LATEST: Opposition Head — US Training of “Moderate” Insurgents Still Months Away

A Syrian activist organization is claiming that the Assad regime executed 141 prisoners who had pneumonic plague, rather than treating them.

The Syrian Human Rights League, citing testimonies of newly-released detainees, claim that Brigadier General Hasan Daboul of Intelligence Branch 215, ordered the execution of all detainees inside a dormitory of the Branch’s prison.

The General and his staff allegedly ignored the recommendations of the medical committee, which recommended treatment and improvement of conditions in the Branch’s prison, which has more than 8000 detainees.

The first mass execution was reportedly of 117 detainees on September 8 and the second was two days later. The victims were wrapped in plastic bags and buried in mass graves in the military area of Najha, which has dozens of mass graves of slain detainees.

The Syrian Human Rights League called on the international community and human rights organizations to intervene urgently to save the lives of thousands of other detainees, and on the UN Security Council to refer the Syrian file to the International Criminal Court.

Opposition Head: US Training of “Moderate” Insurgents Still Months Away

A US plan to train and equip 5,000 “moderate” insurgents will not start until at least late February, according to the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition.

Hadi al-Bahra said of the plan, put forth this summer by the Obama Administration:

The issue is that the developing policies and procedures of putting this program into operation take a very long time.

It is expected to start by the end of February or end of March, which is a very long time to leave the Free Syrian Army at (its) current level of assistance.

Bahra complained that the US has “forgotten” the fight against Assad and is not doing enough to address the “cause of terrorism and extremism in the area”.

US officials had already said that the training and equipping of the 5,000-strong force will take about a year.

Source: Jabhat al-Nusra Clashes With Islamic State Near Lebanon Border

A “source close to Jabhat al-Nusra” has said that the Islamist group clashed with the Islamic State in southern Syria near the Lebanon border on Friday.

Jabhat al-Nusra has been trying to unite insurgent factions in the Qalamoun region, but the Islamic State is trying to undermine the effort.

The clashes were on the outskirts of the Syrian village of Ras al-Maara, a few kilometers from the border town of Arsal in northeast Lebanon.

1st-Hand: Walking 5 Kilometers for Firewood for Winter in East Ghouta

Abu Ahmed, a resident of Hazzeh in the East Ghouta area near Damascus, has described preparations for winter — waking each day at dawn and walking five kilometers to Jobar to gather wood from destroyed alleys.

He spoke of the risk of frequent regime bombing and shelling; however, dozens of other men and some children make the same journey:

I stay at the neighbourhood for two days and during my free time I gather as much firewood as I can, then I have to walk for five kilometres back home. My brothers will be waiting for the firewood.