Posts Tagged ‘ Syria ’

"A bomb exploded Sunday near the offices of a trade union in central Damascus, injuring 11 people, state media reported. The official Syrian news service blamed 'terrorists,' its usual label for armed rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The target of the attack was not immediately clear." (11/04/12)

"Neither side took the United Nations-backed ceasefire in Syria very seriously and on Monday, the tenuous four-day truce collapsed into all-out fighting. The start of the week marks the end of one of the holiest days on the Mulsim calendar, Eid al-Adh, which UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi saw as an opportunity to establish a very limited agreement. But as fighting continued throughout the weekend, reports on the ground now depict a return to full-scale civil war on the final day of the truce." (10/29/12)

"The UN's envoy to Syria says President Bashar al-Assad's government has agreed to abide by a ceasefire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters in Cairo that most opposition factions had also said they would observe any ceasefire. ... Eid al-Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice, is celebrated by Muslims to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as proof of obedience to God." (10/24/12)

"A suicide car bomb went off Monday evening in front of the Syrian air force intelligence compound at the Harasta suburb of the capital Damascus, sources said. Intense clashes have followed the blast and are still raging on, the sources said, however, no reports of casualties have emerged with the absence of official comments." (10/08/12)

"A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a Syrian security compound in a remote, predominantly Kurdish town Sunday, killing at least four people, state media said, in a new sign that the country’s largest ethnic minority might be drawn into a widening civil war. Opposition activists said at least eight Syrian intelligence agents were killed and several dozen people wounded in the attack in the northeastern town of Qamishli, more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the capital Damascus." (09/30/12)

"A Syrian rebel bomb attack reduced the army headquarters in Damascus to a smouldering wreck on Wednesday as world leaders, unable to break the diplomatic deadlock in the conflict, met at the United Nations. The rebels said the assault on President Bashar al-Assad's power base in the center of the capital killed dozens of people. The army said four guards were killed and 14 wounded in what it said were suicide attacks." (09/26/12)

"Syrian opposition leaders say 30 were killed and 100 more hurt when government planes bombed a crowded gas station. ... The airstrike took place in the village of Ayn Issa, a border town on Syria's northern border with Turkey, The New York Times reported. Ayn Issa is close to a key Turkish border crossing post that rebels seized two days ago." (09/20/12)

"A car bomb exploded during a funeral in southeastern Damascus on Tuesday, killing 12 people and injuring 48, Syrian state media reported. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency accused 'terrorists' of carrying out the attack and noted that the funeral, in the predominantly Christian area of Jaramana, was being held for two people who had died in an explosion Monday." (08/28/12)

"Syrian fighter jets screamed through the sky Wednesday over this rebel-held town, dropping bombs that leveled the better part of a poor neighborhood and wounded scores of people, many of them women and children buried under piles of rubble. Activists said more than 20 people were killed. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 people died in the double airstrike and more than 200 were wounded." (08/15/12)

"Syrian rebels claim to have shot down a Syrian MiG fighter jet, while Syrian state-run media say a pilot ejected from a warplane after a technical failure, the Associated Press reports. Activists released a 33-second video that they claim shows the warplane catching fire after being hit by ground fire over the eastern province of Deir el-Zour." (08/13/12)

"Syrian jets fired on areas in and around Aleppo again on Sunday, continuing an escalation of force that has led activists and rebels to demand that foreign forces establish a no-fly zone to counter the government’s air superiority. ... While the fighting raged in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, the Syrian authorities on Sunday reported two bomb attacks in Damascus, the capital." (08/12/12)

"Syria says its troops have seized a rebel-held Aleppo district after storming it and 'annihilating' most of the insurgents, as a long-threatened ground assault on the key city was launched. The rebels promptly denied the claim, acknowledging that a 'barbaric and savage attack' on the neighbourhood of Salaheddin was underway but later saying they had recaptured much of what they lost." (08/08/12)

"New clashes and military shelling were reported Sunday in Syria's two major cities, as the warring sides in the country's escalating conflict intensified their information battle on the airwaves, the Internet and social media. A rebel commander, identified as Col. Abduljabbar Aqidi, declared in an opposition video released on YouTube that the battle had begun to 'liberate' the northern city of Aleppo .... In Damascus, the Syrian capital, opposition activists reported a determined military assault on the Mezzeh district, home to many embassies and offices." (07/22/12)

"A bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting Wednesday in the Syrian capital, killing the defense minister as well as President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law in the harshest blow to the government’s inner circle in the 16-month uprising. Syrian state-run TV said the blast came during a meeting of Cabinet ministers and senior security officials in Damascus, which has seen four straight days of clashes between rebels and government troops." (07/18/12)

"Syrian rebels fired grenades at tanks and troops while regime armor shelled Damascus neighborhoods Monday, July 16, sending terrified families fleeing the most sustained and widespread fighting in the capital since the start of the uprising 16 months ago. Fierce clashes nearly encircled the heavily guarded capital as rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad pushed the civil war that has been building in Syria's impoverished provinces closer to the seat of power." (07/16/12)

"A purported massacre by the Syrian army near Hama on Thursday has turned out to be a battle between government forces and armed rebel militias, in another example of Western leaders hyping Syrian rebel propaganda. ... online videos and news reports detailed the heavy casualties sustained by the rebel forces making it out to be a massacre of mostly unarmed opposition members by Syrian forces. Spokesmen for the opposition claimed the number of dead to be as high as 250 .... New details of the incident, however, reveal the death count to have been much less, around 100. Almost all of those killed were men of military age who were armed and engaged in a battle with government forces." (07/14/12)

"The U.N. monitoring mission in Syria will remain in place for now, despite having halted its activities amid rising violence, its leaders said Tuesday. Security Council members met in private with the mission's leader, Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, who halted operations Saturday. He reported then that the escalating violence between government troops and opposition groups was making it too risky for the monitors to do their jobs." (06/19/12)

"The United Nations on Saturday suspended its monitoring mission in Syria due to intensifying violence, sending a strong indication that prospects for peace are failing. 'There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days,' said Gen. Robert Mood, who heads the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria." (06/17/12)