Category: Syria

Assad regime confirms attacks on its military, accuses Turkey of arming rebels

Assad regime confirms attacks on its military, accuses Turkey of arming rebels

NICOSIA — The regime of President Bashar Assad has acknowledged increasing attacks on its military believed aided by neighboring Turkey.

Syrian officials said a rebel force of up to 500 fighters attacked a Syrian Army position on June 4 in northern Syria. They said the target, a garrison of Military Intelligence, was captured in a 36-hour assault in which 72 soldiers were killed in Jisr Al Shoughour, near the border with Turkey.

“We found that the criminals [rebel fighters] were using weapons from Turkey, and this is very worrisome,” an official said.

This marked the first time that the Assad regime has accused Turkey of helping the revolt. The Ankara government has become increasingly critical of Assad and said the president has one week to end his crackdown against the opposition.

Officials said the rebels drove the Syrian Army from Jisr Al Shoughour and then took over the town. They said government buildings were looted and torched before another Assad force arrived.

At one point, the Assad regime conducted a tour for journalists of Jisr Al Shoughour. Officials showed journalists a mass grave that was said to contain the bodies of soldiers.

A Syrian officer who conducted the tour said the rebels in Jisr Al Shoughour consisted of Al Qaida-aligned fighters. He said the rebels employed a range of Turkish weapons and ammunition but did not accuse the Ankara government of supplying the equipment.

Western diplomatic sources said rebel fighters have been attacking Assad’s military in both northern and southern Syria. They said the rebels were being supplied by Sunnis from neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

“With every passing day, the Sunnis in the Syrian military are growing more uneasy,” a diplomat said. “The Sunni senior commanders are still loyal, but the field commanders, particularly on the level of squad and companies, are feeling the pressure to defect.”

Opposition sources have reported a breakdown in law and order throughout Syria. The Kurdish opposition Democratic Union Party has reported a rebellion in Hasaka prison, which resulted in a fire in the facility.

“The prison may be under the control of the prisoners, but the building is surrounded by security forces,” the party said.

via Assad regime confirms attacks on its military, accuses Turkey of arming rebels.

June 26, 2011
Turkey building giant tent city as Syrian refugees swell

Turkey building giant tent city as Syrian refugees swell

* 14 Syrian officers including two colonels crossed to Turkey

* Tent city will accommodate up to 15,000 people

* EU extends sanctions against Syrian and Iranian officials

APAYDIN: A giant tent city was springing up on Turkey’s frontier with Syria as concerns mounted Friday over a massive influx of refugees after Syrian tanks rolled into the border zone.

Some 150 workers toiled in scorching heat by the village of Apaydin, some 10 kilometres (six miles) from the frontier, scrambling to expand a Red Crescent camp where more than 200 tents have already been erected. Another 1,000 tents will be ready in a week on the cleaned and levelled plot of 300 hectares (750 acres), claimed from pasture land, “in case of a massive influx” of Syrians, said village headman Omer Cagatay.

On Thursday, Syrian security forces backed by tanks entered a border zone where thousands of people have massed to escape bloodshed, triggering a new exodus across the border.

The Turkish authorities said Friday that 1,578 people had poured in, bringing to 11,739 the total number of Syrians sheltering in camps in the Turkish border province of Hatay. The latest wave included Syrians who had flocked to the border but hesitated to cross to Turkey, braving squalid conditions in the open air or in makeshift shelters of branches and plastic sheets, with scarce food and water.

The arrival of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces finally impelled them to seek refuge in Turkey, overriding their concerns of an uncertain future on foreign soil. Members of the Syrian security forces have allegedly joined the fleeing Syrians. Speaking to AFP by telephone, a Turkish smuggler in contact with relatives on the Syrian side said that14 Syrian officers, among them two colonels, crossed to Turkey on Friday from the border village of Khirbet al-Joz, which the Syrian army overran the previous day.

The tent city at Apaydin will be the largest, with a capacity to accommodate up to 15,000 people, Cagatay said. A worker said they had erected a two-kilometre fence around the camp. “We want to be ready,” another worker said, busily hammering a support pole for a tent designed to house a family of at least six.

Ankara has already allocated $2.3 million (1.6 million euros) for the refugees and assured that no one seeking shelter in Turkey will be turned away. “We do not know how many Syrians could come but we are prepared for any possibility,” said Emre Manav, the Turkish foreign ministry’s local coordinator.

The head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Tekin Kucukali, has said that his agency is in theory able to sustain up to 250,000 people. Such an eventuality however “is something that we absolutely do not desire,” a Turkish diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The Apaydin camp offer as much comfort as possible to the refugees: toilets, showers, cinemas, playgrounds for children, a small mosque, a field hospital, recreation areas and even a wedding hall. The piping system is almost ready and running water is to come soon to the tent city, equipped with floodlights for illumination.

The worst-case scenario for Turkey, observers say, would be a spillover of unrest to Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city and economic hub, which lies only 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the Turkish border. “Aleppo is a bastion of the (Syrian) regime. If the revolt wins over the city, that would mean a humanitarian disaster,” said Nebil Al-Said, a Syrian dissident long based in Hatay. afp

Meanwhile, European Union extended sanctions against Syrian and Iranian officials. The local government in Turkey’s Hatay province said the new wave of refugees who crossed the border on Thursday, mostly from makeshift camps just inside Syrian territory, brought the total number now registered in Turkish camps to 11,739.

On Friday the European Union announced extended sanctions on Syria, including three commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused of helping Damascus curb dissent. Syria denies Iran has played any role in tackling the unrest.

According to the EU’s Official Journal, the Iranians were Major-General Qasem Soleimani and Brigadier Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari of the Revolutionary Guard, and the Guard’s deputy commander for intelligence, Hossein Taeb. Four Syrian officials were also targeted, bringing to 34 the number of individuals and entities on the list which already includes Assad and his top officials.

The United States, which has also imposed targeted sanctions on Syrian officials, said the reported Syrian army move to surround and target the town of Khirbat al-Joz just 500 metres (yards) from the Turkish border was a worrying new development. agencies

via Daily Times – Leading News Resource of Pakistan – Turkey building giant tent city as Syrian refugees swell.

June 26, 2011
Syrian Army Visible from Turkey; Extra Buses Sent for Fleeing Syrians

(GUVECCI, Turkey) — Along the Turkey-Syria border last week there were reports that the Syrian army was just a few kilometers away. Border towns were emptied, thousands fled in fear. On Thursday, those Syrian forces finally came into view in the hills across from Guvecci, Turkey, reportedly storming the Syrian border town of Khirbet al-Jouz.

A Syrian flag was raised over a watchtower where a Turkish flag had been flown by the refugees — soldiers and armored personnel carriers were visible. Snipers were reportedly on rooftops.

So what does this mean for the thousands still camped out inside Syria?

AFP reports several hundred broke through a fence to get into Turkey.

A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees tells ABC News that the Red Crescent believes at least 600 came across into camps Thursday. A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman says they have sent more buses over than usual to pick up displaced Syrians but won’t know the final count until Friday.

There were 10,224 refugees in Turkish camps Thursday morning — a number that’s been slowly decreasing in the last few days as Syrians try to head home.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

via Syrian Army Visible from Turkey; Extra Buses Sent for Fleeing Syrians – World News – ABC News Radio.

June 24, 2011
Clinton warns of Syria-Turkey border clashes

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning Syria to withdraw troops now massing near its border with Turkey, saying their presence is worsening an already bad situation for refugees and risks sparking border clashes with the Turks.

Clinton told reporters at the State Department on Thursday that the U.S. saw the situation as volatile and “very worrisome” and that the Syria military should immediately end attacks and provocations in the region. She said the buildup of soldiers just 500 yards from the Turkish border was another sign of the Syrian government’s intent to repress its own people.

Earlier Thursday, Syrian troops pushed to the Turkish border in their sweep against a 3-month-old pro-democracy movement, sending panicked refugees, including children, rushing across the frontier to safe havens in Turkey.

via Clinton warns of Syria-Turkey border clashes – KansasCity.com.

June 24, 2011
Syria conflict Turkey: Syrian troops said to mass on northwest border with Turkey

Pro-democracy activists say Syrian troops and tanks have rolled into areas near the border, across which refugees have fled to makeshift camps. The move could further strain ties with longtime ally Turkey, which has been critical of the crackdown.

By Alexandra Sandels, Los Angeles Times

June 24, 2011

Reporting from Beirut—

Syrian refugees pass a Turkish military vehicle as they cross the border near the Turkish village of Guvecci in Hatay province. Syrian activists say Syrian troops backed by tanks and snipers have entered a village along the border. (Burhan Ozbilici, Associated Press / June 24, 2011)

Syrian refugees pass a Turkish military vehicle as they cross the border near the Turkish village of Guvecci in Hatay province. Syrian activists say Syrian troops backed by tanks and snipers have entered a village along the border. (Burhan Ozbilici, Associated Press / June 24, 2011)

Syrian army units massed near the border with Turkey on Thursday, according to Syrian pro-democracy activists and media accounts, with some troops, backed by tanks, rolling into a village close to makeshift refugee camps housing civilians who fled villages in northwest Syria.

The expanded troop presence in the border zone could further aggravate already strained relations with Turkey, which has been critical of the ongoing Syrian crackdown on antigovernment protests.

An activist group, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, said 40 tanks had been deployed in the border village of Khirbet Jouz and that snipers had taken positions on rooftops.

Syria has imposed severe restrictions on news coverage, making it difficult to independently verify activists’ accounts of the ongoing uprising against President Bashar Assad and his family’s decades-long regime.

Video aired by the Al Jazeera news channel showed Syrian military activity in full view of the Turkish border, including tanks with Syrian flags on a nearby hill and troops atop a tall building.

The Turkish Red Crescent said another 600 refugees had arrived in Turkey in response to the latest Syrian military move, joining the more than 10,000 who have fled in recent weeks.

The Associated Press reported that Turkish troops in the border area moved their positions back several hundred feet in an apparent bid to avoid a confrontation with the Syrian forces.

One analyst said the Syrian advance probably was more a case of asserting control of its territory than a deliberate provocation of its increasingly critical neighbor. The Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers discussed the border situation in a telephone conversation, Turkey’s semi-official Anatolian news agency reported.

For weeks, the Syrian army has attempted to root out opposition to Assad in northwestern cities and villages. Syrian state media has said that the army and security forces are hunting “armed terrorists” in the rugged mountainous areas near Turkey, an allegation that human rights activists deny.

In Brussels, the European Union said it had expanded its sanctions list against the Syrian regime, targeting seven more individuals and four companies, AP reported. That brings to 34 the number of people and entities, including Assad, faced with an asset freeze and travel ban. The EU also has an embargo on sales of arms and equipment that can be used to suppress demonstrations.

On Wednesday, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Moallem, assailed European governments for the sanctions and said the West was fomenting unrest and instability in the Arab nation.

Despite the government crackdown, Syrian protesters called for new demonstrations.

Activists on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page — which has become an important force behind the protest movement — called Thursday for a nationwide general strike and urged fresh protests Friday.

The Syrian opposition estimates that 1,400 people have been killed since the protests began three months ago and that about 10,000 have been detained.

Sandels is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Tunis, Tunisia, contributed to this report.

via Syria conflict Turkey: Syrian troops said to mass on northwest border with Turkey – latimes.com.

June 24, 2011
Syria Live Blog

Thousands of Syrians escaping violence in the north of the country have crossed the border into Turkey [Reuters]

Thousands continue to take to the streets across Syria, despite the bloody crackdown on protests. Activists say more than 1,300 civilians have been killed by security forces. We bring you the latest news from various sources.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

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4 hours 23 min ago – Syria

Hundreds of displaced Syrians have fled into Turkey on Thursday after Syrian troops backed by tanks approached their makeshift camps in the bordering village of Khirbet al-Joz, the AFP news agency has reported.

They were flanked by Turkish paramilitary police vehicles and minibuses, called apparently to ferry the refugees to tent cities the Turkish Red Crescent has erected in the border province of Hatay, where more than 10,000 Syrians are already sheltering.

via Syria Live Blog | Al Jazeera Blogs.

June 23, 2011