Syrian Freedom

Free Syrian Army (FSA) Military Council Commanders To Formally Request No Fly Zone And The Declaration Of Safe Zones From International Community

22/08/12

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following release is being issued by the Syrian Support Group:

Commanders of the Military Councils of the Free Syrian Army will officially announce that their forces have succeeded in liberating major parts of the country especially in the provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Daraa and Damascus. In addition, they will reiterate that the Free Syrian Army was successful in protecting more than 7 million Syrian citizens from the attacks of Assad’s forces, as well as preventing the dislocation of the population. The Assad regime continues to use fixed-wing MIG aircraft and attack helicopters to strike at innocent civilians in Syria. It is not feasible, within the scope of current capabilities, for the Free Syrian Army to sustain defensive measures against these air attacks.

At the same time, the establishment of safe zones is required in order to mitigate the growing humanitarian calamity in Syria and reduce the number of refugees flowing into neighboring countries, such as Turkey. The FSA will work to protect, defend and provide humanitarian support to all Syrian citizens regardless of their ethnicity, creed, religion and/or political affiliation. On this basis, the Commanders will request that the US Government and the international community implement immediate humanitarian relief by establishing a no-fly zone over the provinces of the declared safe zones.

WHO: FSA Military Council Commanders

WHAT: A press conference with the Commanders of the Military Councils of the Free Syrian Army

WHEN: The press conference will take place on Wednesday August 22 at 10:00 a.m. at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C.

ABOUT: Press Conference is sponsored by the Syrian Support Group. For more information please visit target=”_blank”>www.syriansupportgroup.org

Syrian rebels form ‘military council’ to conduct operations around Damascus #Syria

Monitors say more than 9,100 people have been killed in a revolt against Assad that started with peaceful protests before turning into an armed revolt. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

The Free Syrian Army has set up a military council to coordinate operations around Damascus, as it brings the year-old conflict to the capital, it announced in an online video on Thursday.

“I, Colonel Khaled Mohammed al-Hammud, announce the creation of the military council for Damascus and the region that will be in charge of FSA operations in this region,” an army deserter said in the video.

He invited other “noble officers still in the ranks of Bashar’s army” to join the rebel force, referring to President Bashar al-Assad.

Ahmad al-Khatib, calling himself a rebel spokesman for the Damascus area, said the council “represents a unified leadership for deserters from the army to reassure those supporting the FSA.”

Rebel fighters, lightly armed, have been on the retreat from cities since the start of March in the face of the far superior firepower of government forces.

Rebels have been turning to swift hit-and-run raids, with Damascus, which has been largely spared the worst of the bloodshed, becoming a prime target over the past week.

Attacks continue

Syrian army forces attacked several towns on Thursday, killing a teenager and wounding dozens of other people in shelling and heavy machinegun fire, monitors said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a 17-year-old boy was killed and dozens wounded in an army assault on the town of Sermin in the northwestern province of Idlib on the border with Turkey.

In the south, rebel fighters killed a soldier and wounded four others near the village of Saida in Daraa province, on the border with Jordan and where Syria’s year-old revolt against the regime erupted, it said.

The Britain-based Observatory also reported several people wounded as regime forces opened fire with heavy machineguns in the Arbaeen district of Hama city in central Syria.

In Deir Ezzor province, to the east, regime troops carried out search operations in the town of Quriyeh, making 10 arrests, including four members of the same family, it said.

The reports could not be confirmed due to restrictions on the movements of foreign media in the country.

Lebanon

Meanwhile, Syrian troops fired rocket propelled grenades into northern Lebanon during the night, sparking panic among the local population, a security official and residents said on Thursday.

The security official said heavy machinegun fire erupted at around 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) from the Syrian side of the border, near the Lebanese village of Muqaybleh, prompting some residents to flee.

There were no reports of casualties.

“The Syrian troops initially fired flares and then machineguns and rocket propelled grenades,” the official, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

He said at least two rockets fell inside Lebanese territory.

Lebanese media also reported shelling near the region of Al-Qaa, located in the eastern Bekaa.

Thousands of Syrians have fled to Lebanon since a revolt against the regime of Syrian president broke out in March last year.

Monitors say more than 9,100 people have been killed in a revolt against Assad that started with peaceful protests before turning into an armed revolt, in the face of a brutal crackdown costing dozens of lives each day. Syria’s bloody crackdown was met with international denunciation.

Canada welcomed the U.N. Security Council’s demand that Syria immediately implement a new peace plan, but said more should be done and slammed countries still backing Assad.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday demanded that Assad “immediately” implement special envoy Kofi Annan’s plan to rein in the government’s bloody year-old crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

Both Russia and China fear stronger U.N. action could pave the way for a Western-led military intervention like the one that helped topple Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi last year.

Press Release: By the Farouk Battalion of the Free Syrian Army #Syria

The battalion salutes the heroic foreign journalists for their work in Baba Amr and congratulates the families and friends of the journalists on their well-being after ensuring the safe return of some of them. The battalion will not spare any effort to save the rest of them. The battalion expresses its gratitude to the Syrian High Relief Commission for organizing and cooperating in hosting the journalists in Lebanon. The battalion also extends the sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the journalists who were killed while defending humanity and people in Syria in general, and in Baba Amr in particular.

The Farouk battalion denies any presence of al-Qaeda in Syria and calls on the journalists who have been evacuated to testify regarding this subject to refute the Assad regime’s allegations of al-Qaeda presence among Syrian revolutionaries. The battalion also demands that members of al-Qaeda stay out of the Syrian issue and revolution.

The battalion requests that all revolutionaries abide by the laws of war and the Geneva Convention for treatment of prisoners of war, and to adhere to the highest and most noble morals. The people of Syria are the descendants of values and civilization, and their frustration in the failure of international organizations in protecting the people of Syria will not drive them to extremism at any point. The people of Syria depend on God first and foremost, but are still waiting for the so-called “Free World” to make a quick move to help them and to stop the massacres committed against the people of Baba Amr.

The battalion calls upon all Syrian political groups and parties to not politicize the Syrian Revolution and to not form any armed factions affiliated with a certain political group or party. The battalion calls on all politicians to assemble under the umbrella of the Syrian National Council and its military council, and calls upon all the honorable political groups inside Syria, which identify with the pains of the Syrian revolutionaries, to dissolve in favor of and join the Syrian National Council. The battalion strongly demands that the Syrian National Council opens the door to include all opposition spectra and groups before it is too late.
God bless the souls of our fallen heroes and long live free Syria!

Farouk Battalion
Free Syrian Army
02 March 2012

#Syria defector to form military council

A top Syrian army defector was set to take charge of the rebel army’s operations on Saturday, as the United States accused Iran of supplying munitions to aid Damascus’ bloody crackdown on protests.

Washington has reason to believe Iran is supplying security-related equipment “including munitions” to Syrian forces, a US official said late on Friday, after the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force, Qasem Soleimani, visited Damascus earlier this month.

The accusations came after Britain sharply criticised Russia for refusing to support UN Security Council moves against President Bashar al-Assad.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a visit to Saudi Arabia that vetoing a Security Council resolution against Damascus amounted to standing by and watching the “appalling bloodshed.”

In October, Russia and China vetoed a Western draft resolution that would have condemned the Assad regime. Russia later circulated an alternative that would have pointed the finger at both sides.

Cameron told Al-Arabiya television on Friday that Britain stands ready to take a fresh resolution on Syria to the Security Council.

He said it would dare “others that if they want to veto that resolution to try to explain why they are willing to stand by and watch such appalling bloodshed by someone who has turned into such an appalling dictator.”

Referring to the alleged Iranian aid to the crackdown by its Syrian ally, an official in Washington said the United States has reason to believe that Iran is supplying security-related equipment “including munitions” to Syrian forces.

The United States has long suspected that Iran has been aiding Syria’s purge as Assad clings to power and tries to avoid the fate of other Arab dictators felled by the Arab Spring uprisings.

Another official said Soleimani’s visit marks the strongest indication yet of direct cooperation between the allies.

Efforts to isolate the Syrian government were boosted by rebel plans to form a high military council headed by a top Syrian army defector that will oversee military operations against President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime.

General Mustafa Ahmad al-Sheikh, the most senior commander to defect from the Syrian army, will announce the council’s formation later on Saturday in Turkey, where he sought refuge 12 days ago, his media advisor said.

Sheikh, 54, was in charge of security in northern Syria before defecting. In a statement, he said he had deserted because he was sickened by the ruthlessness of Assad’s regime and all the killings taking place.

“This council, headed by Sheikh, will oversee military operations in conjunction with the Free Syrian Army,” Fahad Almasri told AFP, and will include high-ranking officers who will plan operations to be executed by the FSA.

“It will also help organise defections within the army and will be in contact with officers in the regular army to encourage large-scale rather than individual defections.”

Formed from deserters from the regular army who mutinied over the regime’s deadly crackdown, the FSA says it has some 40,000 fighters under its command.

Thousands rallied in support of the FSA on Friday, after the largest civilian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, which initially opposed the use of force in the uprising, decided to boost its cooperation with the rebel army.

Meanwhile, violence in the flashpoint city of Homs reportedly claimed two lives on Saturday. A 13-year-old child was killed by gunfire at a checkpoint, and 27-year-old man shot by snipers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Separately, the official SANA news agency said three people were injured when a train carrying fuel to a power station in the restive province of Idlib was hit by a booby trap “laid by terrorists.”

Amid growing criticism of the Arab League observer mission for its failure to end violence that the United Nations says has claimed more than 5,000 lives, League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Friday the Syria task force would meet to decide the future of the mission, while voicing regret over the bloodshed.

“The Arab League general secretariat is now examining whether it would be beneficial for the mission to pursue its work in light of the continuing violence,” he was quoted as saying by the official MENA news agency.

“Maybe things are a bit calmer but (the violence) continues. The human conscience cannot accept that any person gets killed,” he added.