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Photograph courtesy of Syria Revolution in Photos
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Syria: The Fighting Continues In Damascus And Elsewhere

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Photograph courtesy of Syria Revolution in Photos
Syria

Photograph courtesy of Syria Revolution in Photos

The protests and fighting in Damascus continued overnight and into this morning as the Syrian military have continued their shelling campaign on the city.

The BBC’s Lina Sinjab is in Damascus and noted

The newly appointed defence minister appears to have taken to heavily shelling some areas of Damascus, possibly in retaliation for yesterday’s bombing.

The fighting has spilled out of the areas of the city of was confined to yesterday with it getting ever closer to the Presidential Palace on the outskirts. In this video you can see the Palace and hear just how close the fighting is getting

The situation for civilians in the city is deteriorating with many fearful of government retaliation, whilst at the same time struggling to find sufficient food and medicine

To add to the confusion and fear, state-run TV is claiming that armed men are dressing as Presidential Guards and planning to carry out attacks in civilians. Rebels are claiming these are the Presidential Guards and not impersonators.

There have also been continued reports of internet blackouts across various regions in Syria, although it seems working again now and it is unclear whether these issues were down to government censorship efforts or simply internet infrastructure being hit in the ongoing conflict.

The whereabouts of President Assad remains uncertain. The rebels claim he is is in the coastal town of Lattakia, but officials maintain he remains working in Damascus.


State-run Syrian TV have aired pictures of Assad meeting with the new defence minister from earlier today, but he is still yet to speak out about the rapidly escalating conflict

Elsewhere in Syria the fighting continues as well. In Azaz, about 20 miles north-west of Aleppo, the rebels are reporting that they have finally liberated the town after a long 20-day battle, with a video showing rebel fighters surrounded by the burnt-out remnants of armoured vehicles and tanks.

There has been no statement for Assad since the conflict escalated in Damascus yesterday and his regime lost a number of their top officials. There were rumours of him being injured, and even a fake message of him stepping down, which had to be denied by state television

The Free Syrian Army have released a video of yesterday’s bombing on the National Security Headquarters in which a number of government top officials were killed. The explosion was inside the building, so there is little to see but you can hear the calls for ambulances and police discussion on the radio in the background.

According to FSA officials, the bombs hidden in a flower arrangement and a chocolate box were remotely detonated by defectors

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have said that more than 150 people had died across the country on Wednesday, in one of the worst days of a 16-month uprising.

As the world powers try to come to terms with the latest events in Syria and the change in momentum, many in Syria are now out of patience for the UN to act, and are less than impressed by the reactions so far

At the most recent meeting of the UN Security Council, Russia and China have again vetoed a resolution proposing further sanctions on Syria and the Assad regime. Under the Western-proposed plan, Assad’s government would have been threatened under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter with non-military sanctions if it maintained its troops and heavy weaponry in civilian populated areas.

Under the Western-backed plan, the Damascus government would have been threatened with non-military sanctions under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter if it failed to move troops and heavy weapons from populated areas. Moscow objected to the use of Chapter 7 as they claim that it opens the path to “external military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs” according to Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin. As the conflict death toll rises, Russia continues to supply military equipment to the Syrian military under a previously agreed multi-billion dollar deal. In response to the continued Russian support of the Assad regime, the rebels are already stating that Russia will lose access to the Mediterranean port of Tartus if they gain control of the country.

Whilst Assad does not appear to have started using chemical or biological weapons against his people, he does have such arsenals available to him. The use of such weapons is against international law, but even if Assad does not use them they are a major security risk to other countries if they fall into the wrong hands with many agreeing that they should be secured and decommissioned

ONGOING LIVE COVERAGE:
Al Jazeera | The Guardian | Global Post

Sources:
Local Coordination Committees of Syria
Hama English News
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
Yalla Souriya
Enduring America

Twitter:
@HamaEcho | @NOW_Syria | @Repent11 | @NMSyria | @Brown_Moses | @MaryamSaleh_ | @LeShaque | @liiz12_ |@edwardedark | @ObeidaNahas | @rallaf | @JMiller_EA | @Salman_Shaikh1 |@alihashem_tv (ar) | @BSyria | @BBCLinaSinjab

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