PHOTO: Regime corridor from Homs to Syria’s capital Damascus shrinks to 20 km (Map: NowresR)
LATEST
- Doctors: 70+ Killed, 550+ Wounded in Friday’s Regime Attacks on Douma Near Damascus
- After 100s Killed in Bombing of Douma, Rebels Put POWs and Families in Cages
- Britain Challenges US Assessment That Russia Will Drop Assad
- Claims: Assad Forces Used Chemical Weapons in Homs Province on Saturday
SUNDAY FEATURES
Interview: “Responsibility for Human Rights Abuses Goes to Very Highest Levels of Government”
Iran Daily: “Syria’s Army Will Soon Take All of Aleppo”
In another challenge to the Assad regime — despite its six-front offensive with Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and Iraqi and Pakistani militia — the Islamic State is threatening to cut the highway from Homs to Syria’s capital Damascus.
ISIS suddenly moved into the desert town of Mahin in eastern Homs Province on Saturday, following brief but intense clashes with the National Defense Forces militia. The attack began with two vehicle-borne suicide bombs.
The Islamic State is now moving on Sadad, a largely-Christian town which is close to the Homs-to-Damascus highway.
In the past week, rebels and the Islamic State have advanced in three notable counter-offensives.
ISIS cut the main route into Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, cutting the Khanasir road to the east. The Syrian military has been unable to reclaim the 15-km (10 mile) section, putting up to one million people in regime-held districts of Aleppo at risk.
In northern Hama Province, a rebel counter-attack has reclaimed almost territory lost in the regime’s initial offensive from October 7 and is putting pressure on Morek on the Hama-to-Aleppo highway.
The six-front regime offensive across Hama, Homs, Latakia, and Aleppo Provinces has taken limited territory so far, despite intensive Russian bombing and the support of the foreign forces such as Hezbollah and Iranian units. On Saturday, pro-regime accounts claimed an advance south of Aleppo, taking six villages, only for rebels and the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra to regain territory later in the day.
This morning, Jabhat al-Nusra is claiming further advances south of Aleppo, posting videos of its operations and photographs of slain regime forces. Area taken includes the village of al-Huwayz, with fighters closing on al-Waddihi.
Doctors: 70+ Killed, 550+ Wounded in Friday’s Regime Attacks on Douma Near Damascus
The international medical organization Medecins Sans Frontieres says at least 70 people were killed and 550 injured in Friday’s regime attacks on a marketplace in Douma, northeast of Damascus.
MSF said an initial airstrike on the market was followed by shelling of rescue teams attending to the wounded. About 250 patients required surgery, and a further 300 patients were treated for non-surgical wounds. Medics said multi-trauma wounds were “worse than anything they have seen before”.
The director of a nearby MSF-supported hospital said, “We had to do many amputations. And a lot of the wounded had massive blood-loss, which means we needed large amounts of IV-fluid and blood bags. We did out best to cope, but the number of critically wounded was far beyond what we could handle with our limited means.”
See Syria Feature: As Russia Holds Talks, 130+ Killed in Douma and Aleppo Attacks
The entrance gate of Douma’s makeshift hospital was struck by bombing on Thursday, in which at least 15 people were killed and 100 wounded. Six other makeshift hospitals also launched mass casualty response plans to help treat the injured on Friday.
MSF said almost 40% of people killed and treated this year in the East Ghouta area, which includes Douma, have been women and children under 15 years old.
“This massive bombing on a crowded market and the repeated destruction of the few available medical facilities breaches everything that the rules of war stand for.” said Brice de le Vingne, Director of Syria Operations for MSF.
After 100s Killed in Bombing of Douma, Rebels Put POWs and Families in Cages
Trying to deter regime attacks that have killed hundreds of people in the Damascus suburb of Douma since the summer, rebels have put prisoners of war and their families in cages in public spaces.
More than 100 people were killed on Thursday and Friday by regime bombs, missiles, and shells on civilian areas such as an open-air market.
See Syria Feature: As Russia Holds Talks, 130+ Killed in Douma and Aleppo Attacks
A pro-opposition journalist comments:
When you and your family live for years under siege and airstrikes, you will do many things to survive regardless of ethical considerations
— Abdurahman Harkoush (@Abduhark) November 1, 2015
This summer, regime forces put prisoners atop buildings in the enclave of al-Fu’ah, in Idlib Province, to deter rebels from shelling.
Britain Challenges US Assessment That Russia Will Drop Assad
Britain has challenged the US assessment that Russia will distance itself from President Assad as Moscow faces difficulties with its military intervention.
Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on the sidelines of a conference in Bahrain on Saturday:
Russia’s intervention in Syria is a prime example of the law of unintended consequences. It will have two primary effects. First, it will increase Russia’s leverage over Assad. But second, it will increase the conflict’s leverage over Russia.
And that will create a compelling incentive to Russia to work for, not against, a political solution.
But British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, “There’s a school of thought that says that as the Russians get drawn into this conflict, they will more and more looking for a way to get a political solution….It’s not my government’s assessment.”
Hammond said that he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday at the international conference in Vienna, with Lavrov saying Moscow did not have any flexibility on the issue of Assad’s departure.
The Foreign Secretary said Russia’s position that only an election can replace the Syrian President is “directly at odds with those of us who believe that Assad has so much blood on this hands that he has to depart before there can be a sustainable political solution in Syria”.
Claims: Assad Forces Used Chemical Weapons in Homs Province on Saturday
Claims continue to circulate that Syrian forces used chemical munitions in shelling of the town of Talbiseh in northern Homs Province on Saturday.
Videos showed victims with breathing difficulties. Pro-opposition activists claimed three people were killed and more than 35 were injured.
The Syrian military, supported by Russian airstrikes, has tried to move into Talbiseh for more than three weeks. However, despite the deaths of more than 80 civilians, they have been unable to enter the town.
