LATEST: Regime To Allow UN To Inspect 3 Sites of Alleged Chemical Weapons Attacks

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After days of drama and speculation over the regime offensive in Homs, it was back to the “routine” of death from bombardment on Tuesday.

Videos, some too graphic to post, testified to the carnage and killing of a missile strike close to a mosque in Anadan in Aleppo Province. Activists said at least 17 people died, including seven children and three women.

The missile landed as women and children were attending a religious studies class in the Hamzah Abd Al-Muttaleb Mosque, which was damaged by the blast.

Anadan, 12 kilometres north of Aleppo on the highway to Turkey, is one of a series of towns and villages controlled by insurgents near Syria’s largest city. The regime is trying to loosen the opposition’s grip on the area to relieve a siege on Syrian forces inside Aleppo, which has been in military stalemate since last July.

The Local Coordination Committees claimed 120 people were killed on Tuesday, including 18 children and 15 women. Thirty-one of the casualties were in Aleppo Province, 26 in Damascus and its suburbs, 20 in Idlib Province, and 17 in Homs Province.

The Violations Documentation Center puts the number of dead at 67,952 since the start of the conflict, a rise of 112 since Tuesday. Of these, 51,584 are civilians, an increase of 68 from yesterday.


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Regime To Allow UN To Inspect 3 Sites of Alleged Chemical Weapons Attacks

The Assad regime has agreed to allow United Nations investigators to visit three sites where chemical weapons have allegedly been used.

The inspectors will go “as soon as possible”, said a statement from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s office.

One of the sites is at Khan al-Assal, outside Aleppo, where the regime and opposition have traded claims of chemical weapons use on 19 March, killing 27 people.

The village was captured by insurgents on 22 July.

The UN did not identify the other two sites to be investigated.

The Assad regime had said that it would allow inspection of Khan al Assal but refused to agree to UN access elsewhere. Last week two UN officials held two days of talks in Damascus over the issue.

Regime Undertakes Photo-Op Tour Of Homs, While Activists Say Fighting Continues

Amid continued activist reports on Wednesday of heavy clashes in Homs, the regime saw an opening for a photo-op lauding gains in the city on Wednesday.

SANA reports that Ali Haidar, the State Minister for National Reconciliation Affairs and Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi had gone on walkabout in Homs, to “inspect the massive destruction caused by terrorists in al-Khalidiye neighborhood”.

The report is more than just another instance of State media documenting a gain against the insurgents. The al-Khalidiyeh neighborhood has become a symbol of the insurgents’ fight for Homs — particularly because of the landmark Khalid bin al-Walid mosque. The SANA story is a pushback against the many activist reports of the effects of regime shelling on the mosque, which has been extensively damaged, and an attempt to destroy insurgents’ morale by stressing the regime’s victory in taking the key area.

In what appears to be a direct dig at the insurgents’ fight for the mosque, SANA quoted Haidar as saying that the “destruction caused by terrorists is clear proof of their blind hatred which masquerades as religious to wreak havoc in cities, spreading death and devastation”.

Haidar also stress the need to “document these acts to serve as a reminder.”

Meanwhile, activists said that the regime continued to bombard Homs including with airstrikes:

Footage of an airstrike in Bab Houd on Wednesday:

State Media Lauds Syrian Arab Army For “Defending Homeland, Protecting Against Plots”

State news agency SANA on Wednesday lauded the Syrian Arab Army for “uphold[ing] the values and principles it championed since it was established in 1945, defending the homeland and protecting it from plots seeking to undermine the Syrian state”.

In an article marking 68 years since its founding, SANA said that there were conspiracies against the Army by unnamed organizations who were “employing misleading media campaigns via hundreds of media outlets and spending billions of dollars in a desperate attempt to distort the image of Syrian soldiers.”

Following the regime line that the insurgency was attempting to destroy Syrian national unity and split the country along sectarian lines, SANA said that the composition of the Army “embodied the values of national unity and reflected the diversity of Syrian society”, and said it was “a part of the masses, connected to the people it defends against external and internal threats.”

Video: More Claimed Footage From Khan Al-Assal – Jabhat al-Nusra With Regime Prisoners

This video, originally uploaded on July 27, claims to show members of Islamist insurgent faction Jabhat al-Nusra with a group of captive regime soldiers in Khan al-Assal, following the capture of that village by insurgents.

The regime soldiers appear unhurt, and have clearly been instructed to lie face down. At one point in the video, one of the captives is seen handing over his cellphone and some other personal items to an insurgent.

Video: In Afrin, Residents Condemn Islamist Attacks On Kurds, Civilians

Activist footage of a sit-in demonstration in front of the Red Crescent in Afrin, Aleppo Province, organized by the Hevrêza Biratî Ya Kurdî. Protesters condemned the recent violence by Islamists against Kurds and stressed the unity of all Syrians.

As Clashes Continue, Residents Line Up For Bread In Ashrafiyeh, Aleppo

Residents of Aleppo’s Ashrafiyeh neighborhood on Wednesday stood in line to receive bread handouts from a van. Among those waiting for bread are a number of small children. A man can be seen walking away from the van with his meager handout of what appears to be two large pittas.

Meanwhile, activists posted more videos of clashes in Ashrafiyeh today. This footage, taken at dawn, shows extensive damage to residential buildings, while heavy fighting is heard in the background:

Wife Charged With Murder of Pro-Assad Activist in Lebanon

A Lebanese prosecutor charged the wife of pro-Assad political activist Mohammad Jemo with his murder earlier this month, recommending the death penalty.

Siham Younes’ brother and nephew were also charged.

Jemo, a Syrian media figure and a Baath Party official, was shot dead at his home in the coastal town of Sarafand in south Lebanon.

Before Jemo’s wife came under suspicion, his murder was originally thought to be connected to the war in Syria.

Video: Homs Burns As Regime Shelling Continues

Fierce fires have broken out in Homs as regime shelling continues.

Videos posted on Wednesday by activists show large fires burning on Tuesday night, apparently forest fires as a result of shelling.

Activists also accused regime forces of targeting the homes of civilians again on Wednesday. This video purports to show the shelling of a civilian building in the Wa’er district of Homs:

On Tuesday, smoke was seen rising from neighborhoods in Homs:

Meanwhile, State media accused insurgents of firing rockets at an oil refinery in Homs, saying that a workers’ housing compound was hit and several workers were injured.

Video: Funeral of PYD Leader Issa Hisso, Assassinated In Qamishli

Claimed footage of the funeral of Issa Hisso, the PYD leader assassinated in Qamishli on Tuesday, has been posted by activists.

Activists said that Hisso, a Syrian Kurdish opposition leader in the Kurdish Supreme Committee and the West Kurdistan People’s Congress, died when an explosive device planted in his car went off early Tuesday morning. The assassination came amid continued clashes between the PYD and Islamist insurgent factions.