Tag Archives: Bashar al-Assad

Rescuers say toxic gas dropped on Syrian town where Russian helicopter shot down

Video of people affected by chemical attack

By Lisa Barrington

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Syrian rescue service operating in rebel-held territory said on Tuesday a helicopter dropped containers of toxic gas overnight on a town close to where a Russian military helicopter had been shot down hours earlier.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) accused President Bashar al-Assad of being behind the attack. Assad has denied previous accusations of using chemical weapons.

A spokesman for the Syria Civil Defence said 33 people, mostly women and children, were affected by the gas, which they suspect was chlorine, in Saraqeb, in rebel-held Idlib province.

The group, which describes itself as a neutral band of search and rescue volunteers, posted a video on YouTube apparently showing a number of men struggling to breathe and being given oxygen masks by people in civil defense uniforms.

“Medium-sized barrels fell containing toxic gases. The Syrian Civil Defence was not able to determine the type of the gas,” said the spokesman.

The Syrian government and its Russian allies were not immediately available for comment.

Later, state news agency SANA said rebels had fired rockets armed with toxic gas on the government-held old quarter of Aleppo city, killing five people and causing eight breathing difficulties. It gave no further details. Rebels have denied previous accusations of using chemical weapons.

The SNC said of the reported use of poison gas in Saraqeb: “After shelling, besieging and killing civilians and perpetrating war crimes on them, the Assad regime has resorted once again, and in breach of UN resolutions 2118 and 2235, to using chemical substances and toxic gases.

“The daily reality confirms that all the international agreements and previous security council decisions, be they about chemical weapons or otherwise, are meaningless for the Assad regime.”

The Civil Defence spokesman said it was the second time Saraqeb had been hit by toxic gas. The group was aware of around nine suspected chlorine gas incidents across Idlib province since the conflict began, he said.

The U.S. State Department said it was looking into the reported use of chemical weapons in Saraqeb.

“I’m not in a position to confirm the veracity of (the reports),” said spokesman John Kirby. “Certainly, if it’s true, it would be extremely serious.”

Monitors at the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence on all sides in the civil war, said barrel bombs fell on Saraqeb late on Monday, wounding a large number of citizens.

Russia’s defense ministry said a Russian helicopter was shot down near Saraqeb during the day on Monday, killing all five people on board, in the biggest officially acknowledged loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria.

DENIALS

The helicopter came down roughly mid-way between Aleppo and Russia’s main air base at Hmeimim in the western province of Latakia, near the Mediterranean coast.

Russian air power began supporting Syrian President Bashar al Assad late last year, an intervention which tipped the balance of the war in Assad’s favor, eroding gains the rebels had made that year.

No group has claimed responsibility for downing the Mi-8 military transport helicopter.

Government and opposition forces have both denied using chemical weapons during the five-year-old civil war. Western powers say the government has been responsible for chlorine and other chemical attacks. The government and Russia have accused rebels of using poison gas.

U.N. investigators established that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta in 2013. The United States accused Damascus of that attack, which it estimates killed 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. Damascus denied responsibility, and blamed rebels.

Later that year the United Nations and the Syrian government agreed to destroy the state’s declared stockpile of chemical weapons, a process completed in January 2016.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed in late 2015 that sulfur mustard, commonly known as mustard gas, had been used for the first time in the conflict, without saying which party in the many sided conflict it thought had used it.

(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Robin Pomeroy)

Assad tasks minister with forming new government: Syria state media

Syrian's President Bashar al-Assad

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad tasked Electricity Minister Emad Khamis with forming a new government on Wednesday, state news agency SANA reported, without giving an immediate reason for the formation of a new cabinet.

SANA gave no details on why Khamis would replace Wael al-Halaki as prime minister, or whether Halaki would be included in the new administration or had left government. Halaki himself replaced a prime minister who defected to the opposition.

The Damascus-based government controls most of the war-torn country’s major population centers in the west, with the notable exceptions of Idlib, which is held by insurgents, and Aleppo, where it controls half of the city.

Kurdish forces are in control of vast areas along the Turkish border, and Islamic State holds Raqqa and Deir al-Zor provinces in the east.

Parliamentary elections were held in government-controlled areas in April, which the opposition said were meaningless.

Syria’s conflict, which began as a peaceful uprising against Assad, is now in its sixth year and has drawn in military involvement from regional and world powers and allowed for the growth of Islamic State.

Damascus formed a new government more than a year into the war in 2012, but its prime minister at the time, Riad Hijab, fled Syria soon afterwards. Hijab is now a prominent member of the main Syrian opposition that attended failed peace talks this year.

Assad ally Russia said last week there were U.S. proposals to incorporate parts of the opposition into the current Syrian government. Washington denied any such proposals and insists Assad must leave power.

The war has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced more than 11 million, half Syria’s pre-war population.

It has damaged the economy, causing the Syrian pound to lose more than 90 percent of its value.

(Reporting by John Davison and Lisa Barrington; Editing by Alison Williams)

Syrian Opposition Rejects Russia’s Peace Plan; Syrian Forces Take Down ISIS Siege

On Wednesday, Russia drafted a peace proposal to solve the Syrian crisis, but it was rejected by Syrian opposition forces due to the fact that the draft made no reference to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down – a key opposition demand.

“The Syrian people have never accepted the dictatorship of Assad and they will not accept that it is reintroduced or reformulated in another way,” Monzer Akbik, member of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, told Reuters.

Reuters and the Associated Press were able to receive the drafted documents that stated the Kremlin asked for Damascus and unspecified opposition groups to agree on launching a constitutional reform that would take approximately 18 months. Afterward, there would be an early presidential election. However, the document does not bar Assad from participating in the election or relieving him of his position during the 18 month reform.

Russia denied that any such document is being prepared before the Vienna meeting this week where world leaders will discuss international peace talks for a second time.

Russia began intervening in the Syrian conflict six weeks ago when rebels were getting closer to taking over government-held areas. Since then, the Kremlin has stepped up its airstrike campaign and diplomatic efforts.

A member of the coalition’s political committee, Hadi al-Bahra, stated that in order for there to be peace, any talks will have to have more assurances and guarantees. He added that there could not be any elections under the current system.

“How can the elections be fair when the citizens inside Syria are afraid of retaliation from the security services of the regime?” he said.

Meanwhile in Syria, Fox News reported that Syrian government forces were able to take down an ISIS siege that was attempting to take over a Syrian military air base. ISIS has been attempting to take over this specific base since 2013. Between the troops in the Syrian base, the new forces that launched the large-scale offensive, and the Russian airstrikes, state TV reports confirmed that dozens of ISIS fighters were killed and hundreds of extremist bodies were found around the base. The breaking of the siege marks the first major achievement by Assad’s soldiers since Russia began their airstrikes in September.

Russian Forces in Syria to Boost Bashar al-Assad’s Regime

The European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief reported to Al Jazeera that Russia is increasing its military force in Syria to prevent the “imminent” fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The report comes after the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policies, Federica Mogherini, had a conversation with Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov told Mogherini that the military support Russia has provided Syria was to prevent the collapse of the Syrian state.

“His fear is of a complete collapse of the state structures in Syria,” Mogherini said. “This could be one of the reasons Russia is talking in this way, but it could also be willingness to show that Russia is an important, substantial player.”

Most analysts believe that Russia’s increase in military power will end any prospect of Assad being overthrown by rebel forces as well as consolidate the de facto partitioning of Syria. In the recent past, Assad’s military has nearly fallen to rebel advances.

Approximately two thirds of Syria is controlled by mostly Islamist rebels, including Syrian fighters backed by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, or the Islamic State, and it doesn’t seem like Russia will be able to retake the territory unless it deploys ground troops.

Russia has stated many times that its military presence in Syria is to fight the Islamic State, but many world leaders, including the United States, are still uncertain. Former U.S. ambassador, Robert Ford, believes Russia’s main goal is to boost Assad.

“Why would you put the air units in Latakia instead of Damascus if you want to fight the Islamic State?” Ford said. “Why do you send anti-aircraft equipment when the Islamic State doesn’t have any air force?

“So it seems to me that this is designed to help Assad first,” Ford added.

Islamic Extremists Take Over Syrian Christian Town

Islamic forces in Syria have killed a relative of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who had been commanding troops protecting a Christian city.

A coalition of Islamic extremist groups overran the defenses of the Christian town of Kassat, killing Christians they found in their path and chanting & praising Allah as they took control of the town.

A student from the town that is now living in the United Arab Emirates told the Wall Street Journal that most of the Christians have fled to a church in the nearby village of Latakia.

“They receive food from the Armenians that are living there,” the unnamed student told the WSJ.

Islamic extremists in Syria have been attempting to exterminate the Christian population in Syria during the civil war.  Christians had made up 8 percent of Syria’s population before the Civil War began.

UN Official Says Evidence Against Assad Growing

An official with the United Nations says evidence is growing against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.

Navi Pillay, head of the U.N.’s human rights office, said a panel investigating the abuses in the Syrian civil war has found “massive evidence” showing the crimes were initiated at the highest levels of the Syrian government including the head of state.

Pillay later denied knowing the names on the investigator’s secret list of suspects but her remarks about a head of state being involved goes against all previous U.N. investigations into war crimes. Investigators, who work independently of Pillay’s office, have previously said evidence points to high levels of the government but did not implicate al-Assad.

The U.N. Human Rights Office says that accountability for war crimes should be part of any agreement ending the civil war.

The question about al-Assad remaining in power is a point of contention between the United States and Russia as the superpowers work to bring the sides of the war to the peace table.

Russia Beginning Preparations For Post-Assad Syria

European allies of the U.S. are reporting that Russia has quietly begun to make plans on dealing with a post-Assad Syria.

Russia has been a staunch supporter of the Syrian president throughout the civil war and has blocked United Nations actions against Syria on multiple occasions. Now, sources say the Russians are telling other diplomats they are not fixated on Assad.

“The Russians say they are not married to Assad,” a European diplomat told Fox News. “They are looking for true alternatives to Assad.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Fox’s report repeating their believe that the Syrian people should decide Syria’s destiny.

Western government and Russia have been trying to get both sides of the Syrian civil war to the bargaining table but have acknowledged that it is unlikely to take place before the end of the year.

Syria Goes Dark

Most of Syria is in darkness after a rebel artillery attack destroyed a gas pipeline feeding a major power plant.

Residents of Damascus say the entire city is without power while officials with the Bashir al-Assad administration have said the power outage is nationwide.

“A terrorist attack on a gas pipeline that feeds a power station in the south has led to a power outage in the provinces, and work to repair it is in progress,” Electricity Minister Imad Khamis told Syria’s state TV.

Khamis said it could take two days to restore the power.

The two sides in the civil war have been invited to a conference in Geneva to try and end the fighting but the government’s refusal to have President Bashir al-Assad step down is seen as an ongoing block to peace.

France: Syrian Government Behind Chemical Attack

While Great Britain withdraws from action against Syria after a vote in their parliament and President Obama defers a decision on action to Congress, France has come out declaring boldly that the Syrian government is behind the chemical weapons attack that led to hundreds of deaths.

France is pushing for military action to punish the Assad regime for killing civilians with chemical weapons. Continue reading →

Rebels Claim Attack On Syrian President’s Motorcade

Syrian rebel forces claim a rocket and mortar attack on the motorcade of President Bashar al-Assad as he traveled to pray to mark the start of a major Muslim holiday.

Two Syrian rebel brigades say they struck Assad’s motorcade in the upscale Malki district of the capital. The government denied that any attack was made on or near the President’s motorcade. Continue reading →