ALSO IN SATURDAY FORECAST
Video: Men Tear Down Assad Poster in Insurgent-Held Area of Daraa City
Video: At Least 6 Killed by Regime Shelling of Marketplace
3 Killed in Northern Lebanon Amid Clashes Over Syria
US Offers to Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons on American Ship
Syrian Refugees in Egypt on Hunger Strike
Friday Protests: Obama Sold Out Syria to Get Iran Nuclear Deal
Syria PM Visits Iran, Proclaims “Cooperation at All Levels”
Fighting between regime forces and the insurgency continued without resolution — and with a great deal of uncertainty — near Damascus and to the north and west of the capital on Saturday.
On the 15th day of the regime’s Qalamoun offensive — seeking to take territory between Damascus and the Lebanese border — President Assad’s forces were still battling insurgents in Deir Attieh, which the Syrian military claimed to have taken on Thursday. Syrian forces were trying to claim the town of Nabk, carrying out air raids.
Aftermath of an airstrike on Nabk on Saturday:
In the suburbs of Damascus, firm information is still scarce on the week-long insurgent campaign to break the Syrian military’s blockade of East Ghouta. The opposition had claimed the capture of Otaiba earlier this week, but pro-regime activists insist that the town is still in the hands of Assad’s men.
The Local Coordination Committees claim that 90 people were killed on Friday, including 41 in Damascus and its suburbs, 15 in Aleppo, and 11 in Idlib Province.
The Violations Documentation Center has recorded the deaths of 79.928 people in the conflict since March 2011. Of the dead, 59,117 were civilians.
Video: Men Tear Down Assad Poster in Insurgent-Held Area of Daraa City
Footage from the Daraa al-Balad neighborhood, near the Jordanian border, in Daraa city:
Video: At Least 6 Killed by Regime Shelling of Marketplace
At least six people have been killed by regime shelling of a marketplace in the town of al-Bab, near Aleppo.
Residents try to recover bodies from the rubble:
3 Killed in Northern Lebanon Amid Clashes Over Syria
Authorities said three people were killed Saturday in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, amid the latest clashes between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime.
Fighting began after gunmen from the city’s Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood shot the legs of a man whose brother controls an Alawite militia. The guard of a Sunni mosque and a 16-year-old youth were killed in the gunfire, as children in three schools were trapped in class.
Hours later, a woman was killed by sniper fire, while Lebanese soldiers evacuated at least one school.
The Bab Tabbaneh district is largely Sunni Muslim and opposed to President Assad’s rule in Syria. Residents of the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood are mostly of Assad’s Alawite sect.
US Offers to Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons on American Ship
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Saturday that the US has offered to destroy Syrian chemicals on an American ship, and is looking for a suitable Mediterranean port for the processing.
The OPCW has been pursuing an alternative plan for the destruction of the toxins after Albania backed out of the project.
The OPCW said 35 firms had expressed an interest in bidding for commercial contracts for the treatment of about 800 tonnes of bulk industrial chemicals that are safe to destroy in commercial incinerators.
But another 500 tonnes of chemicals, including nerve agents, are too dangerous to import into a country or process commercially.
The OPCW said, “The United States has offered to contribute a destruction technology, full operational support and financing to neutralize Syria’s priority chemicals.”
Syrian Refugees in Egypt on Hunger Strike
More than 50 Syrian refugees in Egypt are on hunger strike to protest their treatment.
The refugees, detained in Alexandria after they tried to cross the Mediterranean on makeshift boats, are on the eighth day of the strike.
On Wednesday, five of the refugees were hospitalised, but the group are adamant that the protest will continue.
One of the strikers told Ahram Online, “We started a hunger strike to try to send a message to the world and international organisations, including the UN refugee body. We want to be resettled in another country, in Europe.”
Most of the 52 strikers have been at the Alexandria police station for nearly 70 days, although the general prosecution has ordered their release.
In neighboring Beheira governorate, another group of Syrian refugees detained for more than two months have also started a hunger strike.
The 32 refugees held in Beheira include 20 children.
Friday Protests: Obama Sold Out Syria to Get Iran Nuclear Deal
The Friday protest in Kafranbel in Idlib Province, with the accusation that President Obama sacrificed the Syrian people to get an interim nuclear deal with Iran last weekend:
Another powerful Thanksgiving poster from #Kafranbel. #Syria pic.twitter.com/pJfnHUzEXJ
— Amal Hanano (@AmalHanano) November 29, 2013
Syria PM Visits Iran, Proclaims “Cooperation at All Levels”
Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi paid an official visit to Iran on Friday, meeting leading officials and proclaiming “mutual cooperation and coordination at all economic, scientific, trade, health and development levels”.
Al-Halqi declared that “the astounding victories of Syria and Iran”, including the “epic victories of the Syrians against the global war”, had come “due to the strategic mutual relations between the two countries”. pointed out that Iran’s strategic success in its nuclear file and its emergence as a key player on the international arena, as well as the epic victories of the Syrians against the global war have led to a growing of the axis of resistance and foiling western colonial schemes.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said:
The important point is that attempts were made over the past 30 months to eliminate Syria from the resistance movement or substantially weaken it through the flow of weapons and terrorists into the country.
We are witnessing that the perseverance of the Syrian people, the Syrian Army and even the opposition supporting a political solution has resulted in great achievements, and most parties now believe that a political solution is the only viable way out of the Syrian crisis.
Video: Islamic Front Proclaims Reinforcement of Aleppo Front
The newly-formed Islamic Front, made up of seven of the most important factions in the insurgency, put out a video message that they had reinforced opposition lines in Aleppo, bringing in fighters from Idlib Province: