Assad's forces counter rebel gains in Syria's Deir al-Zor

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN |(Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces attacked rebel positions in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Tuesday, days after a rebel advance threatened to bring the whole city under the control of anti-Assad forces, opposition activists said.

The provincial capital on the banks of the Euphrates, 430 km (270 miles) northeast of Damascus, anchors a vast, arid oil-producing region bordering Iraq. Half of it fell to rebels a year ago but Assad's forces have held out in several districts in the west of the Sunni Muslim city and in the airport to the east.

President al-Assad: Syria is able to root out terrorism thanks to unity binding its army and people

 

Damascus, (SANA)- President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday stressed that Syria has welcomed all the constructive and sincere efforts to find a political solution to the crisis and is at the same time determined to confront terrorism until totally uprooting it.

Assad's forces push back rebels in Syria's Alawite mountains

 

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT |(Reuters) - Syrian army and militia troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have pushed back a rebel offensive in the mountain heartlands of his Alawite sect, officials and activists said on Monday, after days of heavy fighting and aerial bombardment.

The assault by Islamist rebels on the northern edges of the Alawite mountains overlooking the Mediterranean drove hundreds of Alawite villagers out to the coast and marked a major challenge to Assad's reassertion of power over central Syria.
But the Syrian president, battling a two-year uprising which has descended into a devastating civil war, sent reinforcements to the rugged area of northern Latakia to repel the attack.

Syria's Assad exempts reservists from loan payments to aid morale

BEIRUT | (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has exempted thousands of army reservists called up during the civil war from paying debt installments and late fines during their service, the state news agency SANA said on Wednesday.

The decree was likely meant to boost soldier morale and discourage defections at a time of great strain almost two and half years into a shattering civil war that has seen Islamist-led rebels seize large tracts of Syria.
The law "postpones financial installments for (reservists) with public banks who joined the military reserve service until the end of the service ... (and all late payment) fines due over the period of service will be exempted," SANA said.
Assad's forces are stretched thin across the country as the opposition has taken further ground. Fleeing reservists say morale is low among troops and that men are virtually imprisoned in their barracks by officers who fear they will defect or flee.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) says the Syrian army's strength has been cut roughly in half to around 110,000 men due to a combination of defections, desertions and battlefield losses.
In March 2012, authorities tightened restrictions on men of military age leaving the country to prevent reservists from fleeing.
Since then, Assad has relied on fighters from the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah and pro-government Syrian militia to back up army operations.
The revolt started in 2011 with peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms from a family-based leadership that has ruled since Assad's father, Hafez, took power in 1970.
Since then, the rebellion has grown into a full-scale civil war with sectarian overtones. Most rebels are drawn from the Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad commands the loyalty of many in his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and other minorities, who fear retribution if he falls.
According to the United Nations, 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict - by far the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings - and 1.9 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries such as Turkey and Jordan.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Syrian authorities denied reports of an attack on President Bashar al-Assad

Syrian authorities denied reports of an attack on President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade as he drove to a Damascus mosque to attend prayers marking Muslim holidays.

It was the first report of a direct attack on the embattled leader since  the March 2011 outbreak of the anti-regime revolt in Syria.

Several media outlets, including Saudi-based Al-Arabiya television, and activists on the ground said a rocket attack targeted Assad's motorcade headed to Anas bin Malik mosque in central Damascus to join Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"Regarding the information reported by Al-Arabiya, I can assure you that it is completely false," Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi told state television. "The president arrived at the mosque driving his own car, he attended the prayer and greeted everyone in the mosque as he does every day when he meets people," Zohbi added.

"Everything is normal," Zohbi added. "They wanted to spoil the celebrations for Syrians."
[AFP]

Assad shown unharmed after Syria rebels report attack

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Thursday they targeted President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade heading to a Damascus mosque to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but state television showed him unharmed and the government denied he had been attacked.

The Tahrir al-Sham rebel brigade, a unit of the Free Syrian Army, said it fired several artillery shells towards Assad's convoy in the heart of the capital and that at least some hit their target.
If confirmed, the attack would be one of the most direct against Assad in two years of conflict which have pitched mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against the Alawite president.
Rebels have targeted Assad's residences in Damascus and a bombing in the capital last year killed four of his inner circle, but there have been no reports of Assad himself coming under fire.
Video footage distributed by the Tahrir al-Sham rebels showed smoke rising from what it said was the Malki district, where Assad and his close aides have homes. Other activists also reported rocket fire into the area.
Syria's government denied the reports. "The news is wholly untrue," Information Minister Omran Zoabi said.
Firas al-Bitar, head of the Tahrir al-Sham brigade, said his fighters had carried out reconnaissance of the route of Assad's motorcade and fired 120 mm artillery towards the president's convoy early on Thursday.
"The attack rattled the regime, even if Assad was not hit," he told Reuters from an undisclosed location in the capital. "There were two motorcades, one containing Assad and a decoy. We targeted the correct one."
Bitar's brigade operates mainly in the Ghouta region on the eastern outskirts of the capital. Another official in Tahrir al-Sham said Assad's forces fired rockets and artillery "like rain" on the region in response to the reported attack.
Following the statement, Syrian state television showed footage of Assad praying alongside ministers and other top officials. It said the footage was from Thursday's Eid prayers at the Anas bin Malek Mosque in Malki.
Assad appeared unharmed and smiled at the worshippers as he entered the mosque.
Islam Alloush of the Liwa al-Islam, another rebel brigade, told Reuters earlier on Thursday that rebels fired rockets which struck Assad's motorcade.
"Assad was not hit but the information we have based from sources within the regime is that there were casualties within his entourage," Allooush said.
Other activists also reported rockets were fired into the Malki area, which was sealed off by security forces.
(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Janet Lawrence)