04/12/12

Sky’s Foreign Affairs Editor, traveling by road

from Beirut to Damascus, reports on the

increasing tension in the Syrian capital.

Tim Marshall

Foreign Affairs Editor

By Syrian standards the drive from Beirut to Damascus was relatively uneventful.

There was a four-hour wait at the Lebanon/Syria border, then eight checkpoints to go through between the border and the capital.

Driving through the southern suburbs we lost count of the explosions we heard, a fighter jet screamed past us overhead, and a helicopter was up as we came into the city centre.

So far so, so less violent than last Thursday and Friday when rebel militias attacked the capital from four directions in what appeared to be an attempt to enter the centre.

Among the militia is thought to be the now much feared Nursa Front, a jihadist group with many foreign fighters in its ranks.

Then, the airport was closed, the highway to it cut, and  the internet taken down as government troops repelled the assault.

The route from Lebanon’s capital to Damascus in Syria

One source here said the militia casualties were heavy with dozens of rebels being killed along the airport road alone. We can’t confirm this.

The airport has now reopened but the runways are empty as international airlines need more assurances that the area is safe.

Several sources say that Thursday’s attack on the capital was by far the best planned and most ambitious in the 22-month civil war.

During the summer there was a serious assault on Damascus, but this most recent battle appeared to involve more, and better trained, rebels who have clearly got hold of heavier weapons than they had before.

The capital is extremely tense. People are wondering when then next attack will come and from which direction.

The rebels appear to have come to the decision that without bringing the war to the heart of Damascus they will continue to struggle to bring down the government.

Maarat al-Numan has been a focus of fighting as it straddles the motorway between Damascus and Aleppo

Rebel attacks on army checkpoints on the main road between Syria’s biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, have left 28 government troops dead, reports say.

Five opposition fighters were also killed in the attacks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group.

They came as regime helicopters and jets carried out air strikes in eastern suburbs of the capital and elsewhere.

These often drop barrels of TNT, which are inaccurate but cause huge damage.

Helicopter gunships strafed an area of Damascus while warplanes were in action over the capital’s suburbs and in north-western Idlib province, said the SOHR.

In the past few weeks, the military has stepped up the use of warplanes where ground forces have not been able to dislodge rebel fighters.

Exposed positions

The government soldiers were killed in attacks on three army checkpoints in Idlib, said the SOHR.

They said said rebel fighters had overrun at least one of the checkpoints, near Saraqeb south-west of Aleppo, killing a large number of troops and seizing quantities of arms and ammunition.

The checkpoints are of considerable strategic importance, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon, but the rebels are unlikely to try to hold them.

They are exposed positions, and government forces are sure to hit back with artillery and air strikes, adds our correspondent.

Opposition gains on the ground at Saraqeb, at nearby Maarat al-Numan and elsewhere are believed to be one of the main reasons for the sharp escalation in recent days of the regime’s use of its monopoly of air power.

Maarat al-Numan straddles the Damascus-Aleppo motorway and has been under bombardment by government forces since it fell to rebels on 10 October.

In Damascus, meanwhile, state-run media Sana reported that a bomb hidden in a rubbish bag had exploded near a Shia Muslim shrine, killing 11 people and wounding 39.

Sana also reported that a car bomb in another Damascus suburb, Moaddamiya, caused several casualties.

The SOHR says more than 36,000 people - among them 25,667 civilians, 9,044 security forces personnel and 1,296 rebel fighters - have been killed since protests against Mr Assad erupted in March 2011.

The SOHR is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be verified

19/10/12

#Syria, Regime checkpoint on #Hama’s citadel. (Qalat el-Madeeq).

18/10/12

#Syria,  FSA capturing checkpoint near Khan Shiekhun, capture more land every day

Claimed video of the insurgent attack on the Sayhan base, which clearly show many armored vehicles captured by the FSA:

12/10/12

#Syria, resistance fighters confirm the complete liberation of the oil factory military checkpoint. they seized 2 trucks, 2 tanks & 3 bmps #syria (#idlib)

12/10/12

#Syria, ahrar al-sham brigades: resistance fighters blew up al-barqoum military checkpoint (#aleppo countryside)

11/10/12

#Maarat al-Nouman #Idlib #Syria: first images filmed after FSA took the control of al-Maqalee’ checkpoint

11/10/12

#Syria, resistance fighters destroyed sahyan military checkpoint (#idlib)

27/09/12

Syrian troops pummeled districts in east Aleppo on Thursday, after an overnight rebel attack on an army checkpoint outside the northern metropolis, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory reported army shelling of the Maysar and Hanano districts in eastern Aleppo, while the Local Coordination Committees said heavy artillery was being used to bombard Sakhur district, also in the east.

The LCC, a network of opposition activists on the ground, also reported heavy artillery fire hitting Suleiman al-Halabi Street in the city center.

The army shelled rebel areas across the northern province of Aleppo overnight, the Britain-based Observatory reported one civilian killed in the town of Anadan.

It said that before dawn, a car bomb exploded at an army checkpoint in the northwest province of Edleb – about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Aleppo city – on the highway to Damascus.

Fierce clashes followed that raged into the morning, the watchdog said, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

In what appeared to be the same attack, a military source said clashes broke out overnight at a checkpoint in the same area after a minibus exploded.

“When we saw the bus with just one driver and no one else in it, we thought it was suspicious and told him to stop. He didn’t and when we shot the driver the bus veered off the road and exploded,” the source told AFP.

“The explosion was so big. We saw a huge fireball that even cut the electricity cables above,” he added.

A large number of rebels then attacked the checkpoint near the town of Barqum from the west and the south, according to the military source, who said the fighting lasted until 7:30 a.m. (04H30 GMT) when the rebels pulled back.

According to AFP reporters, the rebels have made huge gains in northern Syria and control large swathes of territory in Edleb and Aleppo province.

The rebels claim to control all of the axes around Aleppo, the country’s second city, and say that their only fear is aerial attacks.

Elsewhere on Thursday, clashes broke out in the central province of Homs, the coastal province of Latakia and the eastern province of Deir az-Zour, where one rebel was reported killed, the Observatory said.

The violence came after what the Observatory said was the bloodiest day yet of the conflict, with more than 305 people killed nationwide on Wednesday.

-AFP

26/09/12

#Syria, Ugarit Aleppo Free Army, Amiriyah struck an army checkpoint Asadi

26/09/12

Residents inspect the damage caused by a jet air strike in Aleppo’s
district of Bustan al-Basha September 8, 2012. (Reuters/Zain Karam)

25/09/12

As Aleppo’s districts change hands between rebels and government forces and back again, keeping your true allegiance to yourself at a checkpoint could be the wisest thing you do

24/09/12

A Times special correspondent recently traveled via car between Beirut and Damascus, Syria. This is her account of the trip. She has not been identified for safety’s sake.

DAMASCUS — The road to Damascus from the Lebanese border, a distance of about 50 miles, featured six checkpoints, sometimes only a few minutes’ drive apart. There are scores of additional checkpoints within the city limits of the Syrian capital.

The behavior of checkpoint personnel ranges from nonchalant to sinister. Thirsty guards regularly solicit bottles of cold water from drivers. Some take small bribes to allow produce to pass through.

The guards, typically young conscripts in uniform, follow a familiar drill: They check ID and ask drivers to open trunks for cursory looks.

At one checkpoint, my driver, a gregarious sort with a wry sense of humor, was chuckling after opening the trunk. “They’re in the next car over,” he informed the smiling conscript.

The guard had asked, half jokingly: “Where are the weapons?”

The question is not always put in jest. Lebanon is a major source of smuggled arms destined for Syrian rebels.

Facebook and Twitter are rife with incidents in which men and sometimes women are taken away at checkpoints, never to be heard of again.

With monthly salaries equivalent to about $12, some of the checkpoint troops look haggard and wretched.

“Can I have the water?” one of them asked the driver, thrusting his head through the car window.

We gave him a bottle from our cooler before he let us pass. He chugged away.

Another driver handed the guard a fistful of roasted sunflower seeds, a popular snack.

At almost every checkpoint, drivers of pickup trucks ferrying boxes of fruit, livestock or other merchandise back to Damascus paid off guards in a bid to skip inspection. They slipped notes of 100 or 200 Syrian pounds — the equivalent of a few dollars at most — into the receptive hands.

The final checkpoint before Damascus proper was the most serious, and frightening. There is speculation that the strategic site is under the authority of the 4th Brigade, the infamous unit associated with President Bashar Assad’s younger brother Maher. The handful of guards here were dressed in plainclothes. Kalashnikov rifles hung from their shoulders. Their faces looked tense, their gazes intimidating.

They fit the stereotypical description of shabiha, the government’s thuggish enforcer corps.

They inspected my purse and asked to see my ID, something security men at previous checkpoints had not done.

“What’s in the cooler?” an especially menacing guard asked.

“It’s empty,” the driver said, opening it to prove the point. The guard looked disappointed. Apparently, he too was in need of a cool drink.

“Next time,” he warned, “fill it up with chilled bottles of water.”

23/09/12

#Syria, Ugarit News || #Aleppo: A checkpoint in Al Midan neighborhood that was taken over by the ‘Aasefat Al Shamal Brigade.

16/09/12

Iraqi town faces refugees, gun-runners, Syrian jets

* Syrians rely on Iraqi kin for help across border

* Baghdad government worries about insurgents returning

By Patrick Markey

AL QAIM, Iraq, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Syrian refugees squeeze against a closed gate at an Iraqi border post, reaching through its metal bars to clamour for water, and calling out to Iraqi cousins and brothers on the other side.

Yelling into their cellphones, more Syrians perch on top of the concrete walls that divide Iraq from Syria, waiting for Iraqis to unload trucks filled with boxes of cooking oil and bottled water and hoist them over the al Qaim checkpoint.

Close by, predominantly Sunni Syrian rebels are fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces over the town of Albu Kamal, bringing the war to al Qaim with refugees, Syrian jets and occasional rocket attacks.

Al Qaim, in the Sunni heartland of Anbar province, reflects the tricky balancing act Iraq’s Shi’ite leaders face in Syria, whose crisis is testing the Middle East’s sectarian divide.

Many Shi’ite politicians took refuge in Syria during the rule of Saddam Hussein, and Assad, who is Alawite, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, is backed by Shi’ite Iran while Sunni power Saudi Arabia supports the rebels.

Iraq’s leaders dismiss claims they support Assad, but they also fear a nightmare scenario: his downfall brings a hostile Sunni Muslim regime to power and emboldens disenchanted Sunnis in Iraq’s own fragile sectarian mix.

In Anbar, where tribal ties are strong, discontent over Baghdad’s stance on the Syrian crisis is growing. Many have already chosen their side.

“When you have cousins here, it is a matter just of luck whether they are Iraqi or Syrian,” said Emad Hammoud, a government worker in al Qaim. “In Syria, it’s a fight of a government against its people, and we are with the people.”

Al Qaim and its neighbouring Syrian counterpart Albu Kamal are on a strategic supply route for smugglers, gun-runners and now insurgents aiming to join the rebellion.

Just a few years ago the traffic went the other way: Sunni Islamist bombers crossed into Iraq to fight against the American occupation and refugees fled to Syria to avoid sectarian slaughter.

Though still wary of Islamist insurgents, Baghdad’s Shi’ite-led central government initially opened the border to Syria’s refugees after the conflict started 18 months ago.

But Albu Kamal has since been overrun by anti-Assad Free Syrian Army rebels and the number of refugees has grown, prompting authorities to lock al Qaim’s crossing. Army brigades now reinforce the frontier, marked by 2-metre metal fence.

Iraqi residents send food, water and medical supplies to pass over the gate at al Qaim, where around 200 to 300 Syrian refugees arrive daily seeking shelter or supplies from relatives before heading back home.

“This is not help from the state, this is from clerics and from the people,” said one local Iraqi government official at the crossing, who was not authorised by Baghdad to speak publicly about the refugees.

TRICKY BALANCE

After Saddam fell in 2003, many members of his outlawed Baath party fled into Syria. Baghdad often criticised Damascus for sheltering al Qaeda, Sunni insurgents and former Baathists who used Syria as a haven to attack American troops in Iraq.

But Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who took refuge in Iran and Syria during Saddam’s era, has since developed a pragmatic relationship with Assad. Baghdad abstained in an Arab League vote to suspend Syria and resists calls for Arab sanctions, urging reforms instead.

In August last year he hosted Syrian ministers, calling Iraq and Syria “brother” nations.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari alluded to fears of what could follow if Assad is overthrown.

“The flow of refugees, the entrenchment of terrorist organisations, the veil of a fundamentalist regime, all this could impact us,” Zebari told Reuters. “We are trying to take a independent position. Based on our national interests… Things are not black and white.”

At tribal meetings across Anbar, talk is now of Syria’s crisis and how they can help their Sunni Syrian brethren.

Anbar’s tribes turned against al Qaeda to help U.S. forces in 2006. But since the rise of Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, many Sunnis say they are alienated. Local sheikhs feel sidelined by a prime minister who they say wants to consolidate Shi’ite power.

A fragile government amoung Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish parties has been mired in crisis as Sunnis accuse Maliki of reneging on power-sharing deals.

“Iraq will face a storm,” Sheikh Hatim Salaiman, chieftain of one of Anbar’s largest tribes told Reuters. “In a few months, Syria’s crisis will likely end. And what comes next will be difficult for Iraq.”

BORDER SPILLOVER

Al Qaim is already struggling with spillover from the fighting in Syria.

Syria military jets fly over Iraqi airspace almost daily to make bombing runs on rebel positions just over the border, al Qaim’s mayor Farhan Ftaikhan says, and most nearby Syrian border posts have been abandoned by Syrian forces.

Beyond the frontier, the main border checkpoint on the Syrian side sits empty.

On one wall, the Free Syrian Army flag, with its three red stars, is painted over a portrait of Assad’s late father, Hafez. Bullet holes cratering the wall partially obliterate his face.

Gunshots that pockmark the concrete wall of another border post are evidence of the more regular clashes between Iraqi border troops and gunmen on the Syrian side.

Earlier this month, Free Syrian Army rebels fired on Iraqi troops trying to stop four vehicles carrying weapons into Syria. Iraqi troops responded with mortar and canon fire, one Iraqi military official said.

For now, al Qaim’s mayor says, the border is closed for technical reasons, as local authorities wait to complete more camps with a capacity to deal with 10,000 refugees.

Outside the town, around 2,000 refugees who managed to cross the border before it was closed are housed in white tents. A similar number are put up with relatives or local residents.

The violence is growing. Three times now, Syrian rockets have landed on al Qaim, the most recently less than a fortnight ago, when three Katyushas hit a residential neighgbourhood, killing a small Iraqi girl and wounding some of her family.

It was unclear who fired them, the Syrian army or the rebels. But al Qaim residents know they will not be the last.

“I thought it was one of the Syrian planes we hear overhead. Then we heard the rocket coming at us,” said Firas Attallah, the girl’s father. “This is the price we pay, just for the help we are sending, for the food and medicine we send.”