LATEST: Footage: In Daraa, Insurgent Field Hospital Provides Care To Civilians
Regime aerial attacks on insurgents continue in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, with uncertainty over whether a ground offensive will follow to clear out the opposition fighters.
The full statement on State news agency SANA is cryptic: “Army units destroyed terrorist hideouts in gatherings in the neighborhoods of al-Khalidiye, al-Qarabis and Bab Houd in Homs city, leaving many terrorists dead or injured.”
Information from Homs is difficult to obtain, but an EA correspondent with excellent contacts assesses: “If they [regime forces] follow the Soviet book of tactics, they should launch the major ground assault shortly. Not sure they have the manpower — I doubt the fighting skills of shabiha [pro-regime militia] and Army held back [so far], but Hezbollah tactics tested in the outskirts [and] could do the trick.”
Activist and writer Amal Hanano posts on Twitter:
Reports from #Homs are painful. The people inside the sealed city are preparing themselves for death. #Syria
— Amal Hanano (@AmalHanano) July 1, 2013
Latest Updates, From Top to Bottom
Footage: In Daraa, Insurgent Field Hospital Provides Care To Civilians
As EA continues to report beyond the battle for military control in Syria, insurgents and the Assad regime are also fighting for control over provision of key services to civilians.
While our previous update (below) showed footage of insurgents repairing a power station in Aleppo, these two videos show insurgents providing field hospital services in Daraa for civilians.
UN Secretary General: 2,500 Civilians Trapped In Homs
Around 2,500 civilians are trapped in Homs, where heavy clashes have raged over the past few days, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ban called on both sides “to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties and to allow immediate humanitarian access, as well as opportunities for trapped civilians to leave without fear of persecution.”
Ban also expressed concern over “threats to seize two Shiite villages in the northern province of Aleppo.”
Footage: In Aleppo’s Ashrafieh District, Insurgents Repair Power Station
Following an effective admission earlier on Tuesday by Syria’s Electricity Minister that the Assad regime was finding it difficult to maintain electricity supplies amid the ongoing fighting, this footage posted Tuesday afternoon shows insurgents in Aleppo’s Ashrafieh neighborhood carrying out repairs to a damaged power station.
Last week, the same insurgent group — the Revolutionary Council of the Bada Martyrs Brigade — have posted video showing how they are carrying out other similar in Ashrafieh, a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood, including road-widening and fixing electricity wiring.
The footage is an attempt to show that the insurgent group not only has military control but is also capable of carrying out de facto local government services in the district.
Video — Insurgents in the Rubble of Homs Neighborhood
Claimed footage from the Bad Houd section of Homs on Monday, with insurgents of the Farouq Brigades fighting in the rubble:
Map — Nonviolent Activism In Syria
Al Harak, the Syrian Nonviolence Movement, has produced an interactive map of non-violent resistance activities — including newspapers and magazines, civil activism, and art — across Syria.
Amnesty International explain that Syrian activist Omar Al Assil produced the map together with colleagues in and outside of Syria.
Omar said: “It was very difficult and challenging to collect this amount of activities. We decided also to include some overview about each item in the map and a link to its website/Facebook page. Maimouna was working from inside Syria and most of the time she worked offline and without electricity to finish the project because of the difficulties to access the internet due to constant power outages”.
The SNM describes itself as: “A non-governmental organization formed by a group of Syrian youths that believe in peaceful struggle and civil resistance as a way to achieve social, cultural and political change in the Syrian state and society.”
US, Russia Continue To Agree There Should Be Peace Conference “To Save Syria” But It Might Not Take Place Until August
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Tuesday that the US and Russia have “narrowed down some of the options” regarding a proposed international peace conference to discuss a solution to the crisis in Syria.
Speaking after a 90 minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brunei, Kerry said Washington and Moscow agree that there should be an international conference on Syria but that it might not take place until “August or later”.
While Kerry presented his meeting with Lavrov as indicative of progress, in reality it appears that nothing has changed. The conference has been pushed back repeatedly because so far, the US and Russia have failed to agree on key issues such as who should attend and what should be discussed.
The Washington Post quoted Kerry as saying:
“Our objective remains the same — that to recognize the notion that there really isn’t a military victory, per se, for Syria that keeps Syria as a country…And No. 2, that we have an obligation to try to work towards a peaceful resolution because a peaceful settlement is the best way to save the state of Syria and to minimize destruction.”
Footage: Aleppo Children Given Blankets By Neighborhood Council
The neighborhood council of Aleppo’s Trab al-Hellok District hands out blankets to local children on Sunday. The blankets — brand new — appear to have a label on them from the donor organization (see 0:03) but it is not possible to make it out.
Footage: In Aleppo, Children Explore The Crisis Through Art
Footage showing an exhibition of children’s art in the Hanano District of Aleppo, which explores the conflict and how Syria can rise from the destruction. Some of the artworks show quite graphic pictures of the violence, death and destruction that the children who drew them must have witnessed.
In this video, a girl talks about her picture, which depicts the “red lines” that US President Barack Obama has set for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. In the drawing, Assad is jumping over a red line.
A small girl talks about the exhibition, and we can see more of the pictures. One (0:33 in the video) depicts a harrowing scene. A family — mother at the forefront — are shown after a shelling. Children are trapped under rubble.
Small girls sing a song to welcome visitors to the exhibition:
Interview with Mostafa Badawi, the exhibition manager. More of the pictures in the exhibition can be seen here, including drawings of armed men fighting:
Map showing the location of the Hanano District:
More Footage Of Tanks, BMP Seized By Insurgents Near Raqqa
The videos, posted on Tuesday by the Ar Raqqa Media Office, show claimed footage of two tanks and a BMP (infantry fighting vehicle) captured from the Syrian Army’s 93 Brigade near Raqqa.
Russian FM: USA Recognizes Importance Of Consolidating Syrian Opposition
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that the US “recognizes that the important thing now is to achieve a consolidation of the Syrian opposition”, ITAR-TASS reports.
Lavrov made his comments following a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei.
Lavrov said that he and Kerry had discussed the June 25 meeting in Geneva, regarding the possibility of an international conference on Syria.
Regime’s “Big Challenge” on Electricity Supplies
Minister of Electricity Imad Khames has effectively admitted, in State media, that there are difficulties with electricity supplies:
The electricity sector is daily suffering of financial losses, estimated at millions SYP, due to the acts of terrorism in different Syrian regions.. And this holds additional burdens on the state’s economy….The government is going ahead in its support to the electricity sector in spite of the big challenges it is passing through.
Even more interesting is the revelation that the country’s financial system has stopped assistance for reconstruction:
“The government has agreed to fund a number of projects through the reserve currency after the internal banks have abstained from financing them due to the unfair economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian people.”
Minister Khames said.
Casualties
The Local Coordination Committees claim 47 people were killed on Monday, including 15 in Aleppo Province and 12 in Damascus and its suburbs.
The Violations Documentation Center reports that 65,146 people have been slain since the start of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 64 since Monday. Of these, 49,906 were civilians, a rise of 43 from yesterday.
