Syrian activists say trying to get samples from chemical strike to U.N.

BEIRUT |(Reuters) - Syrian activists say they are smuggling out body tissue samples from victims of an alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus and are trying to get them to a team of United Nations inspectors staying in a hotel a few miles away.

"The U.N. team spoke with us and since then we prepared samples of hair, skin and blood and smuggled them back into Damascus with trusted couriers," said activist Abu Nidal, speaking from the town of Arbin.

Rebels smuggling Syria chemical weapons strike evidence to U.N. experts

By Erika Solomon

BEIRUT |(Reuters) - Syrian activists say they are smuggling out body tissue samples from victims of an alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus and are trying to get them to a team of United Nations inspectors staying in a hotel a few miles away.

"The U.N. team spoke with us and since then we prepared samples of hair, skin and blood and smuggled them back into Damascus with trusted couriers," said activist Abu Nidal, speaking from the town of Arbin.

Syrian activists claim deadly 'toxic gas' attack

By BASSEM MROUE and ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian anti-government activists accused the regime of carrying out a toxic gas attack that killed at least 100 people, including many children, during intense artillery and rocket barrages Wednesday on the eastern suburbs of Damascus, part of a fierce government offensive in the area.

Opposition says as many as 1,300 killed in gas attack near Damascus

By Dominic Evans and Khaled Yacoub Oweis

BEIRUT/AMMAN |(Reuters) - Syria's opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of gassing many hundreds of people - by one report as many as 1,300 - on Wednesday in what would, if confirmed, be the world's worst chemical weapons attack in decades.

Activists say nearly 500 killed in gas attack near Damascus

 
By Dominic Evans and Khaled Yacoub Oweis

BEIRUT/AMMAN |(Reuters) - Syrian activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of launching a gas attack that killed nearly 500 people on Wednesday, in what would, if confirmed, be by far the worst reported use of chemical arms in the two-year-old civil war.

An opposition monitoring group, citing figures compiled from medical clinics in the Damascus suburbs, put the death toll at 494 - 90 percent of them killed by gas, the rest by bombing and conventional arms.

Italian priest missing in Syria may be alive: monitoring group

BEIRUT |(Reuters) - An Italian Jesuit priest who disappeared last month in eastern Syria may still be alive, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday, almost a week after it said he had been killed by al Qaeda-linked rebels.

The British-based monitoring group cited sources close to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) disputing assertions by local activists - and reported by the observatory - that Father Paolo Dall'Oglio had been killed while in the custody of the Islamist ISIL rebels.

Civilians killed in Syria checkpoint attack

Women among 11 killed in attack west of the city of Homs, activists and residents say.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war and 2 million have fled the country as refugees. [AFP]

Syrian rebels have killed at least 11 people, including civilians, in an attack on a checkpoint west of the city of Homs.

Syrian rebels kill 11, mainly Christians, in checkpoint attack

BEIRUT | (Reuters) - Syrian rebels killed at least 11 people, including civilians, in an attack on a checkpoint west of the city of Homs on Saturday that official state media described as a massacre.

Gunmen kill 11 near Syrian Christian villages

By ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Gunmen shot dead 11 people, mostly Christians, near a town in central Syria on Saturday, state media and activists said, an attack described by a local resident as aimed at members of the religious minority.

The resident, citing eyewitnesses, told The Associated Press that the gunmen randomly opened fire on roadside restaurants in a drive-by shooting outside Ein al-Ajouz as Christians were celebrating a feast day. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Syrian opposition report maps post-Assad rule

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Prominent Syrian opposition figures are presenting a plan for a political transition should President Bashar Assad's government fall.

The report by about 300 activists, including military leaders and members of the main opposition group, calls for disarmament of militias and remaking security services. Under the plan, a new national assembly would draft a constitution based on an earlier one written in 1950. The final document would then go to a referendum.

The activists envision a government with both a president and a parliament to offer checks and balances, and recommend creating an independent judiciary.

The roadmap to be released Wednesday in Istanbul comes as the Assad government has consolidated control over central Syria and around the capital, Damascus.

Jordan foils alleged Syrian arms smuggling attempt

By JAMAL HALABY
Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Jordanian police are questioning two Syrians who allegedly tried to smuggle a large cache of arms including surface-to-air missiles into the kingdom, a security official said Wednesday.

The official said earlier that preliminary reports indicated that five had been arrested near the northern Syrian border early Tuesday. He said the reason for discrepancy in the number was not immediately clear and declined to elaborate further.

He said anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles were seized with the two men.

He declined to say if the alleged smugglers were affiliated with any side in Syria's civil war.

"There is an investigation now to determine if the two men were rebels seeking to hide weapons in Jordan, or that they smuggled them in with the malicious intention of staging attacks here," he said.

His account was confirmed by another security official. Both insisted on anonymity because they are not allowed to publically comment on a security matter under investigation.

Last Thursday, police said they arrested another group of smugglers, including Syrians, trying to bring in arms. They said it was the largest cache to be brought from Syria to the kingdom.

Jordan is concerned that Syria's war will spill across the border, and in particular that al-Qaida-linked groups of the rebels or agents of Damascus or its allies, like the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, will stage attacks to destabilize the pro-U.S. kingdom.

Despite repeated public government denials, Jordan acted earlier this year as a transit point for weapons financed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and destined for Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad.

Jordan wants to avoid further friction with its larger and more powerful Syrian neighbor, with whom relations have traditionally been bumpy over the years.

Syria has been traditionally suspicious of Jordan's alliance with the United States and its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, one of two signed agreements Israel has with Arab countries.

Jordan is a fiery critic of Syria's alliance with Iran, which adheres to the rival Shiite sect of Islam. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim governments worry that Iran's growing influence in the region, stretching from Iraq to Syria, would eventually engulf countries in the Persian Gulf, where there are Shiite communities like in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia itself.

Activists: Syrian troops ambush rebels, kill 62

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian government forces killed more than 60 rebels Wednesday in an ambush near Damascus, a blow to opposition fighters confronting a regime offensive in the capital, activists said.

The state news agency SANA confirmed the ambush near the Damascus suburb of Adra at dawn, saying "dozens" were killed. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 62 rebels died. It did not report any government casualties.

SANA said the rebels were members of the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra or Nusra Front. It added that they included foreign fighters.

Syrian troops have been on the offensive in the past few months in an attempt to clear out Damascus suburbs used by opposition fighters to threaten President Bashar Assad's seat of power.

State-run broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya TV aired footage of bloodied dead men, some in military uniforms. It said they were killed in an ambush as they were on their way to attack an army post near Damascus.

The bodies were gathered in what appeared to be a desert area.

Al-Ikhbariya TV also showed a Tunisian passport of a man who was born in 1978. The picture on the passport was of a bearded man. It also showed Islamic headbands and automatic rifles that were apparently carried by the rebels.

Mohammed Saeed, an activist who is based near Damascus, told The Associated Press that 65 rebels were on their way from the eastern suburbs of the capital to the nearby area of Qalamoun. He added that the rebels were walking the 30 kilometer (19 mile) trip because it is dangerous to drive in the area as it is watched by regime forces.

"The regime forces riddled them with heavy machinegun fire," Saeed said via Skype. He added that 62 were killed and three escaped and reached Qalamoun.

"It seems that the regime discovered the secret road that the rebels were using," Saeed said.

Syria's crisis started as largely peaceful uprising against Assad's rule in March 2011 but 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.

Syria rebels strike Assad's Alawite stronghold, seize airport

 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/06/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE9750N520130806

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mariam Karouny

AMMAN/BEIRUT

(Reuters) - Syrian Islamist rebels have killed around 200 people in a three-day offensive in the mountain stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect and driven hundreds of villagers to seek refuge on the Mediterranean coast, activists said on Tuesday.
Since launching the surprise assault at dawn on Sunday, the mainly Islamist rebel brigades led by two al Qaeda-linked groups have captured half a dozen villages on the northern edges of the Alawite mountain range, the activists say.
The rebel strike into Alawite territory and their capture of a military airport north of Aleppo mark two major gains for Assad's foes after months of setbacks during which they lost ground around the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs.
Combined with a steady fightback in the southern province of Deraa, they highlight the challenge Assad faces in trying to restore his authority across Syria after two years of conflict that has killed 100,000 people and fragmented the country.
Assad controls much of southern and central Syria, while rebels hold northern areas near the Turkish border and along the Euphrates valley towards Iraq. The northeast corner is now an increasingly autonomous Kurdish region. (link.reuters.com/puw22v)
Rebels complain they are outgunned and lack foreign support, unlike the Iran- and Hezbollah-backed Syrian army. But they have support from regional Sunni powers and have equipped themselves with anti-tank weapons seized from the army.
Syrian state television said on Tuesday at least two Alawite villages seized by rebels since Sunday had been recaptured and named 10 "terrorists" - as the authorities call the rebel fighters in Syria - it said were killed in the fighting.
Overall, 60 rebels have been killed since the start of the operation, said Ammar Hassan, a local activist in Latakia. "Assad is sending huge reinforcement from Latakia, but liberation will continue," he said.
Assad's deployment of extra forces reflects the gravity of the challenge to his authority in a region that had remained firmly under his authority since the outbreak of Syria's conflict, which started with peaceful protests in March 2011.
The conflict has turned into a civil war, deepening the Shi'ite-Sunni schism in Islam and raising tensions between Iran and the rest of the mainly Sunni Middle East.
Diplomats say the coastal area and its mountain villages could be the scene of an Alawite bloodbath if Islamist hardliners eventually gain the upper hand in the conflict.
"We killed 200 (of Assad's men) on Sunday alone, and yesterday at least 40," said a rebel fighter in the area.
"His people were kicked out to the city," he said referring to the Mediterranean port of Latakia. "Only those who raised the white flag were exempt from killing."
Ahmad Abdelqader, an activist with the Ahrar al-Jabal Brigade, one of the groups involved in the operation, put the death toll at 175, describing them as soldiers and militiamen who were manning roadblocks linking the mountain villages.
A prominent Alawite cleric, Muwaffaq Ghazal, was also seized by rebels from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, who were seeking an exchange for captured fighters, activists said.
Mohammad Moussa, a Free Syrian Army commander, said rebel forces were on the outskirts of the hilltop village of Aramo, which is 20 km (12 miles) from Qardaha - Assad's hometown and burial place of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades.
"The objective is to reach Qardaha and hurt them like they are hurting us. The Alawites have been huddling in their mountain thinking that they can destroy Syria and remain immune," Abdelqader said.
"TURNING POINT" IN NORTH
In another gain for the rebels, Islamist fighters in the north of the country took control of Minnig military airport after months of conflict, consolidating rebel control over a key supply route from Turkey into Aleppo.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition announced the "full liberation of the airport", saying its capture "will have a strategic effect on the course of battle throughout the north".
A statement issued by nine brigades that took part in the operation, including the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said: "The airport has been fully liberated. The remnants of the Assad gangs are now being chased."
The command headquarters, the last section still held by Assad's troops, was overrun on Monday by ISIL rebels after a suicide bomber drove an armoured personnel carrier packed with explosives into the building.
Charles Lister of Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre said the fall of the airport "underlines the leading strategic impact being played by militant Islamists, particularly in northern Syria".
He said it will also likely prove a turning point within the wider conflict in Aleppo province. Assad's forces still control part of Aleppo city, the country's former commercial hub, but most of the rural land around it is rebel-held.
Activists said Minnig had not been used as an airport for several months as rebel fighters gradually took it over, capturing 15 soldiers during the final push on the facility in the last two days.
Syrian state media said fighting continued in the area. "Our armed forces heroes in the Minnig Airport and the surrounding area are confronting the terrorist with unmatched valour. The terrorist groups are taking heavy losses," a statement said.
Activists said the fall of Minnig Airport now exposed two nearby Shi'ite villages, where Hezbollah fighters have been training loyalist militia.
Assad's forces tried to prevent the fall of the airport by launching an armoured offensive from Aleppo last month, backed by guerrillas based in the two Shi'ite villages, al-Nubbul and Zahra.
(Editing by Dominic Evans and Will Waterman)

Thousands of smugglers swamp Turkish border, soldiers injured

ANKARA

(Reuters) - Eighteen Turkish soldiers were injured on Tuesday when a group of several thousand alleged smugglers clashed with the army as they tried to cross into Turkey from Syria, the military said.
The group of 2,500-3,000 people threw stones at military patrol vehicles on the border at the town of Ogulpinar in Hatay province and refused to disperse after warnings were issued in Turkish and Arabic, the statement said.
Turkish troops shot into the air and fired teargas to disperse the crowd as another group of smugglers on the Turkish side of the border also threw stones at the soldiers.
An additional force of 300 soldiers was deployed in Kusakli village on the Turkish side of the border, after the villagers threw Molotov cocktails at the soldiers and fired with pump rifles, which caused light injuries to 18 soldiers.
The incident on Turkey's long Syria frontier, where the tensions have been on the rise over the past couple of months, followed a similar confrontation between Turkish troops and hundreds of people described by the military as smugglers only a week ago.
Smuggling of fuel and other goods into Turkey from neighbouring countries has continued for years, but confrontations between the Turkish troops and the crowds that the army describes as smugglers have increased in recent months, officials have said.
Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest backers of the Syrian rebels, sheltering around 500,000 Syrian refugees as well as rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but it denies arming them.
With its hilly terrain and thick vegetation, Hatay, a panhandle province that juts down into Syria, makes a relatively easy crossing point for smugglers, as well as Syrian rebel fighters and refugees fleeing the fighting.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Syrian rebels capture military airport near Turkey

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels captured a main military airport near the border with Turkey on Tuesday, consolidating their hold on a key supply route north of the city of Aleppo, opposition activists said.

The reported capture of the Minnig Military Airport, situated on the road between Aleppo and the Turkish city of Gaziantep, after an eight-month siege, marks an important symbolic victory for the opposition, following a string of defeats to President Bashar al-Assad's forces in central Syria, the sources said.
"The airport has been fully liberated. The remnants of the Assad gangs are now being chased," said a statement issued by nine brigades that took part in the operation, including the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and the hardline Islamist Tawhid Brigades.
Mohammad Nour, an activist with the Sham News Network, an opposition monitoring group, said the airport had mostly fallen to rebels in the last two months. He added that around 70 soldiers had been holding out in a small section containing the command headquarters, which was destroyed on Monday after a suicide bomber drove an armored personnel carrier into the building.
"Most of the remaining defenders were killed in the suicide attack. The remainder fled on three tanks, one of which the rebels destroyed," Nour said.
Assad's forces tried last month to prevent the fall of the airport by launching an armored offensive from Aleppo, backed by Hezbollah guerrillas based in two Shiite villages near the city, to drive the rebels from the northern rural region, according to opposition sources in the north.
Loyalist forces made initial incursions into the northern countryside, but they were turned back after the rebels received consignments of new weapons, including anti-tank missiles, the sources said.
(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom; Editing by Eric Beech)

Activists: Syrian rebels capture northern air base

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian rebels captured a major air base in the north of the country on Tuesday after months of fighting, depriving President Bashar Assad's forces of one of their main posts near the border with Turkey, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Mannagh helicopter base fell nearly 24 hours after rebels, led by al-Qaida-linked militants, launched an all-out offensive against it. The Aleppo Media Center said rebels finally captured it before dawn.

Mannagh, in the north of Aleppo province, is deep inside territory dominated by the Syrian opposition. Rebels have been trying since last year to capture it, but faced strong resistance from defenders.

Rebels seized part of it in June, and since then its fall has been widely expected. The air base is the largest to fall in rebel hands since opposition forces captured the Taftanaz base in the northern province of Idlib in January.

The Observatory said the final assault on Mannagh was led by members of the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It began early Monday when a Saudi suicide attacker blew his vehicle up outside the command center of the sprawling compound.

It said the rebels then began advancing, capturing vehicles and buildings inside the base. It did not say how many government troops were killed but said at least 10 rebels, including foreign fighters, died in the fighting.

The Observatory added that rebels took prisoner a number of government troops.

The fall of Mannagh followed the rebel capture of four villages in the heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect on the country's Mediterranean coast. Rebel victories have otherwise been comparatively rare in recent months, and Assad's forces have been on the offensive in the center of the country.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict started in March 2011 as largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule. After opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent, it turned into an armed uprising and later escalated into a civil war.[AP]

activist video shows renewed attacks on Minnigh military airbase

This activist video shows renewed attacks on Minnigh military airbase, in the northern countryside of Aleppo. Rebel fighters have been battling the army for control of this airbase for many months now.
The attack was allegedly carried out by the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and Asifat Ashamal brigade.
Al Jazeera cannot independently verify this video. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TYHX6-idqvI

Syrian rebels open new frontline in Latakia

Opposition fighters launch major offensive on port city crucial to battle against President Assad.

Syrian rebels have launched a major offensive on the government stronghold of Latakia.
The port city is crucial to the rebel's bid to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
More than 100 people have reportedly been killed in the latest clashes, including government soldiers.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports.

Ahmad al-Jarba: 'Al-Assad will not win'

The new president of the Syrian National Coalition says the opposition will eventually defeat the Syrian government.

As the chaos in Syria continues, so does this question continue to linger: Who stands ready to take over if Bashar al-Assad falls? And what kind of nation would then be built?
This is difficult to answer, especially as there was - for so long - a lack of unity among the opposition and its fighting forces.

The rules of the game have changed. The situation now on the ground is not as bad as you'd expect. Twenty days ago it was worse, and in two weeks things will change. In our favour is the Syrian revolution. We are now with our brothers in the Free Syrian Army and the leadership has a strategic plan to regain things, restore things, a victory on the ground. Ahmad al-Jarba, the head of the SNC

In what many hoped would be a breakthrough, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) was established in November last year. Its new president, Moaz al-Khatib, was swiftly appointed with strong support from leading nations in the Gulf and diplomatic recognition from many other countries.

But now, al-Khatib is gone.

He resigned after complaining of interference from outside countries, including those who first backed him. And then the prime minister in waiting, Ghassan Hitto, also left his post last month.
Taking over the running of the SNC, at least publicly, is Ahmad Oweinan al-Jarba,a man with strong political relations in the region, who also spent time in a Damascus jail after the war against al-Assad took hold.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he denied that he is 'Saudi Arabia's man', saying he has good personal relations with many countries in the region.
Jarba said members of the Syrian regime who did not have "blood on their hands" might be acceptable for possible inclusion in a transitional government.
He also said Syria is under "foreign invasion" and is currently a "battlefield open to all,".
But he added that "the rules of the game have changed" and al-Assad "will not win".
"Every battle has a solution," he said. "We are in the middle of a terrible catastrophe. There is a foreign invasion in our country. We are resisting it for the sake of our freedom, our dignity. The political solution will eventually come. But a political solution that can accomplish the goal of the revolution: eliminating this regime and those criminals who killed the Syrian people."
But who is Ahmad al-Jarba? What does he want? And what are the chances he and the rest of the opposition will defeat their enemy?
The new president of the Syrian National Coalition talks to Al Jazeera about the future of his country. [Al jazeera]

Rebels have launched a major offensive on the government stronghold of Latakia.

Syrian rebels have launched a major offensive on the government stronghold of Latakia.
The port city is crucial to the rebel's bid to topple President Bashar Assad.
More than 100 people have been killed in the latest clashes, including 19 government soldiers.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports.