Shells hit Damascus area as Assad attends prayers

 

By ALBERT AJI and BARBARA SURK
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Mortar rounds on Thursday hit an upscale district of Damascus where President Bashar Assad attended prayers to mark the start of a major Muslim holiday in a rare attack in the high security area.

A Syrian rebel brigade claimed it fired mortar shells that hit Assad's motorcade in the Malki district of the capital, but Syrian state TV broadcast images of the Syrian leader attending prayers and the information minister denied reports that the president had been attacked.

An Islamic rebel brigade, Liwaa Tahrir al-Sham, said it fired several 120 mm shells in the direction of Assad's motorcade after carrying out careful surveillance of its route.

The claim was made on the group's Facebook and Twitter pages and could not be independently confirmed. The brigade's head, Firas al-Bitar, told Al-Arabiya TV that the motorcade had been hit but that it was not certain whether Assad himself had been harmed.

Assad has a residence in the upscale district that has largely been sheltered from the shellings and battles that usually rage in the city's impoverished suburbs. However, it was not clear if Assad has stayed in Malki in recent months.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi dismissed the attack claims as "rumours" and told state TV that Assad drove his own car to the Anas bin Malik Mosque, located in the heart of Malki.

It was the Syrian leader's third public appearance in over a week as his regime tries to capitalize on recent gains on the battlefield against rebels fighting to oust him from power.

In the state TV broadcast, Assad, dressed in a suit, was seen praying alongside Syria's grand mufti at the start of Eid al-Fitr, the three-day holiday that ends the holy month of Ramadan. The Eid prayers are typically an hour or two after sunrise. In previous years, Assad has been seen attending them early in the morning.

The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights which closely monitors the fighting in Syria said only three mortar shells hit Malki early in the morning. The neighborhood has rarely been targeted by opposition forces during the conflict, which last year brought the rebels and their battle to the heart of the capital.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the shelling, which was confirmed by Malki residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their own safety.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the Observatory's head, said he had no confirmation that Assad's motorcade had been hit and was skeptical of the reports.

Syria's state news agency said several mortar shells also hit the capital's suburb that is home to the golden-domed Shiite shrine of Sayeda Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter, which is popular with Iranian worshippers and tourists. The attacks caused casualties, the SANA news agency said, but gave no details.

Assad's troops have recently been on the offensive in central Syria, making advances near the border with Lebanon and in the city of Homs, an opposition stronghold and Syria's third largest city.

On Wednesday, Syrian government troops ambushed a large group of rebels trudging through a desert road northeast of Damascus, killing more than 60 fighters.

In the north, where much of the territory has been under opposition control in the past year, rebels scored a rare victory earlier this week when they captured a major air base in the Aleppo province near the border with Turkey.

Syria's crisis started as a largely peaceful uprising against Assad's rule in March 2011. It turned into a civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown. More than 100,000 people have been killed in the violence so far, according to U.N. figures.

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Surk reported from Beirut.

Syria's president has passed a decree legalising private security firms, SANA

Syria's president has passed a decree legalising private security firms, faced with a 29-month armed revolt against his rule that has pinned down the police, state news agency SANA reported Tuesday.
President Bashar al-Assad's decree regulates "licencing for private companies that provide protection and guard duties ... to ensure the safety of individuals, establishments, property and the transport of cash, jewels and precious metals," said SANA.
One-year renewable licences are to be issued by the interior ministry, it said, but only to Syrian nationals with capital of more than $250,000.
"The interior minister will define the categories of arms to be used by each company, ranging from revolvers to rifles and others," said the agency.
The decree also stipulates that each company will be licenced to recruit between 300 and 800 guards. A security source told AFP news agency that guards will have to wear a uniform, while the decree will allow security companies to open offices and issue employees with hand arms.
"Security guards will be in charge of protecting prominent personalities and businesses, while securing the transport of money," the source told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
Before Syria's conflict broke out in mid-March 2011, "these tasks were mainly assigned to the police. But because of the situation, now the police has other tasks," he added.
[AFP]

Exclusive: Syria seeks to tap frozen bank accounts for food supplies

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON

(Reuters) - Syria is trying to tap frozen funds in foreign bank accounts to step up purchases of food stocks including wheat, as civil war and a deepening humanitarian crisis push President Bashar al-Assad to seek new ways to feed his people.
The country faces its worst wheat harvest in nearly three decades due to the conflict, dealing a blow to Assad's plan for self-sufficiency in food that was aimed at sidestepping Western moves to isolate and weaken his government through sanctions.
Syria's economy has been hurt by depletion of foreign reserves that were estimated at around $16-18 billion before the conflict.
"The sheer scale of the economic and infrastructural devastation in Syria has necessitated a sharp rise in the import of food staples such as grains and sugar," said Torbjorn Soltvedt of risk consultancy Maplecroft.
"With the situation likely to deteriorate over the coming months, the Syrian regime also knows that it needs to boost stocks in order to supply regime-held areas."
Foodstuffs are not covered by international sanctions, but banking sanctions and asset freezes imposed by Washington and Brussels as well as war created a climate that had made it difficult for some trading houses to do business with Damascus.
In recent weeks Syrian state buyers have issued a series of tenders for wheat, sugar and rice amounting to over 500,000 tonnes in total.
The tenders say payment will be made from frozen accounts with waivers obtained from countries that have imposed financial sanctions, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and confirmed by trade sources active in potential deals which will close this month.
"Syria has funds in banks in Europe and the Middle East and they are trying to use these accounts to pay for imports of commodities and foodstuffs by the government," said a Middle East-based source active in the food trade with Syria.
"The Syrian authorities do not have much choice and need to find ways to pay potential suppliers and tackle the humanitarian crisis in whatever way they can. They have to feed the people."
After difficulties securing grain supplies last year, Syria has been more successful at purchasing grain this year using middlemen to set up deals and arrange payment. Trade sources say efforts to use the locked funds are aimed at stepping up procurement efforts.
"Although it is unclear to what extent the regime has been able to tap into frozen assets, the worsening humanitarian situation may compel Western governments to unofficially allow such funds to be used for purchasing food staples," Maplecroft's Soltvedt said.
Trade sources said some of the frozen bank accounts that might now be tapped were located in European countries including France and Italy.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: "Trade in humanitarian goods, such as medicine or food and food commodities with Syria is not prohibited, nor are there restrictions on payments for such transactions. Clearly, any transactions must respect all other sanctions provisions."
He said under an article in the bloc's regulations on Syria, "the release of frozen funds or economic resources may be authorised when this is necessary for humanitarian purposes". That would require permission from authorities in the country where the bank was located.
"As the derogations under Article 16 involve an authorisation regime, any transaction for humanitarian purposes involving frozen funds or economic resources must be authorised by the competent authorities of the member state involved."
The spokesman said details on authorisations were provided by member states and was unable to give further comment.
Officials in Paris did not respond to requests for comment on behalf of the French government for banks located there. A spokesman with Italy's foreign ministry said: "So far, Italy has not authorised any unfreezing of Syrian funds to pay for purchases of food products. In the future we will see."
It was not immediately clear whether any of the transactions would be subject to sanctions imposed by the United States. A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman said the focus of Washington's sanctions was on "targeting the Syrian government and those contributing to the tragic violence in Syria".
"Even as we continue to implement and enforce our rigorous sanctions regime against Syria, we are committed to allowing legitimate humanitarian assistance."
HIGH PREMIUM TRADE
In one tender issued last month for 276,000 tonnes of white sugar, reviewed by Reuters, Syria's General Foreign Trade Organization said "a document from the concerned party in the country which freezes the Syrian funds should be submitted stating permission to finance these supplies from the frozen funds."
The state buyer described issuing the tender as due to "extreme urgency" for supplies.
In another tender for 200,000 tonnes of wheat, a separate state buyer said goods would be paid from "blocked funds in European banks and some Arab banks".
"Syrian state buyers are certainly suddenly showing a lot more confidence that international tenders can be undertaken in the present restrictive environment of sanctions," a European trade source said.
Syrian funds held by foreign banks are being subjected to stringent checks before money can be released, the Middle East-based source said.
"You have to go through certain procedures and show evidence of experience and a history in this business," the source said.
"Provided you can give all the guarantees to the bank that this money is used for selling commodities and nothing else, then they can release the funds or open letters of credit."
Those tenders have not yet closed. However, a Damascus-based Syrian government source involved in grain buying said Syria had already begun purchases under the new payment mechanism.
"It is proving to be good. There have been deals that were struck using that method and they were related to wheat purchases," the source said.
The Middle East trade source said Syria was believed to have paid for a cargo of wheat from a trade house using one of Damascus's European bank accounts.
However, other sources could not confirm such sales had already taken place and were awaiting the outcome later in August of the tenders reviewed by Reuters.
"I have not yet seen any payments done this way yet. But the tenders specifically mentioned this method of payment and the number of tenders issued seems to be a pretty strong indication that the doors have been opened to pay for Syrian food imports in this way," another European trade source said separately.
"If the system works it could open the door to a lot more Syrian commodity imports in coming months."
A European shipping source said Syria wheat deals carried a 5 to 10 percent premium. At current market prices, that would mean up to an additional $5 million estimated to be paid on the latest 200,000 tonne tender.
"Even with the risks and the conflict, Syria is a lucrative market that is hard to ignore," the source said.
Intensified clashes in Syria kept the World Food Programme (WFP), a U.N. agency, from meeting its target of bringing food to 3 million people in the shattered country in July.
WFP said last week it had delivered food to only 2.4 million people in Syria in July, down from 2.5 million reached in June.
"More areas are becoming inaccessible due to increased fighting," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.
(Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Alexandria Sage and Ingrid Melander in Paris, Silvia Antonioli in London and Maha El Dahan in Dubai, Editing by Veronica Brown and Peter Graff)

Syria's Assad says war is the only way to crush terrorism

By Oliver Holmes

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said crushing "terrorists" must come before any political solution to end the crisis in his country, dimming hopes of an international peace conference any time soon.

Speaking in Damascus, Assad praised recent gains by his military forces across the country and said Syria can finish off the insurgency "within months" if people fight with the army through a "popular war".
"How can we put an end to this battle and turn the table on others and restore security and stability? ... It is through this way (popular war) ... unity between the army and people to terminate terrorism."
For more than two years, Assad has been battling a revolt against his rule which turned into a civil war.
After looking close to defeat, his forces - backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants - have pushed the rebels outside the capital and made gains in the central province of Homs and others areas.
The United States, Russia and the United Nations are still working to convene a meeting in Geneva between the Syrian government and opposition groups to broker a peace deal.
Russia is an ally and arms supplier of Assad, and, along with China, has blocked several U.N. Security Council resolutions by the United States and European powers to impose sanctions on the leader.
Attempts to organize a so-called "Geneva II" peace conference on Syria to revive a political transition plan agreed in the Swiss city in June 2012 have been futile.
"TERRORISM AND POLITICS ARE OPPOSITES"
U.N. diplomats say it is increasingly unlikely that such a conference will take place any time soon, if at all.
"Terrorism and politics are complete opposites," said Assad, whose government refers to all rebel groups and many opposition figures fighting for his ouster as "terrorists".
"There can not be political action and progress on the political track while terrorism hits everywhere," Assad told prominent members of Syria's clergy, business and arts community on Sunday evening at an "iftar", or meal to break the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
"No solution can be reached with terror except by striking it with an iron fist," he added, in remarks run by the Syrian state news agency SANA on Monday.
Assad mocked the Syrian National Coalition, the western-backed opposition, as being morally bankrupt and "unpatriotic", chasing positions of power, changing its stance regularly and receiving Gulf money.
Assad, whose family have ruled Syria for more than four decades, has remained defiant throughout the conflict. As war rages on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, he has carried out day-to-day presidential duties and attended ceremonies.
His wife, Asma, was shown on pro-Assad television channels preparing a charitable iftar meal for orphans on Sunday.
The presence of foreign fighters has grown among rebel ranks and al Qaeda-linked groups have taken control of some opposition-held territory, worrying supporters of the opposition in the west and the Middle East.
Assad, wearing a suit and looking relaxed, said that most regional and Arab countries who supported the opposition have "changed their view toward the reality" of events after two and half years of war.
He said that there are "no exceptions to any means" he would employ to help Syria out of the crisis.
U.N. investigators say Assad's forces have carried out war crimes including unlawful killing, torture, sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks and pillaging in what appears to be a state-directed policy.
They say rebels have also committed war crimes, including executions, but on a lesser scale.
Over 100,000 people have died in Syria's civil war and millions have been displaced. Protesters took to the streets in March 2011 to called for democratic reforms but were fired on by security forces, leading to an armed uprising.
(Additional reporting by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Mariam Karouny and Mike Collett-White)

President Bashar al-Assad shared the "iftar" meal with political and religious figures Sunday. SANA

President Bashar al-Assad shared the "iftar" meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with political and religious figures Sunday, praising Syrians for supporting the army, state news agency SANA said.
Assad "joined an iftar (evening) meal... with prominent figures in Syrian society including party-affiliated and independent politicians, as well as Muslim and Christian clerics, syndicates, unions and civil society members," SANA said.
At the gathering, the president praised the Syrian people for "standing as one with the armed forces to defend Syria and its resources."
The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which broke out in March 2011 after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against widespread protests calling for political change.
The government has consistently blamed the violence in Syria on foreign-backed "terrorist" groups.
[AFP]
 

From the official Syrian presidency Instagram account.
Asma al-Assad, the Syrian First Lady, chats to volunteers from Melody of Life while preparing an Iftar dinner for families.[Al jazeera]
 

Assad issued a decree on Sunday banning the use of foreign currency in commercial transactions.

(AFP) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree on Sunday banning the use of foreign currency in commercial transactions, according to SANA, the state news agency.
"It is prohibited to make payments, reimbursements, commercial transactions and any other commercial operation in foreign currency or in precious metals,"
it quoted the decree as saying.
"The Syrian lira is the only currency" allowed in business and commerce,  SANA added.
Those breaking the law risk jail sentences of between six months and 10  years of hard labour, depending on the sum involved, and a fine.
The US dollar is the preferred foreign currency in Syria where the lira has lost three quarters of its value against the dollar since the outbreak of the anti-regime uprising more than two years ago. At the start of the conflict in March 2011 one dollar fetched 50 liras, while a dollar today is worth more than 200 liras.
Dollars have been used in the sale of land, namely in the upscale Damascus suburbs, and by importers who trade in goods such as rice, sugar, textile and electronic equipment.
"The measure is symbolic because it comes 10 years almost to the day after Bashar al-Assad cancelled law 24/1986, which very strictly forbade Syrians from having dollars in their possession," said Jihad Yazigi, director of financial weekly the Syria Report.
"Today's decision is aimed at making it very difficult to make any transactions in anything other than the Syrian lira," Yazigi told AFP news agency, adding that the goal was to "control the exchange rate".
[AFP] 

Syria limits foreign currency use, threatens traders with jail

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian traders who price goods in foreign currency will face up to 10 years in jail, the government announced on Sunday in a move aimed at stemming the increasing dollarization of an economy crippled by two years of civil war.

A decree issued by President Bashar al-Assad "forbids the use of anything other than the Syrian pound as payment for any type of commercial transaction or cash settlement".
Traders who violate the law face up to three years in jail and a fine equivalent to double the value of the payment. If the sum involved is over $5,000, punishment could rise to 10 years with hard labor, according to the decree published by state media.
Bankers said Sunday's move reinforced existing prohibitions on pricing goods in dollars - a law which has been increasingly flouted after sharp falls and wild fluctuation in the Syrian pound - and said the penalties had been stiffened.
"It's to prevent people from fleeing to the dollar," said one Damascus banker, adding the decree would not have an impact on banking operations.
"It does not in any way affect the banking sector - the country needs foreign currency transfers," he said. "The idea is that people don't all think in dollar terms as if there is no local currency. It's more a psychological move with the currency crumbling."
Sharp falls and fluctuations in the Syrian pound have led to increasing use of the U.S. dollar in all walks of life, by food sellers and manufacturers, taxi drivers and importers.
Before protests against Assad's rule erupted in March 2011 the pound stood at 47 to the dollar. After two years of war and economic collapse, it now changes hands for around 200, and briefly fell as low as 300 last month, exchange dealers say.
Devastation to the commercial and industrial cities of Aleppo and Homs, together with the loss of foreign currency earnings as oil exports and tourism dried up, have hit the economy hard. Damage is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars and this year's wheat crop is expected to fall by half.
The weakness and volatility of the local currency has pushed up inflation and left many shopkeepers struggling to price their goods in local currency.
"Having dollars, depositing them and using them as a currency of savings has never been outlawed but even before the crisis, dealing with dollars in domestic commercial transactions was banned," said a chief currency dealer in a Damascus bank.
"This is a law that imposes more penalties," he said. "Syrians can get transfers in dollars and importers can still price their goods in dollar but they cannot put dollar price tags on goods sold," he said.
(Reporting by Dominic Evans and Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Syria Update

A handout picture released by the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency or SANA on August 1, 2013 allegedly shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad talking with Syrian army soldiers during a visit in Daraya, southwestern of the capital Damascus.
[Photos: AFP]
 

Assad says sure he will defeat Syrian rebels

 

By Oliver Holmes

BEIRUT | Thu Aug 1, 2013 9:00am EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels in a 28-month-old civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people and sent nearly two million fleeing abroad.
Insurgents have seized large swathes of territory, but Assad's forces have staged a counter-offensive in recent weeks, pushing them back from around the capital Damascus and retaking several towns near the border with Lebanon.
"If we were not sure that we were going to win in Syria, we would not have the ability to resist and the ability to continue fighting for more than two years against the enemy," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying.
Assad has framed the revolt against four decades of his family's rule as a foreign-backed conspiracy fought by Islamist "terrorists". When pro-democracy protests started in March 2011, a military crackdown eventually led to an armed insurrection.
In a statement published in the official army magazine to mark the 68th anniversary of the Syrian army's creation, Assad said soldiers had shown "courage in the face of terrorism... and the fiercest barbaric war in modern history".
State television said Assad visited the town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, on Thursday to meet members of the security forces.
A picture posted on the presidency's Facebook page showed Assad, in a suit, shaking hand with a soldier in army fatigues and a helmet. Behind them was a scene of war; wires hanging from electricity pylons near an apartment block damaged by an explosion. No civilians could be seen.
The army targeted Daraya with artillery after rebels moved into the area last year. The army has since been able to retake parts of the town but at the expense of widespread material damage and many civilian casualties, according to residents.
U.N. investigators say Assad's forces have carried out war crimes including unlawful killing, torture, sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks and pillaging in what appears to be a state-directed policy. They say rebels have also committed war crimes, including executions, but on a lesser scale.
The struggle in Syria has become markedly sectarian, broadly pitting majority Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's minority Alawite sect, which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
Assad has relied on Alawite-led army units and security forces from the start, but has turned increasingly to loyalist militia armed and funded by Damascus to fight the rebels.
He has also received solid support from Shi'ite regional powerhouse Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and longtime ally Russia, while his fragmented foes have received little military aid from their Western backers, wary of the growing presence of hardline Islamist groups, some of which are linked to al Qaeda.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Latest platform for Syria's president: Instagram

 

By ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's embattled president already has a Facebook page, Twitter account and a YouTube channel. Now Bashar Assad is turning to the popular photo-sharing service Instagram in the latest attempt at improving his image as his country burns, posting pictures of himself and his glamorous wife surrounded by idolizing crowds.

The photos show a smiling Assad among supporters, or grimly visiting wounded Syrians in the hospital. He is seen working in his office in Damascus, an Apple computer and iPad on his desk. His wife, Asma, who has stayed largely out of sight throughout the conflict, features heavily in the photos, casually dressed and surrounded by Syrian children and their mothers.

The sophisticated PR campaign is striking for an isolated leader who has earned near pariah status for his military's bloody crackdown on dissent.

It is also in stark contrast to the machinations of other dictators at the center of Arab Spring revolts. While the ousted Egyptian and Libyan leaders relied on antiquated methods such as state-run media to transmit stilted propaganda, Assad - a 47-year-old British-trained eye doctor - has increasingly relied on social media to project an image of confidence to the world.

The result is an efficient, modern propaganda machine in keeping with the times - but one that appears completely removed from the reality on the ground.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against the Assad family's decades-old iron rule began in March 2011. The revolt has transformed into an insurgency and civil war that has seen the country break up into sectarian and ethnic fiefdoms, uprooting millions of people from their homes.

"These are all dismal and useless attempts at polishing up his image," said Mamdouh, a Syrian activist based in the northern province of Idlib, who declined to give his full name, for fear of retaliation.

"I wish he would turn his attention to more important things, such as saving the country," he said, speaking via Skype.

This week's launch of the presidency's Instagram page is Assad's latest attempt at burnishing his image.

"Welcome to the official Instagram account for the Presidency of the Syrian Republic," says the greeting on the page, which in just a few days has collected more than 5,200 followers.

The 73 photos posted so far show Assad in situations that portray normality, compassion and confidence: Talking earnestly to a group of workers in hard hats, clutching the hand of a wounded man swathed in bandages in the hospital, being kissed on the cheek by a little girl with blond curls.

Asma Assad, her hair twisted casually in a bun, is seen serving meals to the elderly, holding a baby as she chats with a group of mothers and talking to schoolchildren in a science class lab.

The same photos are on the presidency's Facebook page, where quotations from Assad's interviews and speeches are posted. A YouTube channel keeps track of the president's public appearances.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf called the postings "nothing more than a despicable PR stunt."

"It's repulsive that the Assad regime would use this to gloss over the brutality and suffering it is causing," she told reporters in Washington. "To see what's really happening right now in Syria, to see the horrific atrocities in Homs and elsewhere, we would encourage people to take a look at unfiltered photos of what's actually happening on the ground."

The pages are professionally managed by censors who appear to work around the clock to keep off offensive remarks. A few do slip past - or are allowed to remain to give the impression of tolerance.

"See you at The Hague," reads one comment under a picture of Assad among crowds, visiting the ancient Omayyad Mosque in Damascus in February. "Go to hell," says another, posted beneath a picture of a smiling Assad during a visit to Raqqa in November 2011, just months after the uprising began. The opposition seized Raqqa in March, the only provincial capital to fall into rebel hands.

But the overwhelming majority of comments are from die-hard fans who profess their love and admiration.

"A true Lion," reads one, playing on the word Assad, which means lion in Arabic.

Others gush at images of Syria's first lady, asking for God to protect her and her husband.

"I doubt you would ever see a picture of Mrs. Obama so humble. God Bless Mrs. Assad," reads a comment beneath a picture of Asma Assad at a Mother's Day function in March, feeding an elderly Syrian woman.

Assad inherited power in 2000, raising hopes that the lanky, soft-spoken young leader might transform his late father's stagnant and brutal dictatorship into a modern state. Many hoped the younger Assad, who led the Syrian Computer Society before his father's death, would help reform the country.

As a couple, Assad and Asma, who grew up in a west London suburb, did not fit the mold of dictator and wife, making surprise public appearances to the delight of their supporters. But the regime's ferocious crackdown on the uprising quickly shattered their image as a glamorous, reform-minded couple who could help bring progressive values to a country that has been ruled by the Assad family dynasty for more than 40 years.

While he was often dismissed by critics as too weak to fill his father's shoes, Assad has dealt with the war with surprising tenacity, holding onto power with a mix of brute military force and a portrayal of the conflict as one spearheaded by al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremists bent on destroying the country.

Although he has lost large swathes of territory to the rebels, his troops have recently gone on the offensive in the country's heartland and around the capital, Damascus, seat of his power, pushing the opposition fighters back from strategic areas.

The propaganda offensive has extended to Syrian state-run media, with Syrian TV devoting long segments to trying to show how life goes on as normal. In one, a Syrian anchor wearing a black T-shirt with the words "I Love Syria," is seen interviewing people in Damascus restaurants and souks as they speak of their love for the president and the army.

Throughout the conflict, Assad has succeeded in maintaining support drawn largely from his Alawite constituency and other minorities in Syria, who fear the alternative to his rule would be the chaos of an Islamic state.

But for many, the message Assad is conveying is provocative.

"Kill the people, destroy their homes, and then visit them in hospital. Yes, well done," read a comment left under a picture of Asma Assad visiting a wounded Syrian woman.

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Associated Press writer Barbara Surk contributed to this report.

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Follow Zeina Karam on twitter.com/zkaram

Assad says sure he will defeat Syrian rebels

 
BEIRUT | Thu Aug 1, 2013 4:56am EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels in a devastating 28-month-old civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people and sent nearly two million fleeing abroad.
Insurgents have seized large swathes of territory, but Assad's forces have staged a counter-offensive in recent weeks, pushing them back from around the capital Damascus and retaking several towns near the border with Lebanon.
"If we were not sure that we were going to win in Syria, we would not have the ability to resist and the ability to continue fighting for more than two years against the enemy," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying.
Assad has framed the revolt against four decades of his family's rule as a foreign-backed conspiracy fought by Islamist "terrorists." When pro-democracy protests started in March 2011, a military crackdown eventually led to an armed insurrection.
Addressing officers on the 68th anniversary of the Syrian army's creation, Assad said soldiers had shown "courage in the face of terrorism ... and the fiercest barbaric war in modern history".
U.N. investigators say Assad's forces have carried out war crimes including unlawful killing, torture, sexual violence, indiscriminate attack and pillaging in what appears to be a state-directed policy. They say rebels have also committed war crimes, including executions, but on a lesser scale.
The struggle in Syria has become markedly sectarian, broadly pitting majority Sunni Muslim rebels and against Assad's minority Alawite sect, which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
Assad has relied on Alawite-led army units and security forces from the start, but has turned increasingly to loyalist militia armed and funded by Damascus to fight the rebels.
He has also received solid support from Shi'ite regional powerhouse Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and longtime ally Russia, while his fragmented foes have received little military aid from their Western backers wary of the growing presence of hardline Islamist rebel groups, some of them linked to al Qaeda.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Syria's Assad lauds his army, says he will win war

By ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

 

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's president on Thursday lauded his troops' struggle against opposition forces, saying they are fighting the fiercest of wars but that he is confident they will win in the country's conflict, now in its third year.

Bashar Assad's comments followed several significant regime gains against the rebels on key battlefields recently, mostly in the central province of Homs and near the capital, Damascus.

His remarks coincided with an alarm raised Thursday by five major aid agencies, which warned that the Syrian refugee crisis is stretching aid efforts to their limits.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against the Assad family's four-decade rule began in March 2011. The revolt later escalated into a civil war, which has uprooted millions of people from their homes.

In a statement marking Syria's Army Day, Assad said his men are confronting the "fiercest barbaric war in modern history."

"Had we in Syria not been confident of victory, we wouldn't have been able to resist" for over two years, Assad said in a statement carried by the state news agency SANA.

In an apparent reference to wide expectations over the past two years that the opposition forces would remove him from power, Assad told his troops: "You have surprised the world with your steadfastness and ability to face difficulties and achieve results."

The rebels suffered two major setbacks during a wide-ranging government offensive in central Syria. In June, Assad's army recaptured the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, and this week, government troops took control of a district in the city of Homs that had long been an opposition stronghold.

The five aid agencies - including CARE International, Oxfam, Danish Refugee Council, Handicap International and World Vision - said they are increasingly concerned that the international response is failing to match the scale of the crisis.

Their joint statement said more than 1.4 million Syrians - or 80 percent of all Syrian refugees - are now living in tents, temporary settlements, or over-crowded and expensive rented accommodations.

"People are living in shopping centers, empty garages or make-shift tents on derelict land," said Oxfam's response manager in charge of Syria, Colette Fearon. "They are struggling to survive on little or nothing, and many are falling through the cracks with no immediate end in sight to the conflict the problem will only get worse."

"We need to make sure assistance reaches refugees no matter where they are," she added.

Last month, assistant U.N. secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, said an estimated 5,000 Syrians are dying every month in the country's civil war and refugees are fleeing at a rate not seen since the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Because of huge number of people fleeing the conflict, refugees are pursuing whatever options they can to find shelter, the aid groups' statement said.

Many arrive in shelters across the border with just the clothes on their backs and need help to cover basic costs such as food, safe drinking water and a roof over their heads, it added.

Health care has become a luxury that many refugees cannot afford, and vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities or chronic disease, have no access to essential services beyond what organizations such as Handicap International can provide.

"People left Syria with nothing and are trying to carve out a new life for themselves," said Hugh Fenton of the Danish Refugee Council. "But they are starting from scratch and everything is expensive. Many are getting into increasing debt in order to survive."

---

Mroue reported from Beirut.

Syrian President office has used a new Instagram account to post photographs of him greeting supporters

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's office has used a new Instagram account to post photographs of him greeting supporters, and images of his wife Asma visiting hospital patients.
The official Syrian presidency Instagram account on the popular online photo sharing application is the latest social media platform used by Assad's office to bolster his image.
Assad's office already has YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Images posted on Instagram include a photograph of Assad working at his desk, and another of the embattled leader waving at cheering crowds of supporters.
Others show his wife Asma, dressed informally and deep in discussion with teenagers. In another, she wipes away the tears of a child.
Scores of Assad's supporters have 'liked' the photographs, and one of the comments on a picture reads: "We love you."
But negative comments were apparently removed, as a new requirement for users to sign in to be able to leave a comment was introduced.
One online anti-regime activist said via Twitter: "Bashar Assad blocked me on Instagram." [Al jazeera]

Syria Update: Aleppo.

Syrian rebels claim they have captured the entire western area of Aleppo, a northern province that has seen harsh clashes between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters for months.
Khan al-Assal was the last regime bastion in the western part of Aleppo province, which lies on the Turkish border.
Video uploaded on Youtube purportedly shows rebels seizing munitions from the army after capturing Khan al-Assal.

Syrian rebels have said they captured the entire western area of Aleppo, a northern province that has seen harsh clashes between the regime and opposition forces for months.
“We managed to liberate the western entry point to Aleppo. We achieved this victory against the [President Bashar] Assad forces and Iranian Revolutionary Guards, along with some forces from Hezbollah,” rebels said in a video shared on the Internet on Tuesday.
“At this point, we can say that Khan al-Assal has been liberated entirely and is in our control, which means that Aleppo’s countryside is in our control.”
Khan al-Assal was the last regime bastion in the western part of Aleppo province, which lies on the Turkish border, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based NGO monitoring the developments in Syria relying on intelligence from activists in the country.
 Video uploaded on Youtube reportedly shows fighting between government forces and rebels in the Aleppo district of al-Rashideen.

Obama will move forward with a plan to arm the Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased

President Barack Obama will move forward with a plan for the United States to arm the Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased, officials said on Monday.
"We believe we are in a position that the administration can move forward," House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told Reuters.
The White House announced in June that it would offer military aid to vetted groups of Syrian rebels after two years of balking at directly sending arms to the opposition.
"We have been working with Congress to overcome some of the concerns that they initially had, and we believe that those concerns have been addressed and that we will now be able to
proceed," a source familiar with the administration's thinking told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
But both Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees had expressed worries that the arms could end up in the hands of Islamist rebels in Syria like the Nusra Front, and would not be enough to tip the balance of the civil war against President Bashar al-Assad anyway. - Reuters

Turkish troops kill civilian trying to cross into Syria

 
(Reuters) - A Turkish border patrol killed one of eight civilians trying to cross illegally from Turkey into Syria on the tense frontier, the Turkish military said on Tuesday.
The shooting was the latest in a string of fatal incidents along the 900 km (560 mile) border and underscores a growing concern that Syria's more than two-year-old civil war is fuelling lawlessness and dragging in neighboring states.
The military, which did not give the nationality of the eight civilians or say whether they were armed smugglers, said the group had been trying to cross from Turkey's Hatay province into northwestern Syria on Monday and had fired on the Turkish patrol after the troops had whistled a warning.
The Turkish troops fired back in line with their rules of engagement, killing one of the civilians, it said.
The military has issued frequent statements on border incidents, in which some Turkish troops have been wounded, in the past few weeks, but Monday's clash appeared to be the first time the army had shot at civilians trying to cross into Syria, and not into Turkey, as is more common.
With its hilly terrain and thick vegetation, Hatay, a panhandle province that juts down into Syria, makes a relatively easy crossing point for smugglers and rebel Syrian fighters, as well as refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria.
Turkey shelters around 500,000 Syrian refugees as well as rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but while backing the Syrian insurgents, it denies arming them.
In the most serious spillover of violence in weeks, a Turkish man was killed and a boy was critically wounded last week by stray bullets fired during clashes between Islamist militants and Kurdish fighters in a Syrian border town several hundred kilometers east of Hatay.
The Turkish military returned fire in that incident as well as after other similar ones along the border since then.
Ankara has become increasingly concerned with the growing violence along its border with Syria, particularly the Kurdish region in the southeast, where it is worried the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria could embolden its own home-grown militants fighting for autonomy in Turkey.
Turkey, which has the second largest army in NATO but is reluctant to act unilaterally in Syria, has also hit out at the United Nations Security Council for failing to come to a unified stance over Syria, and has called on it to take action.
(Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Russia is discussing extending a loan to Damascus

Russia is discussing extending a loan to Damascus to help its war-battered economy and is still committed to delivering S-300 missiles in defiance of the West, a top Syrian official said on Monday.
Visiting Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said after meeting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow that the issue of a Russian credit was discussed at the talks and Damascus hoped for an agreement by the end of the year.
"We discussed it, although it is still early to talk of concrete figures," Jamil said, quoted by Russian news agencies. "We hope that the question will be solved by the end of the year, experts are now discussing it." [AFP]

Increasing divisions within the armed Syrian opposition

There are increasing divisions within the armed Syrian opposition with different factions fighting each other.
But one of the strongest groups, Ahrar al-Sham, has managed to stay out of the infighting, but now says it will have to take sides if the interests of the Syrian people are harmed.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Idlib province.

Syrian forces have ambushed rebels suburb of capital Damascus, killing 49 people

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have ambushed rebels in a strategic suburb near the capital Damascus, killing at least 49 people, a pro-opposition monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the opposition fighters had been killed on Sunday near Adra, a town that rebels have been fighting to recapture from Assad's forces.
It lies on a route that the rebels had been using to smuggle weapons into Damascus until the army captured it a few months ago.
Also on Sunday government troops fired mortar rounds that slammed into a main market in a town in northern Syria, killing at least 20 civilians, SOHR said.
The mortar shells struck the town of Ariha, which is held mostly by opposition fighters, a few hours ahead of iftar, the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Insight: By relying on Iran, Syria's Assad risks irrelevance

 
(Reuters) - Military support from Iran and its Shi'ite ally Hezbollah has given Syrian President Bashar al-Assad new impetus in his fight against the insurgents intent on ousting him, but at a price.
Assad now risks losing much of his autonomy to Tehran and becoming a pawn in a wider sectarian war between Sunni Muslims and Shi'ites that may not end even if he is forced to step down, military experts and diplomats in the region say.
Having lost thousands of troops and militiamen from his Alawite sect as the war grinds through its third year, and anxious to preserve his elite loyalist units, Assad is now relying on Hezbollah from Lebanon and other Shi'ite militias allied with Iran to turn the tide of battle.
Alawite army units with their vast arsenal of artillery and missiles have been taking a back seat in combat, using these weapons supported by the air force to obliterate rebellious neighborhoods and blow holes in rebel lines for Iranian-and Hezbollah-trained local militias.
In some cases men from Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group that is one of Lebanon's most powerful military and political forces, have been doing the street fighting, according to rebel commanders and other opposition sources.
Under this new arrangement, Hezbollah and Iran have become directly involved in the command structures of Assad's forces, eroding his authority and the Alawite power base that has underpinned four decades of family rule by him and his father.
The Alawites, to which Assad belongs, are an offshoot of Islam that has controlled Syria since the 1960s.
Unlike the Shi'ites in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, Syria's Alawites tend to be secular and lack the religious zeal that has helped motivate thousands of Shi'ite militia to come to Syria.
Security sources in the region estimate there are about 15,000 Shi'ite fighters from Lebanon and Iraq in Syria, and they have helped produce success on the battlefield, reversing gains made by rebels in two years of fighting.
When rebel fighters have held confined areas, such as the border town of Qusair, which was overrun by Hezbollah and Assad loyalists two months ago, they have put themselves at a serious disadvantage, the sources said.
Rebellious Sunni districts in Homs to the south are being hit hard and Damascus suburbs, a main concentration of the Arab- and Western-backed Free Syrian Army, are under siege as the war's death toll climbs above 90,000.
But Assad's newfound military advantage may prove short lived, despite the increasing pressure on the rebels, military experts and diplomats believe.
The fall of Qusair, and Hezbollah's triumphant rhetoric, spurred regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia into action. The kingdom, diplomats say, has assumed the main role in backing the opposition in coordination with the United States.
TRAINED MILITIAS
Signs of renewed support for the opposition are showing in the northern city of Aleppo, where a government counterattack backed by Hezbollah, which trained Shi'ite militia in the area, has stalled, according to the opposition.
Even if Assad can capture Homs, hold Damascus and overrun neighborhoods that had fallen to rebels, such as Jobar, Barzeh and Qaboun, he would preside over a much reduced country.
Kurdish fighters are consolidating their hold on a de facto autonomous region in the grain- and oil-producing northeastern province of Hasakah that came to being after Assad's forces withdrew to concentrate on defending areas in the interior.
Hardline Islamist brigades are ruling much of two provinces east of Hasakah and they are strongly present in Aleppo. Assad is mainly left with Damascus and a corridor running through Homs to his Alawite heartland and army bases on the coast and to Hezbollah's strongholds in Lebanon.
Andrew Terrill, research professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Army War college, said the rebels will "hang on" because Assad has lost too much of the country.
"Winning battles is very different than winning wars because people who are under assault are going to recoup at some point. The rebels remain armed and remain able to strike at him," Terrill told Reuters.
"Assad may be able to win in the sense that he may stay in power and he is not overthrown directly, but I cannot imagine him pacifying the country because I just think there are too many rebels and too much resistance," he said.
Terrill said new weapons expected from Saudi Arabia are bound to redress the balance of power as well as promised U.S. arms. Salim Idriss, head of the Free Syrian Army's command, is due to visit the United States this week to press for speedy U.S. arms shipments.
Iran meanwhile, continues to supply Assad with military assistance and financing estimated at $500 million a month, according to opposition sources.
"The Iranians and Hezbollah go in and train people and if they can whip these militias into shape then Assad could increasingly rely on them and spare his crack troops," Terrill said.
Hezbollah has openly acknowledged its involvement in Syria, but Assad and Iran have not commented.
PRAETORIAN GUARD
Faced with losing large areas of Syria to mainly Sunni rebel fighters, Assad has adjusted tactics in the last few months to preserve his mostly Alawite Praetorian guard units -- the Republican Guards, the Fourth Division and the Special Forces -- and started relying on Hezbollah, especially to capture the central region of Homs, the sources said
Mohammad Mroueh, a member of the Syrian National Council, said Hezbollah and Iran have been training the militias Assad is using for street fighting in Homs and have established, together with Iranian officials, operations rooms in the city.
"When there is an area where the army and the militia encounter stiff resistance, they're calling Hezbollah to do the fighting," said Mroueh.
Abu Imad Abdallah, a rebel commander in southern Damascus, said Hezbollah fighters and Iraqi Shi'ite militia were key to capturing two areas on the south-eastern approaches to the capital -- Bahdaliyeh and Hay al Shamalneh -- in recent weeks.
"They went in after saturation bombing by the regime. They are disciplined and well trained and are fighting as religious zealots believing in a cause. If it was the army we would not be worried," he said.
But veteran opposition activist Fawaz Tello said that using Hezbollah was a sign of Assad's weakness, pointing to his inability to rely on Sunnis who form the bulk of the army.
"Remember that Assad started this conflict with about a million men under arms between conscripts and the army and the security apparatus. Now more and more he is relying on foreign troops and without them he will lose, especially if the rebels begin to receive advanced weapons," Tello said.
Assad was now becoming an Iranian proxy, Tello said, while Mamoun Abu Nawar, a Jordanian military analyst, said the Syrian leader was forced to bow to the will of Tehran.
"He can no longer call a division head and tell him to bomb the hell out of this neighborhood or that. His command has been eroded and the command structure is now multinational," Abu Nawar said.
A diplomat in the region put it more bluntly: "Whether Assad stays or goes is becoming irrelevant. The conflict is now bigger than him, and it will continue without him. Iran is calling the shots."
(Editing by Giles Elgood)