[guide.chat] bombings syria turkey
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:08:15 +0100
Blast hits Damascus, Turkey sends troops to border
Syrian tanks amass near Turkish border: FSA general
7:07pm EDT
Syria's Assad says duty to "annihilate terrorists"
Erdogan says Turkey can teach Syria a lesson
Wed, Jun 27 2012
Bloody aftermath of Syrian TV station attack - Rough Cuts
Syria rebels attack regime tank
Joumaa should not be given visa, says Hunt
Syrians seek refuge in Lebanon
Blast targets Damascus court
Turkey sends anti-aircraft weapons to Syrian border
By Erika Solomon and Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BEIRUT/ISKENDERUN, Turkey | Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:05pm EDT
(Reuters) - Rebel forces attacked Syria's main court in central Damascus on
Thursday, state television said, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft
rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar
al-Assad.
A loud explosion echoed through the streets and a column of black smoke rose
over Damascus, an Assad stronghold that until the last few days had seemed
largely beyond the reach of rebels. State television described it as a
"terrorist" blast.
Dozens of wrecked and burning cars were strewn over a car park used by lawyers
and judges. The state news agency SANA said three people had been wounded by a
bomb hidden in one of the cars.
The fighting coincided with a Turkish military buildup on its border with Syria
and a growing sense of urgency in Western- and Arab-backed diplomatic efforts
to promote the idea of a unity government to end 16 months of bloodshed.
But Assad himself dismissed the idea of any outside solution to Syria's crisis.
"We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from
big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria's problems
as well as we do," Assad told the state television channel of Syria's ally Iran.
He said Turkey's official stance belied the Turkish people's "positive view" of
Syria.
A first substantial convoy of about 30 Turkish military vehicles, including
trucks loaded with anti-aircraft missile batteries dispatched from the coastal
town of Iskenderun, headed towards the Syrian border 50 km (30 miles) away.
A Turkish official who declined to be named said he did not know how many
troops or vehicles were being moved but they were being stationed in the
Yayladagi, Altinozu and Reyhanli border areas.
A general in the rebel Free Syria Army said on Friday that Syrian government
forces had amassed around 170 tanks north of the city Aleppo, near the Turkish
border, but there was no independent confirmation of the report.
General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the Higher Military Council, an association
of senior officers who defected from Assad's forces, said the tanks had
assembled at the Infantry School near the village of Musalmieh northeast of the
city of Aleppo, 30 kms (19 miles) from the Turkish border.
"The tanks are now at the Infantry School. They're either preparing to move to
the border to counter the Turkish deployment or attack the rebellious (Syrian)
towns and villages in and around the border zone north of Aleppo," Sheikh told
Reuters by telephone from the border.
Last Friday Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean. Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan responded by ordering his troops to treat any
Syrian military element approaching the border as a military target.
This could cover Syrian forces pursuing rebels towards the border, or
patrolling helicopters or warplanes. Syria said at the weekend that it had
killed several "terrorists" infiltrating from Turkey.
TURKISH CONVOYS
A Reuters reporter near the town of Antakya saw the Turkish convoy moving out
of the hills and through small towns on a narrow highway escorted by police.
Another convoy left a base at Gaziantep and headed for Kilis province, the site
of a large camp for Syrian refugees. Video from the DHA agency showed the group
of about 12 trucks and transporters filing through the gates of the base.
David Hartwell, Middle East analyst at IHS Jane's, called the Turkish action a
pragmatic response to the downing of the Turkish aircraft, which Syria says was
flying low and fast in Syrian airspace. "Damascus has been warned once. I doubt
there will be a second warning."
Turkey, in the front line of Western efforts to press Assad to step down, hosts
33,000 Syrian refugees near its southern border as well as units of the rebel
Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Members of the FSA, talking close to the border, told Reuters they did not
believe the Turkish deployments were on a large scale or aimed at any
crossborder intervention.
"The Turks know that any large-scale military action would need international
support," said a senior FSA commander who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Turkey has in the past spoken of opening a humanitarian corridor on Syrian soil
if the refugee flow grew unmanageable or if the violence and killing became
intolerable.
Wary of igniting a regional sectarian war, it insists this would be possible
only with U.N. backing. Western- and Arab-backed efforts to forge a joint
diplomatic approach with Russia have so far failed.
Thursday's attack in Damascus follows weeks of growing FSA pressure. Rebels
stormed a pro-Assad television channel on Wednesday, and have also targeted
police and security barracks.
Syria denies there has been a mass popular uprising against Assad and says that
the rebels who have now largely taken over from months of unarmed
anti-government protests are foreign-backed Islamist terrorists, including
members of al Qaeda.
Assad told Iranian television that his government had a duty to eliminate these
to protect its people, and that Washington was content for al Qaeda to attack
countries it did not like.
"When you eliminate a terrorist, it's possible that you are saving the lives of
tens, hundreds, or even thousands," he said.
NEW ANNAN PLAN
Diplomats at the United Nations say international mediator Kofi Annan will seek
backing from the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and key Middle
East players on Saturday for a plan for a political transition in Syria.
They say the proposal does not stipulate that Assad must step down but does
call for a unity government that would exclude figures who jeopardize stability
- a condition that many not be enough to convince opposition groups to
participate.
"The proposal is still murky to us but I can tell you that if it does not
clearly state that Assad must step down, it will be unacceptable to us," said
Samir Nashar, an executive member of the international Syrian National Council.
Rebel fighters said there was no part of the plan they could accept, and that
they had lost patience with Annan's efforts.
"This is just a new labyrinth. It is new silliness for us to get lost in, and
haggle over who can participate and who can't," said Ahmed, an FSA fighter in
Homs, epicenter of the revolt against four decades of Assad family rule in
which more than 10,000 people have been killed, by a U.N. count.
An FSA member in Damascus added: "The FSA is doing its work, and it is not
looking to the outside world. We don't want a transitional government unless it
is the one formed by rebel military councils. The world is conspiring against
the Syrian revolution."
from
Vanessa The Google Girl.
my skype name is rainbowstar123
Other related posts:
- » [guide.chat] bombings syria turkey - vanessa
