Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad used helicopter gunships and artillery to pound rebel-held areas in Aleppo as the U.S. warned of an impending “massacre.”
About 80 tanks are stationed outside the southern entrance to Aleppo in a sign that Assad’s forces may be preparing to storm Syria’s biggest city, Ahmed Zaidan, a member of the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, said yesterday in a phone interview from Bab al-Hawa, a rebel-held border post.
“The government is trying to send more reinforcements, but members of the Free Syrian Army are delaying their advance by closing roads on the way or engaging the troops in clashes,” Zaidan said.
The U.S. has “grave concerns” about Assad’s military actions, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said yesterday in Washington. The U.S. is alarmed that that “we will see a massacre in Aleppo, and that’s what the regime appears to be lining up for,” she said.
“This is a regime that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, and it is an extremely dangerous situation,” she said.
Nuland rejected comparisons to the situation last year when the U.S. and allies bombed Libyan government forces to avert a massacre of civilians in the then-opposition stronghold Benghazi. She said the U.S. doesn’t plan to act preemptively in Syria, instead continuing to provide non-lethal support to the opposition and to pursue diplomatic efforts to pressure Assad.
[h=2]No Intervention[/h]“The vast majority of Syrians continue not to want foreign military intervention, more weapons flowing into their country,” she said. “Instead, they want an end to this violence, they want Assad to leave, they want the violence to end, and they want the political transition to begin. So further militarizing the conflict is not something that the vast majority of Syrians are seeking.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will discuss Syria, as well as tensions over Iran’s suspected nuclear activities, when he meets with officials in Israel and Jordan next week, Pentagon spokesman George Little said at a briefing yesterday. Panetta also will hold talks in Egypt and Tunisia, he said.
The BBC reported yesterday that thousands of residents are fleeing Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital with a population the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates at 3 million.
The newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to the regime, led on Thursday with the headline “Aleppo, the mother of all battles,” according to Al Jazeera’s website. Citing an Arab diplomatic source, Al-Watan said, “Aleppo will be the last battle waged by the Syrian army to crush the terrorists and after that Syria will emerge from the crisis,” according to Al Jazeera.
[h=2]Capital Fighting[/h]International and regional efforts have failed to end the violence in Syria, which began in March 2011 and has left at least 19,000 people dead, including about 5,000 government troops, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Several areas around Damascus, the capital, came under intense mortar and artillery shelling yesterday, and helicopter gunships were used to bomb some suburbs including the vicinity of the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria said in an e-mail. Syrian security forces killed at least 162 people yesterday, including 40 in Damascus, Al Arabiya television said, citing the Local Coordination Committees.
Assad yesterday ordered the establishment of a Damascus- based court for terrorism-linked crimes, state-run Syrian television said. Assad’s government refers to the rebels as terrorists.
[h=2]Tlas Talks[/h]Brigadier General Manaf Tlas, the most prominent defector from the armed forces, said in his first interview since leaving Syria that he quit because he opposed the government’s use of force to clamp down on the unrest.
Tlas told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that he plans to consult the Syrian opposition and Saudi officials to seek a way out of the crisis. The interview was conducted in Saudi Arabia, which has been funding the opposition and has called for arming it.
Mohammad Tahseen al-Faqir, an employee at Syria’s embassy in Oman, told Al Jazeera television yesterday that he quit because the killings in Syria make the “heart bleed.” The government ordered diplomats to monitor Syrians abroad and report back on their allegiance to the government, he said.
[h=2]Ambassador Defects[/h]The Foreign Ministry said on state television that al-Faqir was an administrator with no diplomatic or security status and that his term at the embassy ended on May 21.
Al Arabiya reported July 25 that Syria’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Abdel Latif al-Dabbagh, defected. The channel said that his wife, Lamia Hariri, who was Syria’s charge d’affaires in Cyprus, also quit and is now in Qatar.
Asked yesterday on an Al Jazeera news program why there aren’t more defectors, she said, “The regime oppresses the families of defected diplomats or any other defectors, and I think this is the reason why, the fear of the regime’s reaction.”
The escalating violence forced Greece’s Foreign Ministry to shut down its embassy in Damascus as of yesterday. Consulates in Aleppo, Latakia and Tartus will remain open to aid any citizens requiring assistance, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement. It advised Greeks against traveling to Syria on July 18 and reiterated that recommendation yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Manama at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
About 80 tanks are stationed outside the southern entrance to Aleppo in a sign that Assad’s forces may be preparing to storm Syria’s biggest city, Ahmed Zaidan, a member of the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, said yesterday in a phone interview from Bab al-Hawa, a rebel-held border post.
“The government is trying to send more reinforcements, but members of the Free Syrian Army are delaying their advance by closing roads on the way or engaging the troops in clashes,” Zaidan said.
The U.S. has “grave concerns” about Assad’s military actions, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said yesterday in Washington. The U.S. is alarmed that that “we will see a massacre in Aleppo, and that’s what the regime appears to be lining up for,” she said.
“This is a regime that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, and it is an extremely dangerous situation,” she said.
Nuland rejected comparisons to the situation last year when the U.S. and allies bombed Libyan government forces to avert a massacre of civilians in the then-opposition stronghold Benghazi. She said the U.S. doesn’t plan to act preemptively in Syria, instead continuing to provide non-lethal support to the opposition and to pursue diplomatic efforts to pressure Assad.
[h=2]No Intervention[/h]“The vast majority of Syrians continue not to want foreign military intervention, more weapons flowing into their country,” she said. “Instead, they want an end to this violence, they want Assad to leave, they want the violence to end, and they want the political transition to begin. So further militarizing the conflict is not something that the vast majority of Syrians are seeking.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will discuss Syria, as well as tensions over Iran’s suspected nuclear activities, when he meets with officials in Israel and Jordan next week, Pentagon spokesman George Little said at a briefing yesterday. Panetta also will hold talks in Egypt and Tunisia, he said.
The BBC reported yesterday that thousands of residents are fleeing Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital with a population the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates at 3 million.
The newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to the regime, led on Thursday with the headline “Aleppo, the mother of all battles,” according to Al Jazeera’s website. Citing an Arab diplomatic source, Al-Watan said, “Aleppo will be the last battle waged by the Syrian army to crush the terrorists and after that Syria will emerge from the crisis,” according to Al Jazeera.
[h=2]Capital Fighting[/h]International and regional efforts have failed to end the violence in Syria, which began in March 2011 and has left at least 19,000 people dead, including about 5,000 government troops, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Several areas around Damascus, the capital, came under intense mortar and artillery shelling yesterday, and helicopter gunships were used to bomb some suburbs including the vicinity of the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria said in an e-mail. Syrian security forces killed at least 162 people yesterday, including 40 in Damascus, Al Arabiya television said, citing the Local Coordination Committees.
Assad yesterday ordered the establishment of a Damascus- based court for terrorism-linked crimes, state-run Syrian television said. Assad’s government refers to the rebels as terrorists.
[h=2]Tlas Talks[/h]Brigadier General Manaf Tlas, the most prominent defector from the armed forces, said in his first interview since leaving Syria that he quit because he opposed the government’s use of force to clamp down on the unrest.
Tlas told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that he plans to consult the Syrian opposition and Saudi officials to seek a way out of the crisis. The interview was conducted in Saudi Arabia, which has been funding the opposition and has called for arming it.
Mohammad Tahseen al-Faqir, an employee at Syria’s embassy in Oman, told Al Jazeera television yesterday that he quit because the killings in Syria make the “heart bleed.” The government ordered diplomats to monitor Syrians abroad and report back on their allegiance to the government, he said.
[h=2]Ambassador Defects[/h]The Foreign Ministry said on state television that al-Faqir was an administrator with no diplomatic or security status and that his term at the embassy ended on May 21.
Al Arabiya reported July 25 that Syria’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Abdel Latif al-Dabbagh, defected. The channel said that his wife, Lamia Hariri, who was Syria’s charge d’affaires in Cyprus, also quit and is now in Qatar.
Asked yesterday on an Al Jazeera news program why there aren’t more defectors, she said, “The regime oppresses the families of defected diplomats or any other defectors, and I think this is the reason why, the fear of the regime’s reaction.”
The escalating violence forced Greece’s Foreign Ministry to shut down its embassy in Damascus as of yesterday. Consulates in Aleppo, Latakia and Tartus will remain open to aid any citizens requiring assistance, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement. It advised Greeks against traveling to Syria on July 18 and reiterated that recommendation yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Manama at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]