Violence “Escalates” in Syria

Saturday 21 July 2012

Violence “Escalates” in Syria

Tanks inside Damascus on July 20 (AFP)

SYRIA- Syrian armed forces have launched an all-out offensive on rebel positions in Damascus, as the UN Security Council extended for 30 days the mandate of its observer mission.

Meanwhile, thousands of Syrian civilian nationals continued to flee the country to escape violence.

After a week of intense clashes, the Syrian capital of Damascus is now largely isolated by checkpoints and tanks, witnesses told international press on Saturday.

The chaos in Damascus continued Saturday, opposition activists reported, when tanks, artillery and mortars pummeled the neighborhood of Barzeh.

Syrian Rebels have also clashed with troops in several neighborhoods of Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo, press reports added Saturday.

Also on Saturday, International pres circulated conflicted reports about rebels controlling some Syrian border crossing points; while others reported clashes between rebels and official armed forces at these crossing points.

Earlier on Thursday, a Syrian official source dismissed news broadcast by al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera TV channels on Bab al-Hawa border crossing point in Idleb province on the borders with Turkey as "fabricated and false".

The official source then also denied al-Arabiya reports on terrorists taking hold of Yabroud and al-Dmeir cities and the Security Detachment in al-Tal city in Damascus Countryside and Barzeh area in Damascus.

Elsewhere in the country, at least 21 people were killed in early Saturday violence, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said Saturday in statement. The group said rockets and shelling from helicopters fell on the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where two people were killed.

In one of the capital's bloodiest days, more than 124 people were killed in Damascus and its suburbs, according to the LCC. The opposition network reported at least 286 deaths throughout the country on Friday.

Press reports also indicated Saturday that Syrian government maintained its aim is to get rid of "terrorists" in the targeted areas. A Syrian security official told Al-Arabiya TV the military has started an operation to take over all Damascus neighborhoods.

International press used to say that it cannot independently confirm reports of violence because the Syrian government had restricted access by foreign journalists since March 2011 when protests started in country.

In turn, Syria`s official news agency SANA reported Saturday “Authorities foiled infiltration attempts by armed terrorist groups from the Lebanese territories through several sites in Tal Kalakh in Homs countryside.”

On Friday, SANA said “

Earlier, press reports urged as another sign of what seems to be his crumbling power that the Syrian President did not appear in public after the killings of the top officials but showed up on television Thursday during a swearing-in ceremony for the new defense minister.

The whereabouts of the president or the location of the ceremony remain unclear, though some have suggested al-Assad is not in the capital.

But SANA reported late on Thursday “General Fahd Jassem al-Freij on Thursday was sworn in before President Bashar al-Assad as Minister of Defense.”

“Afterwards, President al-Assad received the Minister of Defense and provided him with his directions, wishing him success in his duties.” SANA added late on Thursday.

United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed since the crisis began in March 2011. But Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the United Nations hasn't been giving out overall death toll numbers since December "because it became impossible to verify the numbers in any meaningful way."

Syria`s Opposition groups tracking deaths have issued higher tolls. The LCC, for example, estimates that more than 16,000 have died.