Clashes between government, opposition continue in Aleppo

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At least 20 people were killed across Syria on Saturday (July 21st) as clashes between government troops and opposition fighters continued for a second day in Aleppo, activists told AFP.

At least 12 civilians were among the dead as clashes rocked both of the country's largest cities, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In Damascus seven civilians were killed, most of them by sniper fire, the human rights group said. It had no immediate casualty toll for the fierce clashes between troops and rebels in Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in Aleppo "battles have been ongoing since Friday morning between regular forces and fighters from rebel units in the Salah al-Din neighbourhood."

"Violent clashes are taking place between Syrian regime forces and rebel fighters in the Sakhur neighbourhood and the Haydariya area," it said, adding troops were "using heavy machine guns and shelling".

The Local Co-ordination Committees reported "an exodus of residents of the (Salah al-Din) neighbourhood because of fear of regime bombardment and an offensive".

In Damascus, a day after regime forces launched a major counter-offensive to re-take areas held by the opposition, residents reported the city was largely calm. The Observatory said the army had bombarded the Al-Kaddam and Assali neighbourhoods on the southern outskirts of the city overnight, and residents reported fighting in the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad and Tadamon districts.

The Observatory also reported government forces were shelling several districts in Homs, including Khaldiyeh and said fighting was continuing in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.

The Free Syrian Army took control of the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border with Turkey, Al Jazeera reported Saturday.

The Observatory said Saturday the nationwide death toll from Friday included 233 victims, including 153 civilians, 43 soldiers and 37 rebels.

On Friday the UN Security Council voted unanimously to grant a final 30-day extension to an observer mission charged with overseeing a peace plan for Syria.

The vote came a day after 302 people were killed Thursday in what the Observatory said was the most violent day since the uprising against the government began in March 2011.

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  • READER COMMENTS

    محمد قاسم

    2012-7-26

    There is no power but from God. Oh God grant victory to the people of rightness. Amen.

  • محمد

    2012-7-25

    Of course, all of the Arab world is watching the extent of hardships endured by the Syrian people at the hands of the criminal Bashar Al-Assad. Until when the Arab world will remain passive watching what is happening to the Syrian people without taking any positive stance? This is why I call on the whole Arab world to urgently take any stance that will be helpful to the Syrian people and end their suffering.

  • أم بسام

    2012-7-23

    The situation in Syria has become tragic; we have not seen any progress until now. The problem is that, as Arabs, we can never have a decisive position.

  • قاسم فهمي

    2012-7-23

    Bashar al-Assad’s end is almost close through his provocation to Turkish sovereignty that has become ready for the inevitable confrontation with the Syrian regime. Bashar al-Assad has not respected the human rights of his people and he did not respect the rights of others too. However, he has committed many crimes that can be described as war crimes. Bashar has committed many violations against his people and even the children were not safe from his crimes. The Syrian regime has killed children and massacred them without pity or mercy. What is the guilt of all the children who are continuously killed without committing anything? The Syrian regime’s acts are utterly unjustified. His end is what we will witness and it is about to come very soon with Allah’s will.

  • ابو نور

    2012-7-23

    Al-Assad has committed many crimes that appalled anyone who sees them. The Syrian regime has committed many crimes, killings and genocide that the Syrians see daily. This shows that Bashar has no conscience. He has no caste of those who die because of his operations which cannot be described as anything less than terrorist operations. Bashar al-Assad has transferred the troops and the weapons of the country, that are supposed to be the first defense line for the citizens, into a killing and exterminating means for them. We have become unable to realize that the one who killed his people was the one who was protecting them in the past. What is happening in Syria will be a stigma that the Syrian Army will suffer from and it will be remembered in its coming history. Al-Asad has turned all his weapons against the Syrians. How many people have been displaced? How many people were killed by the terrorist operations that occurred in an orderly manner throughout Syria? Bashar al-Assad has been sticking to his rule in a way that he no longer sees what he is cultivating by his operations, that he has prepared to exterminate the Syrian people. There are many countries that have begun the war with al-Assad by provoking him, like Turkey which has begun doing many provocative movements aimed personally towards the regime of al-Assad. The Turkish Army has become ready to face war with the al-Assad regime, but at the same time the Syrian Army would not face that war because of the many fissures within the ranks of the Syrian Army.

  • ماهر محسن عبود

    2012-7-23

    Syria is the greatest Arab state and its people are the best and most beautiful Arab people. However, their accursed leader Bashar Al-Asad destroyed the country with the help of its bloody and corrupt army as if the minds are gone and hearts are dead. Those oppressors have no feelings in their hearts. Bashar Al-Asad has been ruling Syria for long years after his father. He was known to the world as a cool and good man who won the hearts of his people and their respect. However, he did not appreciate this precious love and respect and replaced it with hatred and enormity because he breached the trust that his loyal people assigned to him. He looted the riches of the country as much as he could like the beast and I think the time has come to uncover the crimes of Bashar Al-Asad and the people revolted against him.

  • عاشور صالح

    2012-7-22

    Undoubtedly, everyone knows the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of Bashar al-Assad and his aides. We see on TV the pain and suffering experienced by our brothers in Syria. In fact, many people are killed and thousands are seriously injured. Our daughters are even raped. I want to say something to the Arab world: it is your brothers in Syria who are suffering and thus, I call on you and beseech you to intervene to put an end to what is happening there. All the Arab countries must cooperate to relieve the Syrian people from the oppression and humiliation that they are witnessing every day and even every hour at the hands of the oppressor. I pray God to save them from him. I remind the Arab world that Almighty God has urged Arabs to cooperate given the importance of collaboration. Therefore, I appeal to all the Arab world and tell them that intervention has become necessary in order to relieve the Syrian people from the suffering they are subjected to at the hands of the oppressor and his aides. I have nothing to offer my Syrian brothers but praying God to relieve them from the suffering they have witnessed and to make up for their bad days.

  • لمياء الجاف

    2012-7-22

    I think that however long oppression may last, one day it will come to an end. The oppressor will suffer the worst fate as well. God will take the harshest revenge on him. God will show the whole world what he has done to his people. It is known that the Syrian people are strong and can overcome the crisis that they are going through. They believe that God will relieve them from these bad days and make them overcome this crisis. He will compensate them for any loss. I also think that thanks to the cooperation of the Syrian people, they will be able to reconstruct their country. It is also thanks to the Arab countries which sympathize with the Syrian people and feel the suffering they have gone through at the hands of al-Assad. They will do their best and try to give them the different kinds of support and help to enable them to overcome the current crises. Thus, I see that the Syrian people will make every effort to rebuild their country once again. They will people it again through building houses which have been destroyed by the tyrant.

  • شاكر الدوري

    2012-7-22

    Syria is witnessing continued acts of killing, violence, bombing of cities and the displacement of people. These operations are perpetrated by the Syrian regime led by Bashar. Indeed, the number of the dead, the wounded, the displaced, the widows, the needy and the unemployed is skyrocketing. The Syrian people are paying a high price due to this unjustified violence and destruction, under the banner of “down with the killer regime”. Meanwhile, the international and Arab envoy to Syria Kofi Annan confirmed that he agreed with al-Assad to put a new stop to violence in the country after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. He added that he will discuss the agreement with the armed opposition, without specifying the nature of the proposal. Annan described his talks with Assad as constructive and frank. It is unfortunate that the continuation of violence becomes the goal of some parties. The latter want the continuation of violence by all means regardless of its disastrous results.

  • ياسر

    2012-7-22

    The use of lethal force to disperse demonstrations is the main strategy of al-Assad in Syria. Such a strategy has claimed the lives of nearly ten thousand people. Thus, it is necessary to deal with this massacre as a crime against humanity. Besides, it is time for the Security Council to refer the case of Bashar al-Assad and some members of his family to the International Criminal Court. The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has recently negotiated with the UN envoy to put an end to more than one year long violence in the country. The leaders called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC to ensure accountability for the crimes. The ICC confirms that they are documented in the report. The latter documents dozens of extra-judicial executions as well as acts of destruction of property, arbitrary detention and torture. The report is based on field investigations carried out in towns controlled by the opposition in Idlib. This is in spite of the ongoing controversy among the diplomats about the details of the Annan plan for peace. Many houses, shops and cars are being burned and destroyed everywhere in Syria. More importantly, a lot of deaths are taking place at the same time. It seems that the Syrian Government forces are taking advantage of every minute before the cease-fire in order to cause damage to the largest possible number of people.

  • محتار

    2012-7-22

    The Syrian solution is first place in the hands of Russia. The Syrian issue has been studied in many positions but the Russian position after it has reached this limit to explicitly declare to the world that she rejects any decree against the Syrian regime under Chapter 7. So the whole situation must not be left to Russia, which has inset the sectarian conflict in the battle circle in Syria

  • عبد الجبار السماوي

    2012-7-22

    The intervention of the Gulf Cooperation Council was not hidden, and talks about it had been taking place in the Arab and international political and media areas, and everyone has his own interpretations that clash violently with the others if not all were in the interest of the Gulf countries. However, the opponents of its policy considered that this intervention does not stem from the will to see a genuine democratic project sweeping the region, and that it doesn't have a vision outside of the Western priorities, and others said: It is incomprehensible whatever justifications are put, while others considered it a "license" for the regime of al-Assad to commit his crimes, as he complicated the crisis, and missed the opportunity to reform the system. But many went further by saying that the League has become a ride used by the Gulf States for their agenda. The League has demanded taking off the cloak of the western position that has material interests, rather than being driven by humanitarian or ethical principles. The question that arises now is that since we are facing an intractable problem because of factors tangled up with regional and international factors, what are the scenarios available to the Gulf Cooperation Council to deal in future with the Syrian crisis? And will the Arab attitudes have any effect if they are not negative, so to speak? Or are we in need of real and dissuasive solutions as required by the position of the Syrian people that need decisive and radical solutions before the regime of al-Assad ends and eradicates them.

  • هشام صالح

    2012-7-22

    What is taken for Arab action, which came in the form of Arab and International Arab initiatives that weren't studied and were not planned nor did they provide the appropriate ways to make it successful because Syria differs from Libya. So the approaches and methods used in dealing with Gaddafi’s regime are not suitable for Bashar’s regime because the latter has regional alliances with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, and internationally with Russia and China. Such alliances strengthen his position by supporting him with the Iranian money and weapons or by providing him with international immunity with the Russian and Chinese vetoes.