Tuesday 12 June 2012

Activists say 53 killed yesterday- (11 June 2012)


Daily News Brief
11 June 2012


Local Coordination Committees (LCC) in Syria said 53 people died across Syria yesterday, including 5 children and 3 women. 26 were killed in Homs, 7 in Idlib, and 6 in Lattakia. 96 deaths were reported Saturday.

In Dara’a’s Daeel, Inkel, Hirak and Kafar Shams districts, heavy gunfire and shelling was reported by government forces, the LCC said. In Aleppo’s Hayyan, Kafar Karmein, Atareb, Kafar Aleppo, Kabeesa, Ibyen and Jeena districts, many were killed and homes destroyed by government shelling yesterday.

The Homs districts of Ghanto and Khaldieh were heavily shelled yesterday, LCC claimed. Lebanese paper Al-Hayat confirmed this, adding that the city of Rastan was under heavy shelling. More than 500 rockets and mortar were launched on the town since Saturday, Al-Hayat said.

Beirut’s Daily Star reported that activists said the Syrian army used artillery, mortars and rockets in Homs, in one of the biggest bombardments since a failed UN-mandated cease-fire in April.

Syrian forces also hit opposition strongholds in the towns of Quseir, Talbiseh and Rastan in central Syria in a renewed push to regain rebel-held areas, the paper reported.

In Talbiseh yesterday, rebel forces attacked and captured a military base, with a colonel and several officers defecting to the opposition, Free Syrian Army representatives and activists told the Daily Star.

And in Deir ez-Zor’s Baserah district the village of Rez was shelled “by tanks and anti-aircraft” weapons, the LCC said.

Security forces, stormed a “terrorist group” hideout in Yelda town in Damascus countryside and seized explosive devices and toxic materials, SANA reported.

An “armed terrorist group” sabotaged a power transmission station in the city of Homs, SANA said. And an “armed terrorist group” today attacked a military unit at al-Ghanto town in Homs countryside.

Al-Wattan, a Damascus daily, said that “armed terrorist groups” tried last Friday to enter Damascus from several directions, but the result was a “disastrous failure” by the Syrian Free Army, many of whom were killed, wounded or detained.

SANA said the bodies of 22 security personnel were laid to rest yesterday.

Armed groups yesterday fired a mortar shell at the Syrian Cabinet building in Damascus, Al-Adounia TV reported yesterday. Details are not clear but media sources said the shell came from al-Razi orchards, the scene of recent clashes between rebels and government forces. Witnesses apparently said that UN observers visited the site.

Opposition Syrian National Council elects new leader
Abdulbaset Sayda was elected yesterday in Istanbul as the chairman of the Syrian National Council, replacing Burhan Ghalioun, the BBC reported. Sieda, born in 1956, said at a press conference that he will do his best to unify various opposition groups.

Speaking yesterday, Sayda told reporters he wanted to reform and restructure the Syrian National Council, the BBC said. “We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs. The multiplying massacres and shellings show that it is struggling," he said.

Russia clarifies arms sales to Syria
Russia was completing its air defense contracts with Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 9, Russian media agency RIA Novosti reported. Lavrov said that “Russia is not supplying any arms that can be used against protesters.”

Lavrov said that in contrast to Moscow “our US colleagues are supplying countries of the Persian Gulf region with the very type of arms that could be used against peaceful demonstrators."

Activists say 14,100 killed since March 2011
The London-based Syrian Observatory for human rights said yesterday that 14,100 people have died in the Syria uprising: 9862 civilians, 783 army defectors, and 3470 army and security force personnel. “Shabiha” militias are not included. 3000 people have died since the April 12 ceasefire.


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