The United Nations Security Council extended its 300-man observer mission in Syria for 30 days on Friday, a day after Russia and China vetoed a resolution linked to the extension of the mission that would have threatened sanctions against the Syrian leadership.
The mission has been suspended since June and confined to a hotel in Damascus. The extension will end in a month unless U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon determines the Syrian government has withdrawn heavy weapons and troops from populated areas—a shift considered unlikely as they are battling armed rebels in the capital.
The secretary-General can also withdraw the observers before the 30 days are up if he deems their security is in danger.
“We believe that it is the right thing to do to give a final chance for that mission to be able to fulfill its function, but we have said, clearly, that it is a final extension, unless there is a change in the dynamic on the ground,” British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters.
“This decision today is not a whitewash of the decision yesterday of Russia and China to veto our resolution and to prevent the Security Council from acting,” said Peter Wittig, the German ambassador. “We hope that the double veto yesterday will not put the Annan plan in peril,” he added, referring to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s cease-fire plan, which has failed to halt fighting by both sides in the Syrian conflict.
On Friday in Syria, the Assad regime’s national security chief died of wounds suffered in a bombing two days before, while government troops regained control of a rebellious neighborhood in Damascus, the Associated Press reported..
More than 300 people were reported killed the day before in a sharp escalation of the country’s civil war. Fighting has intensified over the past week as rebels closed in on the capital and launched their most serious blow yet on President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, killing top aides in a bomb blast Wednesday as they attended a security meeting.
National security chief and close Assad adviser, Gen. Hisham Ikhtiyar, died Friday of wounds suffered in the bombing, the fourth member of Assad’s inner circle to die in the blast, according to state-run TV.
State-run TV also said Friday that government troops were fully in control of the rebellious Midan neighborhood on the southern edge of Damascus, where fighting has raged for days.
The fighting in Midan and several other districts has turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and sent thousands of Syrian families packed in cars streaming across the border into neighboring Lebanon.
“Our heroic forces have completely cleansed the Midan area from the terrorist mercenaries,” the state TV outlet said, employing the term used by authorities to refer to rebels. It said authorities seized large quantities of weapons including machine guns, explosive belts, rocket-propelled grenades and communications equipment.
Damascus activist Khaled al-Shami, contacted via Skype, said rebels carried out a “tactical” retreat early Friday to spare civilians further shelling after five days of intense clashes between opposition fighters and regime forces.
Eager to show that authorities were in control, the government took local journalists for a trip to Midan inside two armored personal carriers Friday.
An AP reporter on the trip saw scenes of destruction, including dozens of damaged or charred cars, stores with shattered windows, and the corpses of at least six young men on the street. One of them, near the Saeed Bin Zeid Mosque, appeared to have been shot in the chest. “The Mosque of the Free” was written in red graffiti on the mosque’s outer wall.
Garbage littered the streets, shops were closed and the streets were almost deserted.
The violence in heavily guarded Damascus, seat of Mr. Assad’s power, pointed to an unraveling of his grip on power amid an uprising that began in March 2011 with peaceful protests inspired by the Arab Spring but became increasingly militarized as the opposition took up arms.
Even though Mr. Assad’s powerful military remains mostly loyal—suggesting a total collapse may not be imminent—the rebels appeared to be making startling gains.
Activists reported that 310 people were killed in violence nationwide Thursday, making it the single deadliest day of fighting since the revolt began.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll included at least 93 government troops. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees said 217 civilians were killed Thursday.
The figures could not be independently verified because of severe restrictions on journalists in Syria.
Besides the fighting in Damascus, about six rebels took over a Syrian border crossing near the Iraqi town of Qaim on Thursday, said Iraqi army Brig. General Qassim al-Dulaimi. There are four major border posts with Iraq.
Rebels overtook a Syrian army outpost near the Syrian-Iraq border after clashes that killed 21 Syrian soldiers, he added.
In addition, amateur video posted online showed rebels taking over the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, where they stomped on portraits of Mr. Assad. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video because the government bars most media from working independently in the country.
A Turkish official based in Reyhanli, on the Turkish side of the border gate of Bab al-Hawa, confirmed that the rebels had taken control of the frontier crossing, but had no information on the latest situation on the Syrian side.
Another official said Turkey has temporarily closed the border gate “for security reasons.” Both spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without authorization.
–The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Lauria at [email protected]
The mission has been suspended since June and confined to a hotel in Damascus. The extension will end in a month unless U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon determines the Syrian government has withdrawn heavy weapons and troops from populated areas—a shift considered unlikely as they are battling armed rebels in the capital.
The secretary-General can also withdraw the observers before the 30 days are up if he deems their security is in danger.
“We believe that it is the right thing to do to give a final chance for that mission to be able to fulfill its function, but we have said, clearly, that it is a final extension, unless there is a change in the dynamic on the ground,” British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters.
“This decision today is not a whitewash of the decision yesterday of Russia and China to veto our resolution and to prevent the Security Council from acting,” said Peter Wittig, the German ambassador. “We hope that the double veto yesterday will not put the Annan plan in peril,” he added, referring to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s cease-fire plan, which has failed to halt fighting by both sides in the Syrian conflict.
On Friday in Syria, the Assad regime’s national security chief died of wounds suffered in a bombing two days before, while government troops regained control of a rebellious neighborhood in Damascus, the Associated Press reported..
More than 300 people were reported killed the day before in a sharp escalation of the country’s civil war. Fighting has intensified over the past week as rebels closed in on the capital and launched their most serious blow yet on President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, killing top aides in a bomb blast Wednesday as they attended a security meeting.
National security chief and close Assad adviser, Gen. Hisham Ikhtiyar, died Friday of wounds suffered in the bombing, the fourth member of Assad’s inner circle to die in the blast, according to state-run TV.
State-run TV also said Friday that government troops were fully in control of the rebellious Midan neighborhood on the southern edge of Damascus, where fighting has raged for days.
The fighting in Midan and several other districts has turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and sent thousands of Syrian families packed in cars streaming across the border into neighboring Lebanon.
“Our heroic forces have completely cleansed the Midan area from the terrorist mercenaries,” the state TV outlet said, employing the term used by authorities to refer to rebels. It said authorities seized large quantities of weapons including machine guns, explosive belts, rocket-propelled grenades and communications equipment.
Damascus activist Khaled al-Shami, contacted via Skype, said rebels carried out a “tactical” retreat early Friday to spare civilians further shelling after five days of intense clashes between opposition fighters and regime forces.
Eager to show that authorities were in control, the government took local journalists for a trip to Midan inside two armored personal carriers Friday.
An AP reporter on the trip saw scenes of destruction, including dozens of damaged or charred cars, stores with shattered windows, and the corpses of at least six young men on the street. One of them, near the Saeed Bin Zeid Mosque, appeared to have been shot in the chest. “The Mosque of the Free” was written in red graffiti on the mosque’s outer wall.
Garbage littered the streets, shops were closed and the streets were almost deserted.
The violence in heavily guarded Damascus, seat of Mr. Assad’s power, pointed to an unraveling of his grip on power amid an uprising that began in March 2011 with peaceful protests inspired by the Arab Spring but became increasingly militarized as the opposition took up arms.
Even though Mr. Assad’s powerful military remains mostly loyal—suggesting a total collapse may not be imminent—the rebels appeared to be making startling gains.
Activists reported that 310 people were killed in violence nationwide Thursday, making it the single deadliest day of fighting since the revolt began.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll included at least 93 government troops. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees said 217 civilians were killed Thursday.
The figures could not be independently verified because of severe restrictions on journalists in Syria.
Besides the fighting in Damascus, about six rebels took over a Syrian border crossing near the Iraqi town of Qaim on Thursday, said Iraqi army Brig. General Qassim al-Dulaimi. There are four major border posts with Iraq.
Rebels overtook a Syrian army outpost near the Syrian-Iraq border after clashes that killed 21 Syrian soldiers, he added.
In addition, amateur video posted online showed rebels taking over the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, where they stomped on portraits of Mr. Assad. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video because the government bars most media from working independently in the country.
A Turkish official based in Reyhanli, on the Turkish side of the border gate of Bab al-Hawa, confirmed that the rebels had taken control of the frontier crossing, but had no information on the latest situation on the Syrian side.
Another official said Turkey has temporarily closed the border gate “for security reasons.” Both spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without authorization.
–The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Lauria at [email protected]