ALSO IN TUESDAY FORECAST
Regime: Insurgent Car Bomb & “Massacre” Kill At Least 29 People in Damascus Province
Reports That Syrian Arab Army Detonated FSA HQ In Homs Untrue, Sources Say
Supreme Military Command: We Will Halt Operations for “Peace” Conference
Regime Says It Will Let UN Deliver Some Aid Directly to Besieged Areas
Opposition Council Launches “Daraya Hope” Campaign in Besieged Damascus Suburb
UN Sets Another Date For Perpetually-Delayed “Peace” Conference
The five-day battle in East Ghouta near Damascus may be the bloodiest in Syria’s 32-month conflict, with reports of “hundreds” of casualties, most of them on the regime side.
We are treating the reports as plausible but still unconfirmed. Regime positions appear to be under pressure after insurgents launched their attack on military checkpoints last Friday.
There are also plausible reports that the “regular” Syrian Army and National Defense Force members pulled back from those positions, leaving Shia militias to do the brunt of the fighting — and take the brunt of the casualties.
Both sides are releasing little information. State media is merely saying that the Army is eliminating “terrorists”. The insurgents appear to be maintaining an embargo on news, although the opposition Syrian National Coalition claimed on Monday that several towns had been taken by the insurgency.
Claimed footage of disputes between regular Syrian forces and militias in the battle:
Regime: Insurgent Car Bomb & “Massacre” Kill At Least 29 People in Damascus Province
State TV claims 15 people were killed and others injured by a car bomb exploded by insurgents in front of the bus station in al-Soumariyeh in Damascus Province
Minister of Health Saad al-Nayef said that “terrorists” had committed a “massacre” in which they killed five doctors, four nurses, and two ambulance drivers in Deir Attiyeh in Damascus Province.
Reports That Syrian Arab Army Detonated FSA HQ In Homs Untrue, Sources Say
Reports that the Syrian Arab Army managed to detonate a Free Syrian Army headquarters building in Homs are untrue, sources close to the events said Tuesday.
Social media sites said that the SAA had dug tunnels under FSA buildings in Homs and detonated them.
A source, who commented on condition of anonymity, said that the SAA “did detonate a few buildings in Jourat Al-Shayah (neighborhood of Homs), but none of the buildings were an FSA command center and nobody was hurt in the blasts”.
Supreme Military Command: We Will Halt Operations for “Peace” Conference
General Salim Idriss, the head of the Supreme Military Command, said on Tuesday that insurgents will not stop operations for a proposed international “peace” conference in Geneva.
“Conditions are not suitable for running the Geneva 2 talks at the given date, and we, as a military and revolutionary force, will not participate in the conference,” Idriss said. “We will not stop combat at all during the Geneva conference or after it, and what concerns us is getting needed weapons for our fighters.”
Regime Says It Will Let UN Deliver Some Aid Directly to Besieged Areas
In advance of an international meeting on humanitarian aid on Tuesday, Syria has pledged for the first time to allow the United Nations to run aid convoys from Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon without having to channel them through the capital of Damascus.
However, the Assad regime is still refusing permission for goods to enter through southern Turkey.
“The Syrian government has formally notified the [UN] resident coordinator of its decision to allow the entry of humanitarian aid through official border crossings with Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq,” Syria’s UN envoy Bashar Al Ja’afari wrote Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.
The letter continued, “In the case of the border crossings with Turkey, however, it has been impossible to open an official crossing because armed terrorist groups are active along most of the border with the support of the Turkish authorities.”
The US and Iran will be among today’s participants at the meeting in Geneva discussing humanitarian relief.
Opposition Council Launches “Daraya Hope” Campaign in Besieged Damascus Suburb
Amid the fighting in the Damascus suburbs, the opposition Local Council of Daraya has launched the campaign “A Hope Story” to publicize the situation of the besieged town.
Women aim to form a human chain across Daraya to draw international attention to the hunger and humanitarian situation of the approximately 6,000 residents who have not left the town.
UN Sets Another Date For Perpetually-Delayed “Peace” Conference
United Nation Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said on Monday that the international conference to resolve the Syrian conflict will finally be held in Geneva on January 22.
Ban said the “mission of hope” to end the civil war would seek to agree a transitional government “with full executive powers”.
However, the opposition again said that it would only attend if there was a guarantee that President Assad would step aside.
Laui Safi, a spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition also said political prisoners must be released and aid must be allowed into besieged insurgent-held towns.
The Coalition has also said it will need the support of insurgents fighting inside Syria.
The US and Russia first proposed the conference last April. It has been repeatedly delayed — the last declared date was November 23 — amid both regime and opposition pre-conditions for participation.
