Syria’s chemical weaponsinvite unwanted intervention
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Israel said it would consider military action to ensure Syrian missiles and chemical weapons didn’t reach Hezbollah.
Violence in Aleppo intensified as rebels continued to seize more territories in the north.
Regime forces killed more than 150 people today; the majority in Homs.
Summary of Events
Clashes between rebels and regime forces intensified in the city of Aleppo as regime forces continued its nationwide military offensive against the opposition strongholds leaving scores of civilians dead and hundreds wounded.
A senior Syrian military defector said Assad’s forces were moving chemical weapons across the country for possible use in a military retaliation for the killing of four top security officials. Israel said on Friday it would consider military action if needed to ensure Syrian missiles or chemical weapons did not reach President Bashar al-Assad’s allies in Lebanon, the Shi’ite Islamist movement Hezbollah.
The rebels continued to seize more territories in the north of the country as heavy skirmishes occurred in the city of Aleppo, mainly in the neighbourhoods of Saladin, Masaken Hanaon, al-Bab Road and near Aleppo International Airport. Rebels also seized power of the neighbourhoods of Sakhour and al-Bab Road near the fully-controlled suburbs which were bombarded using cluster bombs in an attempt by the regime to regain control over them. The town of Dereuk in the province of Hasaka as well as the Ya’roubiya crossing along the border with Iraq are under the authority of the Free Syrian Army.
Violence has intensified in the capital Damascus as regime forces continued to besiege and bombard the neighbourhoods of Barzeh, Mazeh, Naher Aisah, Qadam, Asali and Tadamon in an attempt to wipe out the rebels who are still fighting for the 6th consecutive day. Meanwhile, regime forces field executed eleven civilians in the neighbourhood of Maidan. As the bodies of killed civilians were scattered in the streets, forces raided several houses and slaughtered two brothers inside their home. A similar incident occurred in the disaster-impacted neighbourhood of Qabun as regime forces raided many houses, looted their contents and then burned them down.
Regime forces killed more than 150 people today. Twenty-nine died as a result of the heavy shelling that targeted the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh and due to the clashes that occurred in the central prison of Homs between the prisoners and the guards in addition to the heavy skirmishes between the rebels and regime forces in the town of Qasir and Jobar. Eight were killed in the neighbourhoods of Saladin, al-Bab Road and Saif Adola in the city of Aleppo and 5 rebels died in the Aleppo suburb of Indan. Sixteen died in Damascus as a result of heavy clashes with regime forces. Four more died as a result of the massive military offensive carried out by regime forces against the Damascus suburbs of Shaaba, Mesraba, Madaya and Zabadani. Fifteen were killed in the province of Idlib due to the massive military campaign against the towns of Ma’arrat Noman, Mastouma and Saraqeb. Nine more died in the city of Daraa and its provincial towns of Maaraba, Naima and Mosefra. Five were killed in the city of Deir Azzour and four more died as regime forces bombarded several neighbourhoods in Hama in addition to one civilian who was shot dead in the Hasaka suburb of Dereik.
Assad’s military forces continued to target civilian areas in the Damascus suburbs of Madaya, Zabadani, Sayeda Zainab, Thiyabiya and Moadamiya, in the city of Daraa and its provincial towns of Inkhel and Mosefra, in the towns of Qasir and Teir Maala and the neighbourhoods of Qosur, Khaldiya, Qarabis, Jouret Sheyah, Baba Amr and Jobar in the province of Homs, in the villages located at Jabal Akrad in the suburb of Latakia as well as in the city of Deir Azzour.
Defections of senior military officers continued throughout the country as the Chief of Military Security in Aleppo General Mohammad Mefleh and Commander-in-Chief of the 131st artillery brigade Colonel Brig. Mohammad Taha announced their defection to the opposition.
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