Syria opposition urges ‘surgical strikes’ on Assad missiles

Head of Free Syrian Army Selim Idriss arrives at the Friends of Syria meeting on April 20, 2013 in Istanbul. (AFP)

Syria's opposition on Saturday called on international supporters to carry out "surgical strikes" on positions used by President Bashar al-Assad's regime to fire missiles on civilians.

Voicing frustration at the lack of a strong international response to Syria's crisis, the Syrian National Coalition urged Western and Arab countries gathered for a "Friends of Syria" meeting to take immediate action.

"It is the moral imperative of the international community, led by the Friends of Syria, to take specific, precise and immediate action to protect Syrian civilians from the use of ballistic missiles and chemical weapons," the Coalition said in a statement.

It called for "surgical strikes of launching locations by unmanned aerial vehicles".

The 11-nation core group of the Friends of Syria -- including the United States, European nations and Arab countries -- was holding talks and meeting with the opposition in Istanbul late Saturday.

Washington is expected to announce more support for the opposition after the talks, including for the first time provisions of non-offensive military equipment, but not the arms the rebels are demanding.

Yaser Tabbara, a spokesman for the opposition's interim Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto, said new pledges of aid were not enough.

"Assad is firing missiles against densely populated areas... without consequences. Throwing money at the problem won't solve it," he said.

The Coalition statement also called for the enforcement of a no-fly zone along Syria's northern and southern borders, an international fund to support the opposition and a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the use of "ballistic and chemical weapons against civilians".

A senior U.S. official said Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating accounts from European allies that Syria has used chemical weapons in the conflict.

21 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/21/Syria-opposition-urges-surgical-strikes-on-Assad-missiles-.html
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Watchdog: Shells from Syria violence crash in Lebanon

Cross-border shellfire from the Syrian war has regularly hit Lebanon, on occasion killing Lebanese. (AFP)

Fierce battles raged on Saturday in flashpoint areas of Syria's central province of Homs near the Lebanese border, a watchdog said, adding that six shells fell across the border in Lebanon.

One of the shells hit the town of Hermel in eastern Lebanon -- a stronghold of the Hezbollah -- the first time violence from Syria spilled over into the town, a Lebanese security source told AFP.

Earlier troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's regime seized Radwaniyeh village near the rebel-held town of Qusayr in Homs province and hours later fresh fighting raged in nearby Tal al-Nabi Mando, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Tal is important because it is located on a hilltop, giving whoever controls it a strategic advantage.

The Britain-based Observatory said those fighting insurgents were regime troops, pro-regime militiamen and fighters loyal to powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which supports Assad's regime.

"The situation here is very bad. They are trying to take control of the countryside surrounding Qusayr, in order to then attack us in the city," Qusayr-based activist Hadi al-Abdallah told AFP via the Internet.

The Lebanese security source said the six shells were fired from Syria and hit the town of Hermel and its countryside. No one was hurt, the source said.

One shell fell in the Dawra neighborhood of Hermel while two hit the Sahlet al-May area on the outskirts and three others fell in and around the nearby town of Qasr, the security source said.

The shells triggered panic and residents rushed to take cover indoors as shops in Hermel closed.

"The situation is unbearable. The [Lebanese] army should respond to the sources of fire. People are frightened," said Ali Shamas, a 50-year-old school principal from the town.

Cross-border shellfire from the Syrian war has regularly hit Lebanon, on occasion killing Lebanese.

Lebanon is sharply divided over the Syria conflict, with Hezbollah and its allies backing the regime of Assad while the Sunni-led March 14 movement supporting the uprising.

Until 2005, Damascus dominated Lebanon politically and militarily for 30 years.

Elsewhere, battles raged near Damascus, where at least 69 people, many of them rebels, were killed in four days of fighting against government forces in Jdaidet al-Fadl, said the Observatory.

"Regime troops are trying to seize total control of the town of Jdaidet al-Fadl" southwest of Damascus, a statement said.

"Sixty-nine people were killed in violence raging there over the past four days," added the watchdog, citing activists on the ground, who said many were killed in shelling and also in summary executions by the army.

Violence also raged in Sunni areas of the nearby majority Christian town of Jdaidet Artuz, and in rebel stronghold Daraya, scene of fierce fighting for several months.

The opposition Syrian National Council accused the army of staging a "fierce attack" in areas south and west of Damascus.

Jdaidet al-Fadel and other flashpoints are "subjected to a siege and they are deprived of all basic needs for human life", said the SNC.

Since last year, the army has tried to root out rebels positioned southwest and east of Damascus, in a bid to secure the capital.

Saturday's violence comes a day after at least 157 people were killed across Syria, according to the Observatory.

21 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/20/Watchdog-Shells-from-Syria-violence-crash-in-Lebanon.html
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Germany: Syria opposition must distance itself from ‘terrorists’

Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (C) speaks with the media before a meeting with the Friends of Syria group in Istanbul April 20, 2013. (Reuters)

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Saturday the Syrian opposition must distance itself from extremist forces and he said Germany was skeptical about supplying weapons to the rebels.

"We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces," Westerwelle told reporters in Istanbul at a meeting of Syrian opposition leaders and their international backers.

"We are skeptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union."

A U.S. official said on Friday Washington planned to provide about $100 million in new non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition that could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles.

U.S. aid to Syrian rebels

Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to announce the new aid package, which would mark a recalibration of U.S. policy toward Syrian rebel groups at Saturday's meeting. Fresh U.S. humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees is also likely.

The new assistance would stop short of supplying weapons to rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is also far less than what is sought by Syrian opposition leaders, U.S. allies Britain and France and some U.S. lawmakers.

The 11-nation "core group" of the Friends of Syria, including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been dead locked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011.

Syria's opposition has said it hopes the Istanbul meeting will give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel groups is the best way to end Assad's rule.

Syrian rebel officer rules out negotiations with Assad

A Syrian rebel leader said on Saturday only force could end the country's two-year conflict and ruled out the possibility of any negotiation with Assad's administration other than over its exit.

"There is no solution with this regime through negotiation. This [conflict] will not be settled other than by force," Brigadier Selim Idris, head of a military command, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul.

"Maybe in its final stages, when the regime feels it has lost everything, it might want to negotiate for its exit."

More than 70,000 have been killed in the revolt and subsequent civil war. But a military stalemate has set in and much of Syria is left in ruins because of a divided and ineffective opposition, a lack of action by foreign allies and Assad's ability to rely on support from Russia and Iran.

21 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/20/Germany-Syria-opposition-must-distance-itself-from-terrorists-.html
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