of 70 Western and Arab nations in Tunisia Friday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said ahead of the meeting that rebel fighters would become “increasingly capable,” saying they will “from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves as well as begin offensive measures."

And, in her opening remarks to the conference, Clinton said the regime of President Bashar Assad had "ignored every warning, squandered every opportunity and broken every agreement."

With any kind of effort akin to the NATO air mission over Libya all but dead given Russian and Chinese threatened and actual vetoes in the UN Security Council, the diplomatic efforts are reduced to strongly worded letters and condemnation. Action is far harder to come by.

At the same time, efforts to create a humanitarian corridor to allow food and vital supplies to cities like Homs aren't going to go anywhere. Assad is engaging in crimes against humanity and collective punishment by going after not only the rebel forces arrayed against him (including the many defectors from his security forces), but after the cities where protests have been most active.

Assad doesn't care about appearances. He is fighting for his regime's survival and that means crushing the ongoing rebellion against his rule. His security forces aren't going to permit humanitarian aid to flow into places like Homs despite the crushing toll a lack of medicine and food has on the civilian populations. They've got nowhere to turn.

Yet, Assad probably doesn't quite realize just how far the opposition has come and that he's likely fighting a losing battle to stay in power. The tighter he grasps that power, the more people rally against his regime. Syrians are realizing just how evil the regime truly is and with the Internet and its myriad communications streams (Twitter, YouTube, blogging, etc.) allows people to get the message out. They are seeing that their fellow countrymen are being slaughtered in places like Homs for merely speaking out against the ongoing violence - let alone against the regime. Far from silencing the opposition, Assad's brutal crackdown is having the opposite effect. The opposition is growing larger and bolder with each passing day and despite the regime's loyalists' advantages in military capabilities, seeing the streets run red with the blood of civilians - including women and children - is enough to convince Syrians that Assad's regime must come to an end.

Watch for yet another round of attempts to convince Assad to take the golden parachute to exile - but those will fall on deaf ears.

UPDATE:
Red Cross efforts to get injured journalists out of Homs, along with the remains of American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, have thus far been met with static from Assad's regime. Assad's regime takes no responsibility in the artillery attacks resulting in their deaths and the journalists' injuries, and instead blames the journalists themselves for being in harms way by not partaking in the clown circus of official propaganda channels.

UPDATE:
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Hamas is backing the rebel opposition groups arrayed against Assad. That follows moves by Hamas leaders over the past several months to find other safe havens besides their longstanding relationship with the Assad leadership in Damascus. It's interesting that they're not only opposing Assad, but are publicly stating their intentions to block Hizbullah and Iran from taking advantage of the situation.

Hamas went public after nearly a year of equivocating as Assad's army, largely led by fellow members of the president's Alawite sect, has crushed mainly Sunni protesters and rebels.

In a Middle East split along sectarian lines between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam, the public abandonment of Assad casts immediate questions over Hamas's future ties with its principal backer Iran, which has stuck by its ally Assad, as well as with Iran's fellow Shi'ite allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

"I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, visiting Egypt from the Gaza Strip, told thousands of Friday worshipers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque.

"We are marching towards Syria, with millions of martyrs," chanted worshipers at al-Azhar, home to one of the Sunni world's highest seats of learning. "No Hezbollah and no Iran. The Syrian revolution is an Arab revolution."

Not only is Haniyeh turning his back on Assad, but is also spitting in the face of the Iranian regime that has backed the terror group from the outset.

It also raises new questions about whether the fight in Syria may break down along sectarian lines with Hamas and Hizbullah fight amongst each other for primacy to dominate what may come after Assad.

Assad Claims Referendum Will Ease Crisis; Brutal Crackdown Continues

Bashar al-Assad has done this before. He's gone before the microphone to claim that he's a reformer and that he's in the process of reforming the Syrian political system. Today, he's claiming that a new constitution is ready for a referendum that would allow expanded access to the political system and that ends the Ba'athist control over the country.

President Bashar al-Assad set a February 26 date for the vote on a draft constitution, hailed by the his government as an important reform initiative. But analysts and demonstrators sloughed off the effort as "window dressing" and the latest in a series of superficial measures undertaken to mollify his critics over the last 11 months.

Members of a committee tasked with drafting the document "reiterated their keenness on a constitution that allows ... public freedoms and political plurality in a way to lay the foundation for a new stage that will enrich Syria's cultural history," the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Former Syrian lawmaker George Jabbour said "clause 8 of the new draft of the constitution is the essential point" of the document. It "allows a multi-party system as opposed to the Baath party being the leading party of the society and the state as stipulated in the current constitution." The Baath party rules Syria.

That's a laugh, considering that his brutal crackdown continues and the death and misery his loyalists are inflicting on civilians is growing with each passing day.

Rebel forces claim to have repulsed attacks in some areas, though Assad's forces are continuing their assaults against Homs, Hama, and even Damascus suburbs. At the same time, France is continuing to lead diplomatic efforts to isolate Syria and to take more concrete actions against the Assad regime at the United Nations along with the Arab League. They're circulating an amended draft resolution at the Security Council while the Arab League is moving ahead with a non-binding measure in the General Assembly. Russia and China continue to back Syria's ongoing actions by and through their veto on the Security Council.

Complicating matters further is reports that defectors keep coming forward with stories of brutality, and some are even claiming that Assad's forces are using chemical weapons to improve their chances of pacifying cities such as Hama and Homs. That's a possibility, but thus far we haven't seen photos or video of any victims who have succumbed to such weapons.

We know what use of chemical weapons looks like and what it can do to victims who are ill-prepared to deal with chemical weapons and nerve agents. Mustard gas and VX or GB all do tremendous damage to the nervous system and respiratory systems. Indeed, when Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons during the Anfal campaign to eliminate opposition, photos were taken of the victims.

Still, the US and others are watching known Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles and locations for activity, although that is generally in terms of preventing proliferation of such weapons and man-launched anti-aircraft weapons. If such weapons were being used against civilian populations, the US eyes-in-the-skies would likely see unusual activity at monitored sites though there is the possibility that Syria's military has undisclosed locations from which it can draw such weapons.

UPDATE:
If the claims by defecting soldiers that chemical weapons are indeed being used, then the pressure for the United Nations to act increases significantly because Assad would then be in violation of the Geneva Conventions, The Rome Statute (establishing the ICC and provides for crimes against humanity and war crimes), Chemical Weapons Conventions although Syria is not a signatory to the CWC.

Syrians Bracing For All-Out Conflict

The UN is warning that the situation in Syria is reaching the point that we can call it a civil war. Syrians are bracing for an all-out war. I'd say we'd reached that point earlier this year and that Bashar al-Assad is doing all he can to crush an insurrection caused by his ongoing crackdown against protesters.

The crackdown has resulted in a splintering of his military forces and an increasing number of defections has meant that the level of violence will only increase as those defectors are now fighting back against Assad's loyalists.

Assad's forces are attempting to crush the centers of resistance, including an ongoing pummeling of the city of Homs. Once again, the UN says that crimes against humanity are evident across Syria - carried out at the behest of Assad and his loyalists.

Reuters is reporting that fighters from Iraq are slipping into Syria to bolster the fight against Assad. Whereas the arms shipments were being delivered from Syria to insurgents in Iraq, the flow of weapons and fighters is moving the other way as Sunni tribes are looking to help their fellow Sunni tribesmen across the border. There are also indications that al Qaeda may be exploiting the security situation along the border and there have been calls by al Qaeda to rise up to fight and defeat Assad. Al Qaeda has been on the losing end of the Arab Spring and this is an attempt to get back to the forefront of the movement to establish Islamist states according to its doctrine. Most Arabs across the region aren't amenable to that - and their economic concerns outweigh any desire to become a strict Islamic state. To me, al Qaeda is trying to reassert its presence and is using the instability for maintaining its relevance in the Arab World. It's a losing cause, but al Qaeda has shown that it has no problem spilling blood of fellow Muslims when they deem it necessary. It's a sign of desperation:

For all the rhetorical bravado, the message was as much a sign of weakness as of strength. Syrians have defied their leader's fury without any help from al-Qaeda. Since the revolt began almost a year ago, perhaps 6000 people have been killed without a whisper of support from him or his late predecessor. Similarly, Zawahiri's speech had nothing but a passing reference to the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, each of which succeeded in destroying an authoritarian regime while leaving al-Qaeda an impotent spectator.

All of this matters greatly, because the terrorist movement's founding purpose was not simply to strike America and the West. On the contrary, when Zawahiri and bin Laden created it back in 1988, they chose to divide the globe into ''near'' and ''far'' enemies. The former included all the regimes of the Middle East that had to be deposed to make way for an Islamic caliphate, governed by sharia, which would embrace the entire Muslim world.

Al-Qaeda's problem is that its enemies have been falling like dominoes - but their demise has had nothing to do with Zawahiri or his followers.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was a particularly bitter enemy, especially for Zawahiri: he spent four years in the dictator's jails in Cairo and was tortured. Being unable to claim credit for Mubarak's downfall last year must have been deeply humiliating for the old jihadist. And while missing one revolution might be considered a misfortune, to be caught napping through four would look careless. Or, rather, it would show that popular support for al-Qaeda was minimal and falling.

Having sat out the successful revolts in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, Zawahiri is jumping aboard the Syrian bandwagon. ''Al-Qaeda is definitely on the ropes. The tide is going out, so this is an obvious gambit,'' says Sir David Omand, formerly head of intelligence and security at Britain's Cabinet Office. ''Zawahiri would be only too well aware that Libya demonstrated that a revolution can come about with the support of the West, and not through his route,'' he said.

Meanwhile, China, which has thwarted UN Security Council action with its veto, is taking flack for its position.

UPDATE:
The Arab League is signaling that if Assad doesn't stop the bloodletting, they're preparing to arm the resistance.

Arab League Stepping Up Calls To Stop Syrian Crackdown

Not only are the members of the Arab League finding a voice in trying to get fellow member Bashar al-Assad to stop his murderous crackdown against those protesting his regime, but they're actually pushing for member states to sever relations with Syria. They're also again calling on the UN Security Council to act:

The ministers adopted a resolution asking the Security Council to authorize a joint Arab-United Nations force to “supervise the execution of a cease-fire,” and it urged the league’s members to “halt all forms of diplomatic cooperation” with the Syrian government.

The resolution said that the league supported “opening channels of communication with the Syrian opposition and providing all forms of political and financial support to it,” although it did not specify what that support would be, nor did it recognize the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group, as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

But the ministers also sought continued diplomatic efforts. The league’s secretary general, Nabil El Araby, said a joint peacekeeping force “should go hand in hand with a political track.”

“The violence cannot stop without a common view on a political compromise,” he added.

Such a compromise appeared distant. Syria said Sunday night that it “completely rejected” the proposal, the state news agency, Sana, reported.

Sana reported that the Syrian ambassador to the league, Yousef Ahmad, said Damascus was “not interested in any decision issued” by the group, which suspended Syria’s membership in November. He said the decision reflected “hysteria and confusion” by Arab countries led by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The government’s assault on Syrian cities, including Homs and Zabadani, showed no sign of letting up.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that operates out of Britain, said 26 people were killed on Sunday, including 14 in Homs and 8 government soldiers in Hama.

The Local Coordination Committees, a domestic opposition group, said 23 people had been killed, including 9 in Dara’a and 5 in Homs.

The numbers do not match up because the two groups rely on their own contacts in each city. Any numbers are difficult to confirm because Syria has barred most foreign reporters from entering the country.

Despite the diplomatic actions, Assad's security forces have resumed their artillery barrages against Homs.

Explosions Rock Security Facilities in Aleppo While Assad Continues Crackdown

A pair of massive explosions rocked the city of Aleppo and Bashar al-Assad's media outlets claimed that at least 25 people were killed and more than 175 injured. It would appear to be the result of car bombs targeting Assad's security headquarters buildings there and that the death toll seems in line withe the amount of damage.

The blasts were the first significant violence in the northern city, Syria's largest. Along with the capital Damascus, Aleppo is Syria's economic center, home to the business community and prosperous merchant classes whose continued backing for Assad has been crucial in propping up his regime. The city has seen only occasional protests.

State TV blamed "terrorists" in the blasts, touting the regime line that armed groups looking to destabilize Syria are behind the uprising. Anti-Assad activists accused the regime of setting off the blasts to discredit the opposition and to avert protests that had been planned in the city on Friday.

Those attacks are being attributed to terrorists or the opposition forces arrayed against Assad, but Assad's security forces are once again shelling Homs and the death toll there continues climbing.

Everyday life in Syria is a struggle, and people are looking for any way out of the most violent-prone areas, including seeking refuge in neighboring Turkey and Lebanon. Even UN officials are noting that the level of state-sponsored violence against the Syrian people is rising to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity. One official says that it's time to refer matters to the International Criminal Court.

"We believe, and we've said it and we'll keep repeating it, that the case of Syria belongs in the International Criminal Court. This would give a very, very strong message to those running the show," Rupert Colville, spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, told a news briefing.

Pillay will address a U.N. General Assembly session on Syria being held in New York on Monday, Colville said. "I believe they are considering a resolution, what it will contain I don't know," he added.

Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge, called on Wednesday for urgent international action to protect civilians in Syria, saying she was appalled by the Syrian government's military onslaught on the city of Homs.

Russia, which continues backing Assad, is doing so at its own economic peril. If Assad falls, Russia stands to lose billions of dollars since the Syrian people aren't soon to forget that it was Russia, along with China, that thwarted action at the United Nations and that are the main supplier to Assad's regime. Likewise, China may have to reconsider its role in light of the Arab Spring uprisings.

While the UN has stopped issuing updates on the death toll since early January due to the declining security situation, Syrian human rights groups indicate that the rate of deaths is accelerating as Assad's crackdown takes a heavy toll on places like Homs and Hama and the number of defections from the security forces increases. It is quite likely we're talking about 7,000 or more killed since fighting started, with 2,000 since the beginning of the year alone.

Assad's Security Forces Continue Assault on Homs as Body Count Rises

The world looks on all while Bashar al-Assad continues killing those opposed to his regime and instilling fear in those who might rise against him. The brutal assault ongoing in Homs is indicative that Assad is carrying out his own version of the Hama rules, and that he has no intention of giving up power under any circumstances. He says just enough to the international media and diplomats to claim that he's engaging in reforms but for terrorists and external forces carrying out attacks against his legitimate security forces.

Yet, there are repeated indications that Assad isn't going after terrorists or deserters alone. He's carrying out attacks against civilians throughout the country, and the body count shows it. So too do the videos that show armored personnel carriers and other armored vehicles firing heavy weapons in close quarters with civilian populations:



Turkey, which has spoken out against the violence in Syria for the past several months, now appears to be taking a much more aggressive role in lining up diplomatic efforts. They're calling for a broad-based coalition to stop Assad's deadly crackdown:

Syria’s violence is heading toward an “intolerable point,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, as he called for an international coalition to stop President Bashar al-Assad’s deadly crackdown.

“Very clear and decisive statements need to be delivered to the Syrian regime,” Davutoglu said today in Ankara before leaving for the U.S., where he will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Syria can’t be left to solve its problems alone and “we are determined to establish a broad international consensus,” he said.

Turkey’s initiative follows Russia and China’s Feb. 4 veto of a United Nations resolution supported by the Arab League, European Union and the U.S. aimed at ending the violence, which has led to 5,400 deaths since March. The veto gives the impression the deaths will “go unanswered” by the world and it would be “naïve” to expect change from Assad, Davutoglu said.

Turkey is looking to establish the “most broad-based” coalition, which should include members of the UN Security Council, Organization of the Islamic Conference, and Arab states, Davutoglu said.

While this can be viewed as Turkey's emergence as a major regional player filling the vacuum left by Egypt internal problems following Mubarak being deposed, it's also a justifiable and correct position. Assad is murdering opponents to his regime and is an impediment to regional stability and peace. UPDATE: According to human rights groups, nearly 7,000 people have been killed through January 23, 2012.

According to the Syrian Association for Human Rights, the number of protesters killed in Syria until 23 January 2012 has risen to 6,729, including 456 children and 316 women, as well as 742 among military ranks who refused to kill civilians. Reports indicate that 4,553 were killed with bullets; 817 with shrapnel; 715 for refusing to open fire; 414 from torture; 95 by artillery attacks; 66 of injuries; 11 because of lack of medical supplies; 11 from burns; nine were ran over by tanks; seven after inhaling tear gas; six by power outages at neo-natal units; five were ran over by cars; four by knife stabbings; three by nail bombs; two from bomb shrapnel; and two had their throats slit.

That's significantly higher than tallies kept by the United Nations, but it does seem to coincide with the general rise in violence since the beginning of 2012.

As Syrian Massacres Continues, Assad Reassures Russians He's Interested In Peace

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has indicated to the Russian Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he's committed to an end to the violence.

Syrian President Bashar Assad assured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he is "completely committed" to seeking an end to violence by both side, Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.

Lavrov also said that Assad, 11 months into a revolt against his rule, stated he was ready to seek dialogue with all political groups.

According to the Russian foreign minister, Assad added that he is ready to accept an expanded Arab League mission in his violence-torn country and schedule a constitutional referendum.

Of course, Assad has no interest in stepping down or ending the violence in any way other than completely crushing those opposed to him, so these statements are laughable on their face. This is all about getting more time in which Assad could crush the opposition.

All the while, the Russians and Chinese continue thwarting action at the United Nations, and even the Turkish government is getting antsy over the situation. After all, Turkey has a long border with Syria, and there's the potential for a spillover effect where refugees cross into Turkey or opposition groups seek shelter among Turkish sympathizers leading to military confrontations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to travel to the United States on Wednesday for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton said on Sunday the United States would work with other nations to try to tighten sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and deny it arms in the absence of a U.N. resolution.

U.S. officials have said they were now gauging the prospects for a group of like-minded countries to coordinate support for Syria's political opposition, a move that could bypass Russian and Chinese resistance to anti-Assad measures.

Such an undertaking might be modeled loosely after the contact group that oversaw international assistance to rebels that overthrew Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Even as the diplomatic corps continues their actions, Assad's security forces continue shelling the City of Homs and the casualties are piling up.

Following in the Footsteps of a Mass Murderer

Syria's Bashar al Assad is continuing in his father's tradition of murdering anyone standing in opposition to his regime. His security forces are once again carrying out assaults against civilian populations, and within the past 24 hours, another 50 people were killed and many more injured.

This includes from rocket and missile attacks:



The US has shut down its embassy in Damascus, in the wake of the loyalists' attacks on Homs:

The U.S. evacuated all its diplomats from the country as Syrian forces intensified a shelling assault on the restive city of Homs. The offensive began Saturday, the same day Syria's allies in Russia and China vetoed a Western- and Arab-backed resolution aimed at trying to end the brutal crackdown on dissent.

The onslaught on Homs has reinforced opposition fears that Assad will unleash even greater violence to crush dissent, now that protection from China and Russia against any U.N.-sanctioned action appears assured.


Already, more than 5,400 people have been killed since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that began in March, according to the U.N.

"We have been relentless in sending a message that it is time for Assad to go," President Obama said during an interview with NBC. "This is not going to be a matter of if, it's going to be a matter of when."

The decision to close the embassy is the most dramatic U.S. move so far after 11 months of a violent crackdown by Assad's regime.

All the while, China and Russia are doing whatever they can to thwart even the most bland of actions by the United Nations. They blocked an Arab League plan to bring about a peaceful transition of power in Syria, but France and Germany are working on trying to resurrect a peaceful transition there with wording that might somehow be sufficient to get both China and Russia to abstain from the measure, which would allow the Security Council to pass it.

Still, Assad is in the drivers' seat here; his regime continues brutalizing the Syrian people and the world looks on pretty much helpless to step in. NATO is not stepping in to act, and the Arab League is incapable of pushing Assad to stop either. The Arab League observer mission ended in all but failure, as their own monitors saw the violence first hand and how Assad was manipulating the mission for his own propaganda purposes.

Crackdown Continues Against Opposition Across Syria

Does anyone honestly expect Bashar al-Assad to simply agree to what is likely to be a call by the United Nations to step aside and clear the way for elections in Syria? If you think that the move will result in a cessation of violence, you haven't been paying attention.

The Arab League monitoring mission is winding down in light of the ongoing refusal to cease fire and reduce the violence:



Assad's first and only interest is in retaining control and remaining in power. Everything else Assad flows from that self-interest. He continually claims that the violence across Syria is the result of terrorists and that the body count keeps rising because of conspiracies, terrorists and outsiders are carrying out attacks against his regime and the security forces. The draft resolution crafted by the Arab League will fall on deaf ears and while it is a far stronger move by the United Nations to date, it will lack teeth to have any meaning or effect.

Assad's claims don't carry much weight considering that he has once again sent tanks to open fire on neighborhoods around Damascus to quell ongoing violence.

Monday's developments came amid continued heavy fighting between Syrian forces and the rebel Free Syria Army in suburbs of the capital city of Damascus, where Syrian forces have been battling to take back neighborhoods in Saqba and Maleiha, according to opposition groups.

Forty people were confirmed killed Monday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees. The deaths include 26 in Homs, seven in Daraa, five in Damascus and two in Idlib.
Government forces stormed the town of Rankous, and a loud explosion shook the town, according to the opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Two defectors from the military were killed and dozens of civilians wounded, and some houses were destroyed in the bombardment, the group said.

The clashes continue intensifying, which indicates that desertions are becoming more widespread and that loyalists are resorting to ever more brutal measures. That includes shelling entire neighborhoods instead of more targeted actions. This is once again something straight out of the Hama rules, which Assad's father used to quell the insurrection by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The spreading violence also suggests that Assad's grip on power may be weakening and the opposition groups are trying to exploit the situation to their advantage by taking the fight to Assad's doorstep in Damascus.

Here, Assad is going after regime opponents and will use all the means at his disposal. He pays lip service to reform, and instead targets the opponents as terrorists and outsider.

Arab League Suspends Syria Mission Over Increasing Violence

You know things are really bad in Syria when Hamas leaders no longer consider it safe for them to stick around in Damascus despite the cordial relations between Bashar al-Assad and the terror group.

Now, the Arab League's observer mission to try and reduce the level of violence is suspending its operations because the situation is too violent for them to contend with. Once again, Assad's regime blames terrorists and external forces for the violence and attacks, even as his own regime continues targeting civilians throughout the country:

The move comes just days after President Bashar al-Assad's government agreed to a one-month extension of the mission, which began December 26.

The mission is part of a peace initiative in Syria. The 22-member group has called on al-Assad's regime to stop violence against civilians, free political detainees, remove tanks and weapons from cities and allow outsiders -- including the international news media -- to travel freely in Syria.

The mission has been monitoring government activities in various hotspots. In the last two days, opposition activists reported scores of deaths, with one group, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported 135 deaths Thursday and Friday.

Violence continued to rage on Saturday as an "armed terrorist group" killed seven soldiers in an attack Saturday, state-run media reported.

The Syrian Arab News Agency said the attackers fired at a bus in the Damascus countryside and killed the soldiers, one of whom was a first lieutenant. They were traveling between the towns of Douma and Adra.

Terrorists were also blamed for an explosion on an oil pipeline in northeastern Deir Ezzor province, SANA said, quoting a source at the country's oil ministry.

The SANA report said production wasn't affected by the attack but that 2,000 barrels of oil were lost. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and crews began repair work. It said the pipeline had been attacked before.

The LCC confirmed a pipeline explosion and said 12 people were killed Saturday, eight of them were killed in the restive city of Homs.

Consider also that security forces opened fire on mourners during a funeral procession with live ammo. That's not something that can go unnoticed by Syrians throughout the country; that's why the regime is increasingly under pressure from within the country. Assad has no regard for the lives of his own countrymen; he's only concerned about continuing the regime at any costs and crushing the opposition according to the Hama rules set in place by his father. Crush the opposition and hear the lamentations of those whose lives he's crushed.

The Arab League has little leverage in trying to prod Assad to accept reforms. Assad continues claiming that he's engaged in reforms, but his regime is under ongoing attack from terrorists and external elements (an excuse frequently given by other Arab League regimes in their own crackdowns against protesters during the Arab Spring). Thus, there's no way that the Arab League plan will get accepted by Assad. Assad simply wont give up power, even if it's on paper only.

Assad has repeatedly claimed to have given amnesty to those who have protested against the regime, released prisoners, etc., but the murderous attacks continue and the indefinite detentions and deprivations of rights continue throughout Syria at the hands of Assad's loyalists. If Assad's security forces are taking casualties, its increasingly at the hands of those security forces who have defected to the opposition and are no longer willing to murder fellow Syrians for Assad to remain in power.

Syria's Assad Losing Cover

It's another day, another day of death and destruction in Syria. Another 15 people were killed, including 10 civilians in fighting around the country in the throes of an ongoing insurgency against Bashar al-Assad. There were yet again reports of clashes between loyalist security forces and deserters, and several of those killed were caught in the crossfire.

Bashar al-Assad is going to find himself increasingly isolated, particularly now that his longtime backer, Russia, has signaled that it can do no more to protect the regime against further sanctions or military action.

Moscow is one of Assad's few remaining allies, resisting pressure to call for his resignation and, with China, blocking a Western-crafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned a crackdown that has killed thousands of civilians.

But Russia can do no more, state-run news agency Itar-Tass quoted Mikhail Margelov, a senior lawmaker who is President Dmitry Medvedev's special Africa envoy and has also engaged in diplomacy over Syria, as saying.

"(Our) veto on the U.N. Security Council resolution was the last instrument allowing Bashar al-Assad to maintain the status quo in the international arena," Margelov was quoted as saying.
The veto "was a serious signal to the president of Syria from Russia. This veto has exhausted our arsenal of such resources," said Margelov, who is chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's upper parliament house.

That's on the heels of the Arab League monitoring mission finding all kinds of problems with how the regime is conducting itself (and individual monitors noting that Assad's regime is engaging in war crimes/crimes against humanity in its ongoing brutal crackdown against dissenters and opponents to the regime).

Yet, the Russians agreed to a new weapons deal that would net the Syrian regime dozens of new trainer jets and other systems valued at $550 million.

The Arab League called on Assad to begin an orderly transfer of power, but as one would expect of a totalitarian dicator, Assad rejected it out of hand.

The initiative agreed to by Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on Sunday requires Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to a deputy and allow the formation of a national unity government with the opposition within two months. The new government would be responsible for organizing parliamentary and presidential elections under Arab and international supervision.

In reports Monday, Syrian state media denounced the plan as a “flagrant” violation of Syrian sovereignty. Qatar said the Arab League will ask the United Nations Security Council to support the initiative.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels expressed support for Arab League efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis. They also approved additional EU sanctions on Syria, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on another 22 people and eight companies linked to the Assad government.

Assad continues to claim that the uprising against his regime is the work of outside elements, terrorists, and that he's within his rights to use force to quell the violence. Of course, that would require the suspension of belief considering that thousands of civilians have been killed in documented cases by his security forces and his regime continues detaining civilians suspected of being members of the opposition.

The Killings Continue Throughout Syria

Bashar al-Assad's regime continues murdering protesters and those opposed to the regime, despite the ongoing presence of Arab League monitors. Don't believe for one moment that the regime's claims of amnesty means anything either.

Assad is using all of his propaganda outlets for all they're worth. He values remaining in power over all else, so claiming that he's granted amnesty to those who've carried out crimes during the past nine months is meaningless - particularly if those who have committed the crimes are his security forces who have brutally repressed the protesters. At least 35,000 people have been arrested by the regime's own count, though the tally could well be higher. More than 5,000 people have been murdered by the regime since the uprising began and that has increased in recent weeks as some members of the security forces attempt to defect and come under fire from loyalists.

11 more people were killed despite calls by the United Nations and the Arab League to stop the violence.

Hundreds of people have been reported killed in Syria even since the monitors deployed on December 26 as pro-Assad forces try to crush peaceful protests and armed resistance to his rule.

Random gunfire from pro-Assad militiamen killed five people, including a woman, and wounded nine in the restive city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It said five soldiers were killed when they tried to change sides during a clash with rebels in the northwestern province of Idlib, adding that 15 soldiers had succeeded in defecting.

The state news agency SANA said an "armed terrorist group" had shot dead Brigadier-General Mohammed Abdul-Hamid al-Awad and wounded his driver in the countryside near Damascus.

The latest violence erupted a day after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Assad to "stop killing your people."

Assad's harsh response to the uprising has killed more than 5,000 people, by a U.N. count. The Syrian authorities say 2,000 members of the security forces have also been killed. The deaths of 32 civilians and soldiers were reported on Sunday.

Journalists Killed In Syria; The Violence Continues

Syria's regime claims deep regret over the deaths and injuries of journalists, including Frenchman Gilles Jacquier, who was covering a pro-regime rally in Homs. A mortar attack was being covered by the journalists and then a second mortar came down on the same area, killing and wounding several journalists, including Jacquier.

While the regime is quick to claim that terrorists and opposition were responsible, questions remain over how the pro-regime rally could have come under attack and whether the regime itself carried out the attack to curry favor and shift international opinion against the protests against Assad's regime.

International journalists have largely been banned from Syria, so most of the footage comes from third party sources that can't be directly corroborated. Here, we've got CNN correspondent operating in the country, but being minded by Syrian officials who take him and his colleagues around the country. They are just as much a mouthpiece of the regime as the official Syrian media outlets. They aren't able to independently report, let alone investigate, the acts they've seen.

Then again, the regime's forces aren't always using military equipment; often they've been seen using pickup trucks and other technicals, rather than marked military vehicles. This can help them blend into the background and also shows just how difficult it is to figure out who's doing what.

At the same time, another Arab League monitor is vowing to quit, claiming that the military is continuing to carry out attacks against civilians and using mosques to store weapons. The Arab League mission has itself come under attack from forces, causing several injuries and slowing any further observer missions to the country.

What we're seeing is that some of the monitors appear to be genuinely concerned and dismayed over the ongoing crackdown in Syria but are hampered by both Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Arab League's own issues.

Syria's Assad Remains Defiant

Syria's Bashar al-Assad continues to strike a defiant tone against the ongoing protests and violence that has wracked his country for more than nine months. Thousands have died at the hands of his security forces, and he vows to use an iron hand to stop the violence (aka the protests).

That iron hand includes obtaining weapons, and one such weapons shipment was apparently stopped for violating the EU embargo after the ship dropped anchor near Cyprus. A Russian flagged freighter was stopped in Cyprus and tons of weapons were seized.

The cargo ship, owned by St. Petersburg-based Westberg Ltd., left that Russian port on Dec. 9 for Turkey and Syria, which is 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of Cyprus, the officials said.

Russia and Turkey are not members of the European Union, so such a route would not have violated the embargo the bloc imposed to protest Syria's crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule.

But the Chariot, a St. Vincent and Grenadines-flagged ship, dropped anchor off the southern Cypriot port of Limassol on Tuesday because of high seas, drawing the attention of Cypriot officials.

Customs officials boarded the ship to examine its cargo, but couldn't open and inspect the four containers because of "the confined space" they were stored in, the Cypriot Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Nevertheless, the officials determined they were holding a "dangerous cargo."

State radio in Cyprus went further, saying the vessel was carrying "tens of tons of munitions."

Cypriot authorities then consulted with the ship's Russian owners who promised to change the ship's route, and the vessel was allowed to leave Cyprus on Wednesday, the statement said.

The statement didn't say where the vessel is now headed. But an official with knowledge of the matter said the ship was allowed to leave after saying its final destination will be nearby Turkey. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, given the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue.

Turkey, which had once cultivated close ties with Syria, is now one of the Assad regime's most vociferous critics. Turkey has imposed trade sanctions on Syria and is allowing its opposition groups to meet on its territory. Some 7,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Turkey.

Russia continues to back Syria despite the rising death toll since they see the country as a trading partner and a hedge against US influence in the region. That's why Russia continues to block any serious action against Syria in the United Nations and continues to thwart more serious sanctions or other actions that might stop Assad's bloodletting. It may also be a way of the Russian leadership, particularly Vladamir Putin, to reclaim some of the lost glory of the defunct Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, the Arab League observer mission continues to fall short of its even meager expectations to stop the violence. One of the mission observers quit because of the war crimes he witnessed against the Syrian people at the hands of Assad's security forces.

Anwar Malek told al-Jazeera TV that he had resigned because of what he had witnessed in Syria, including a series of war crimes.

He said the government had "fabricated" most of what the monitors had seen to stop the Arab League taking action.

The monitors are tasked with verifying the implementation of a peace plan.

....

Mr Malek said he had resigned because what he had seen, and asserted that the observer mission had fallen apart.

"The mission was a farce and the observers have been fooled," he added. "The regime orchestrated it and fabricated most of what we saw to stop the Arab League from taking action against the regime."

He said that security forces had not withdrawn their tanks from the streets - as mandated by the Arab League peace initiative - but had just hidden them and then brought them back out after the observers had left.

Mr Malek also said imprisoned protesters who were shown by state television being freed last month as part of an amnesty were actually people who had been detained at random four or five days earlier.

This is precisely the kind of thing I warned when the mission was announced. Assad would use the mission as cover to continue the crackdown and exploit the mission at every opportunity for propaganda purposes. After all, some of the countries in the Arab League carried out their own crackdowns during the Arab Spring and used the same justifications as Assad does now (extremists, terrorists, outsiders, causing the violence and that their military crackdown is justified).

Arab League Asks Hamas For Help In Stabilizing Situation in Syria

Yes folks, you've read that headline right. The Arab League has asked the terrorist group Hamas for help on stabilizing the situation in Syria. That's little different from wanting to throw gasoline on a fire or having the fox guard the henhouse.

The head of the Arab League said on Friday he had asked the Damascus-based leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas to ask the Syrian government to work to halt violence in the country.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby was speaking alongside Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal after a meeting in Cairo.

"I gave him a message today to the Syrian authorities that it is necessary to work with integrity, transparency and credibility to halt the violence that is happening in Syria," he said.

Earlier Friday, a suicide bomber in Syria's capital Damascus killed 25 people and wounded 46 others, local news station Addounia said.

That comes just hours after the Arab League admitted that its monitors and Syria mission had made mistakes and were looking towards the United Nations for assistance.

Hamas has no interest other than self preservation when it comes to Syria. Hamas leaders have called Damascus home and the terror group has received aid and comfort from the Syrian regime led by Bashar al Assad. What kind of stabilization is the Arab League looking for here? Yet another extrajudicial militia running around Syria killing opponents of the regime? That's what would be the end result.

All the while, Assad's loyalists and security forces continue attacking protesters around the country and there was yet another bombing with 25 killed. Assad blames terrorists and the opposition demands an independent inquiry claiming that Assad's forces are carrying on a bombing campaign to implicate and discredit the opposition as well as justify the crackdown.