Syria civil war

[Kassy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18631030

Syria's main court has been bombed by rebels (and yesterday a tv station was attacked too).
Fighting in a number of places.
Turkey is moving it's army to the border area where the Syrians shot down the plane.

[Kassy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18741423

General Tlas, who was a commander in the Syrian elite forces has fled Syria.
He's the highest ranking officer to defect so far & also relatively close to Bashar al-Assad.

[Oric]

Reports of heavy fighting in Damascus

[Sonny]

Oric, fix the link for you.

Reports of heavy fighting in Damascus

BBC News - ‎44 minutes ago‎
The Syrian capital Damascus is seeing some of the heaviest fighting of the conflict so far,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18851698

[Kassy]

It looks like Assads forces are trying to take over power in Midan and Tadhamon district & some other Sunni strongholds.

Different BBC article with Damascus map here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18859453

[Kassy]

Fighting continues Damascus.

The rebels say they have launched Operation Damascus Volcano in order to free the City from Assad's grip.

His troops are now employing helicopters firing rockets into rebel controlled neighboorhoods. Fighting has gotten near to the Central Bank and the Syrian parliament.

ETA:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18866265

[Catbird]

This attack is the closest to Assad so far. I suspect that he's... pissed.

"Bomb kills men at heart of Assad rule as Syria fight rages"

"A suicide bomber killed three of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's top military officials on Wednesday, security sources said, the worst blow to Assad's high command in the country's 16-month-old rebellion.

The bomb killed Assad's powerful brother-in-law, the defense minister and a top general, bringing the battle to the heart of Assad's powerbase and sparking fighting across Damascus.

...The bomber, said by a security source to be a bodyguard assigned to Assad's inner circle, struck a meeting in central Damascus attended by ministers and senior security officials as battles raged within sight of the nearby presidential palace."

[Kassy]

Assads inner group being bombed by one of their own guards shows just how devided the country is. I suspect this'll also bring on a huge bout of paranoia.

[Kassy]

Because the situation in Syria has escalated beyond protests to a civil war with heavy fighting in Damascus I have split out the newer posts from the old thread.

Old thread:
http://thisbluemarble.com/showthread.php?t=34515

[Samen]

Free Syrian Army said its loyalists planted bombs inside a room in Damascus where the government's central command unit for crisis management was meeting to discuss efforts to crush the uprising.

The dead included Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha; Hassan Turkmani, a former minister of defense who headed the government's crisis-management cell; and Assef Shawkat, Assad's brother-in-law and deputy chief of staff of the Syrian military.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...2_syria19.html

[Auburn Boy]

Originally Posted by Samen

Free Syrian Army said its loyalists planted bombs inside a room in Damascus where the government's central command unit for crisis management was meeting to discuss efforts to crush the uprising.

The dead included Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha; Hassan Turkmani, a former minister of defense who headed the government's crisis-management cell; and Assef Shawkat, Assad's brother-in-law and deputy chief of staff of the Syrian military.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...2_syria19.html

Sounds a lot like the story af the attempt on Hitler's life, "Valkyrie."

[Kassy]

More a scenic desciption of Damascus , not much details:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18898001

Russia & China vetoed more sanction on Syria which is logical after what happened in Libya:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18914578

[Catbird]

There are varying reports on this but it seems that rebel forces have taken control of all posts on the Iraq border, and at least 2 on the Turkish border.

Reuters:

"Rebels seized control of sections of Syria's international borders and torched the main police headquarters in the heart of old Damascus, advancing relentlessly after the assassination of Bashar al-Assad's closest lieutenants.

The battle for parts of the capital raged into the early hours of Friday, with corpses piled in the streets. In some neighborhoods residents said there were signs the government's presence was diminishing.

Officials in neighboring Iraq confirmed that Syrian rebels were now in control of the Syrian side of the main Abu Kamal border checkpoint on the Euphrates River highway, one of the major trade routes across the Middle East.

Rebels also claimed control of at least two border crossings into Turkey at Bab al-Hawa and Jarablus, in what appeared to have been a coordinated campaign to seize Syria's frontiers.

In Damascus, a witness in the central old quarter district of Qanawat said the huge headquarters of the Damascus Province Police was black with smoke and abandoned after being torched and looted in a rebel attack."

[Kassy]

Hisham Ikhtiar, head of Syrian national security is the fourth high official to be killed by the bombing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18920733

[Kassy]

Heavy fights in Aleppo, Syria's second largest city which had been relatively peaceful so far:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18937514

[Kassy]

More fighting in Damascus/Aleppo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18943316

[Kassy]

BBC claims Assads forces have used fighter plains to bomb Aleppo today.

The fightingin Damascus is getting less, looks like the government forces are regaining the upper hand there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18973719

[Oric]

We are closing all border gates TODAY. All Turkish trucks waiting on the Syria side have been evacuated as of yesterday, 9 of them were burned.

[Kassy]

Turkish drivers & others can't go into Syria but it's open to people fleeing from Syria, isn't it?

BBC update with some video from Syria. Corpses & clueless UN officials "hoping reason will prevail"...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18980406

[Kassy]

Syria's army is attacking Aleppo, link has a map of the cirty:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19025955

[Kassy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19090143

Update on the fighting around Aleppo.

Both rebels and government forces are executing captured opponents.

[Sonny]

Kofi Annan announced his resignation on Thursday as the special peace envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, throwing new doubts on whether a diplomatic solution is possible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/wo...ace-envoy.html

In Depth: Annan quits Syria role, blasts UN Security Council

[Potemkin]

Annan know to get out when the getting is good.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19099676

Syria crisis: Kofi Annan quits as UN-Arab League envoy

Kofi Annan: "There continues to be finger pointing and name calling in the Security Council"

The UN-Arab League joint special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan has announced he is leaving his post.

In a news conference, he said the Syrian people "desperately need action" but criticised the UN Security Council for "finger pointing and name calling".

Mr Annan authored a six-point peace plan for Syria which was intended to bring an end to the fighting.

But the plan was never fully adhered to by either side and the violence has continued to escalate.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was "with deep regret" that he announced Mr Annan would not renew his mandate when it expires at the end of August.

[Sonny]

Obama very publicly signaled a shift in his plans to dealing with the Syria crisis after negotiations
broke down at the United Nations.

But now at what should be no surprise, the actual details of that shift are now being debated
internally and it appears the administration's rhetoric has gotten out ahead of its policy,
according to officials, experts and lawmakers.
...


http://www.northjersey.com/news/inte...a__Washn_.html

~

[Kassy]

Still fierce fighting in Aleppo. Governments claims to have retaken Salh Al-Din while rebels deny this & a western journalist on the ground denies it too:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19176531