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REBELS SLAY 18 SYRIAN SOLDIERS - FIGHTING RAGES IN THE COUNTRY'S COMMERCIAL CAPITAL
Kuwait Times
Sept 12 2012
ALEPPO: Syrian rebels killed at least 18 soldiers in a car bomb and
ground attack on a military position in Idlib province yesterday,
as fighting also raged in the country's commercial capital, Aleppo.
Four Armenian Syrians were killed and 13 wounded on the road home
from the airport after a trip to Yerevan. "There were 70 to 100
soldiers there when the attack occurred" in the town of Saraqeb,
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said. "Twenty soldiers escaped, and clashes are still going on,"
he added. Abdel Rahman said the details of the incident were still
sketchy, and that he could not say whether the car bombing was
a suicide attack. Outside Aleppo, fighting erupted at dawn in the
Nayrab area, around five kilometers from the city's airport, which
remained fully operational, the Observatory said.
Over the past several weeks, rebels have taken to attacking military
airfields in an attempt to prevent them from being used for launching
air strikes, while commercial facilities have been left alone.
However, this is not the first time there has been fighting around
Aleppo airport, which serves the country's commercial capital. A friend
of the Syrian Armenians said: "It's not obvious who opened fire, but
the result is that five cars were attacked and four Armenians were
killed and 13 or 14 others were wounded." "Some say it was the FSA
(Free Syrian Army), but it's not clear. We don't have proof and we
should wait and see.
I don't think the FSA would attack random cars in the street." He said
one of those killed "had left his family behind in Armenia, his wife
and kids. He had gone back to take care of some things in Aleppo and
then return." Meanwhile, the army shelled a string of neighborhoods
in central Aleppo, including Suleiman Al-Halabi, Sheikh Khodr and
Qadi Askar, the Britain-based Observatory said. Helicopter gunships
also strafed the rebel district of Bustan Al-Basha, a witness said,
and the Observatory reported that rebels used rocket-propelled grenades
to attack a security branch in the adjacent Midan neighborhood. Rebels
had been trying for four days to enter Midan. Elsewhere, a boy and a
girl were killed and dozens of civilians wounded when the army shelled
the rebel village of Latamneh in Hama province, said the Observatory,
which gathers its information from a wide network of activists. Also
in Hama, the Observatory reported that eight bodies had been found
in farmlands in Halfaya village, following an assault by government
forces. It said the number of dead was expected to rise as many people
were reported missing.
In eastern Syria, troops shelled several districts of Deir Ezzor city,
and an unspecified number of people were killed in air strikes on
the town of Albu Kamal, the Observatory said. Rebels launched rocket
attacks on a number of army checkpoints in the northwestern city of
Idlib, the Observatory added, with locals reporting powerful explosions
and columns of smoke rising from the targets. On Tuesday, 138 people
- 93 civilians, 19 rebels and 26 soldiers-were killed nationwide,
according to the Observatory. Of these, 13 people died in Aleppo,
mostly civilians in Sakhur, Sukari and Bustan Al-Qasr. More than
27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President
Bashar Al-Assad broke out in March 2011, according to Observatory
figures. International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Cairo on
Tuesday to meet exiled opposition leaders ahead of a planned visit
to Damascus.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi will meet Assad in Damascus
and insisted that "the violence must stop by both sides." He told
reporters in Bern that he understood the frustration felt by many
in the face of the UN Security Council's apparent paralysis in
dealing with the spiraling crisis. But "while we may be frustrated
and troubled by not being able to address the situation in Syria,
which has reached intolerable circumstances", he said, "we should not
be overly pessimistic about the strength and the commitment of the
international community, especially the international organizations."
"Those countries who might have influence over two parties should
exercise" that influence and work towards "a political resolution
reflecting the genuine aspirations of the Syrian people," Ban added.
Coupled with the violence is the humanitarian crisis caused by the
large number of people fleeing the country or displaced within its
borders. The UN refugee agency said the number of civilians who have
fled nearly 18 months of violence has reached more than 250,000. And it
says more than 1.2 million civilians, more than half of them children,
have been displaced inside Syria.- AFP
http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/09/12/rebels-slay-18-syrian-soldiers-fighti
ng-rages-in-the-countrys-commercial-capital/
Kuwait Times
Sept 12 2012
ALEPPO: Syrian rebels killed at least 18 soldiers in a car bomb and
ground attack on a military position in Idlib province yesterday,
as fighting also raged in the country's commercial capital, Aleppo.
Four Armenian Syrians were killed and 13 wounded on the road home
from the airport after a trip to Yerevan. "There were 70 to 100
soldiers there when the attack occurred" in the town of Saraqeb,
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said. "Twenty soldiers escaped, and clashes are still going on,"
he added. Abdel Rahman said the details of the incident were still
sketchy, and that he could not say whether the car bombing was
a suicide attack. Outside Aleppo, fighting erupted at dawn in the
Nayrab area, around five kilometers from the city's airport, which
remained fully operational, the Observatory said.
Over the past several weeks, rebels have taken to attacking military
airfields in an attempt to prevent them from being used for launching
air strikes, while commercial facilities have been left alone.
However, this is not the first time there has been fighting around
Aleppo airport, which serves the country's commercial capital. A friend
of the Syrian Armenians said: "It's not obvious who opened fire, but
the result is that five cars were attacked and four Armenians were
killed and 13 or 14 others were wounded." "Some say it was the FSA
(Free Syrian Army), but it's not clear. We don't have proof and we
should wait and see.
I don't think the FSA would attack random cars in the street." He said
one of those killed "had left his family behind in Armenia, his wife
and kids. He had gone back to take care of some things in Aleppo and
then return." Meanwhile, the army shelled a string of neighborhoods
in central Aleppo, including Suleiman Al-Halabi, Sheikh Khodr and
Qadi Askar, the Britain-based Observatory said. Helicopter gunships
also strafed the rebel district of Bustan Al-Basha, a witness said,
and the Observatory reported that rebels used rocket-propelled grenades
to attack a security branch in the adjacent Midan neighborhood. Rebels
had been trying for four days to enter Midan. Elsewhere, a boy and a
girl were killed and dozens of civilians wounded when the army shelled
the rebel village of Latamneh in Hama province, said the Observatory,
which gathers its information from a wide network of activists. Also
in Hama, the Observatory reported that eight bodies had been found
in farmlands in Halfaya village, following an assault by government
forces. It said the number of dead was expected to rise as many people
were reported missing.
In eastern Syria, troops shelled several districts of Deir Ezzor city,
and an unspecified number of people were killed in air strikes on
the town of Albu Kamal, the Observatory said. Rebels launched rocket
attacks on a number of army checkpoints in the northwestern city of
Idlib, the Observatory added, with locals reporting powerful explosions
and columns of smoke rising from the targets. On Tuesday, 138 people
- 93 civilians, 19 rebels and 26 soldiers-were killed nationwide,
according to the Observatory. Of these, 13 people died in Aleppo,
mostly civilians in Sakhur, Sukari and Bustan Al-Qasr. More than
27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President
Bashar Al-Assad broke out in March 2011, according to Observatory
figures. International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Cairo on
Tuesday to meet exiled opposition leaders ahead of a planned visit
to Damascus.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi will meet Assad in Damascus
and insisted that "the violence must stop by both sides." He told
reporters in Bern that he understood the frustration felt by many
in the face of the UN Security Council's apparent paralysis in
dealing with the spiraling crisis. But "while we may be frustrated
and troubled by not being able to address the situation in Syria,
which has reached intolerable circumstances", he said, "we should not
be overly pessimistic about the strength and the commitment of the
international community, especially the international organizations."
"Those countries who might have influence over two parties should
exercise" that influence and work towards "a political resolution
reflecting the genuine aspirations of the Syrian people," Ban added.
Coupled with the violence is the humanitarian crisis caused by the
large number of people fleeing the country or displaced within its
borders. The UN refugee agency said the number of civilians who have
fled nearly 18 months of violence has reached more than 250,000. And it
says more than 1.2 million civilians, more than half of them children,
have been displaced inside Syria.- AFP
http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/09/12/rebels-slay-18-syrian-soldiers-fighti
ng-rages-in-the-countrys-commercial-capital/