11:40 AM - 11 Nov 12 · Details
SYRIA – NEWS
SYRIAN ARMY COUNTER ATTACKS AGAINST LOST BORDER CROSSING IN NORTH-EAST AND RETAKES PART OF CRUCIAL ALEPPO HIGHWAY:
TIMELINE – 11th NOVEMBER 2012 15.13 GMT:
Yesterday the Syrian Army kept up attacks, district wide invasions and arrests in the Daraya suburb of Damascus, Deraa and Idlib, as well as pounding Free Syria Army (FSA) positions in Aleppo, Homs and Deir el-Zour.
Clashes Continue Around Ras al-Ayn
Near Ras al-Ayn, the border crossing in the north-east province of Hasakeh, which Opposition forces took this week with the help of local Kurdish militia, Assad’s forces counter-attacked and are reported this morning, Sunday, to be firing rockets from helicopters at surrounding villages where they believe Opposition fighters may be hiding.
Helicopters have fired rockets at a grain storage area near the village of Tal Halaf and shells hit the border crossing into Turkey. The nearby town of Asfar Najar is currently under artillery fire.
After leaving 2 towns in the north-east (scroll down, see earlier report) following persuasion by local residents and the Kurdish militia on Friday that it was not in their interests to stay, Government forces also voluntarily left the town of Amuda on Saturday.
Ma’arrat al-Numan in Idlib, sitting astride the strategic Damascus – Aleppo highway continues to come under repeated bombardment from Assad’s forces, leaving whole districts devastated from “barrel-bomb” explosions as can be seen in this video recorded yesterday, HERE:
South of Ma’aarat al-Numan, by pounding its way with shell-fire through numerous villages along the way, the Syrian Army has regained control of some of the highway to Aleppo over the last 10 days, but has failed to capture the crucial stretch through the Ma’aarat suburbs.
The major military base at nearby Wadi Daif is still under siege from Opposition forces but has been reinforced, presumably from the air, with food and ammunition, prolonging its demise.
FSA Fighters Duck Through Smoke in Aleppo
In Aleppo yesterday the Syrian Army rained mortar shells on Shaar in the east, Sukari in the south and Halab al-Jadida in the west, as well as tank fire on Opposition positions in the north and the Old City.
Fighting continues as the FSA struggle to gain control of the Air Intelligence headquarters, a complex of buildings that can be seen on this map, courtesy of Mark Topham, HERE:
121 people were recorded killed yesterday. For the month of October the Local Co-ordinating Committees (LCC) reported the death toll for the whole of Syria standing at 4784.
AS NEW OPPOSITION COALITION FORMS IN QATAR, ISRAEL FINALLY LOSES PATIENCE AT SHELL INCURSIONS AND FIRES WARNING SHOTS:
Israeli Sign on the Golan Heights
Israel, which is also coming under rocket attack from Gaza at the moment, finally lost patience with shell and gun fire coming from the battles in Syria this morning when a mortar round hit one of its border posts and sent warning shots into Syrian territory across the Golan heights de-militerised zone, the first time it has fired at Syria since 1973.
According to officials in Doha, Qatar, the talks between various Opposition parties appear to be making progress.
Under the new name of the National Coalition for opposition Forces and the Syrian Revolution, the widely varying groups signed a deal to work together today in an organisation in which there will be 60 seats. The Syrian National Council (SNC) seems satisfied with its share of 22 of them.
The military councils will be part of this new group as well and the hope is that if they can work together in some show of unity then Western powers will be more likely to help them. George Sabra, the new president of the SNC called on the West to help Syrians defend themselves militarily. Al Jazeera has video report on the progress of the talks, HERE:
Omran al-Zoubi , Syria’s Minister of Information, commenting on the Doha Opposition talks described them as “a new form of foreign intervention which aimed at remarketing an old product”. He continued to insist that dialogue within Syria was “the only solution” and that the Army were fighting to “allow that dialogue to take place”.
UK’S PM AND MILITARY HEAD MAKE INTERESTING NOISES INDICATING POSSIBILITY OF LIMITED INTERVENTION:
