LATEST: UN Envoy Brahimi: US Blocks Iran at “Peace” Talks

FRIDAY FEATURES

The Syrian military’s escalation of bombing in and near Aleppo continued for a 6th day on Thursday, with strikes on the village of Tal Alam, east of the city, and on Daret Ezza, Marea, Manbej, and Anadan to the north.

Claimed barrel bomb in Aleppo on Friday:

Sekkari in Aleppo on Friday:

And a strike just before Friday prayers:

The death toll from the bombardment, which includes barrel bombs, is now well over 200.

The Local Coordination Committees reported that, of 134 deaths across Syria on Thursday, 40 were in Aleppo Province and 47 in Damascus and its suburbs.

Barrel bombing was also reported in Daraa Province in the south — footage from Jasem:

The motive for the regime’s aerial campaign is unclear, given there is no sign of a ground offensive in Aleppo. However, it may be a counter to insurgent moves near Syria’s largest city — sources indicate that, after the Syrian military gained ground last month, opposition fighters have clawed back territory to the south and east of Aleppo.

The attacks on Tal Alam may be a clue. The village is near as-Safira, a key city to the east of Aleppo taken by regime forces in November. If insurgents are on the move again, they could be putting on as-Safira, threatening to again cut regime supply routes to Aleppo and to its besieged Kweires base.

UN Envoy Brahimi: US Blocks Iran at “Peace” Talks

United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that negotiators have failed to reach an agreement on whether Iran should be invited to a “peace” conference in Switzerland on January 22.

Brahimi indicated that Washington had blocked Tehran’s inclusion:

On Iran, we haven’t agreed yet. It’s no secret that we in the United Nations welcome the participation of Iran, but our partners in the United States are still not convinced that Iran’s participation would be the right thing to do.

The envoy, who met Russian and American officials on Friday, said the conference will include Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, France and Russia differed on whether President Assad would have to step down for the conference to proceed.

French President François Hollande said, “If Geneva 2 has to be the confirmation for Bashar al-Assad or the political transition from Assad to Assad, than there are few chances that we approve of this meeting as the political solution to the Syrian issue.”

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held up the option of Assad pursuing re-election in 2014:

Indeed, he said he didn’t exclude the possibility of running for presidency once again next year. He will make a decision closer to an election and it will depend on whether he would feel the support from the people.

[Assad] repeatedly said he wasn’t going to leave his country and wished to stay with his people and fulfill his duties.

Claimed Video of A Mosque in Al-Waer in Homs Shelled During Friday Prayers

Claims are circulating that the Imam, Sheikh Safwan Al-Masharaqah, was killed and a number of worshippers injured.

Defying Airstrikes, People of Taftanaz Protest

Friday’s protest in Taftanaz in Idlib Province, amid airstrikes on the town:

A medic injured by a missile strike:

A Message from Friday Protest in Kafranbel to International Community

Islamic Front Rejects Participation in “Peace” Conference

The Islamic Front has rejected any involvement in the proposed “peace” conference in Switzerland on January 22.

Zahran Alloush, the head of the Front’s military operations, said that the opposition was being pressured to attend even as Syria was being dismantled while the Assad regime remains in power after using chemical weapons against his people.

US officials have been seeking the Front’s agreement to three conditions: 1) clear rejection of any group linked to Al-Qae’da; 2) attendance at the conference; and 3) agreement to work under the authority of the Supreme Military Command.

American envoy Robert Ford, the former ambassador to Syria, said this week that the Front had refused to meet him in Turkey.

Insurgents Claim Capture of Another Town in East Ghouta Offensive

The Islamic Front is claiming another success in the East Ghouta offensive near Damascus, with the capture of the town of Al-Bahariyah.

Given the media blackout imposed by the insurgents during their offensive, the town may have been taken days or even weeks ago — claims circulated that it had fallen as early as November 22.

Al-Bahariyah is about halfway between the town of Deir Salman, also captured by the insurgents this month, and Adra to the north, where the opposition says it has established control.

Claimed footage of capture of an 18-year-old Hezbollah fighter:

Claims are circulating that the teenager was subsequently killed and beheaded.

The Doctor Who Treated The Chemical Attack Victims

The Wall Street Journal profiles Dr Adnan Ismail, who is now in Turkey after working in underground clinics to treat those injured in the Syrian conflict:

On Aug. 21, he was winding down his shift when bodies began arriving from a chemical gas attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians, according to U.S. estimates. The first patient that night was a 5-year old girl in cotton pajamas whose limp body was dumped into his arms. “She was dead,” he said. “I just couldn’t absorb that.”

Working with a medical student and 15 nurses, Dr. Ismail turned on garden hoses to flood the clinic floors. They dragged the bodies through the water. Soon, the dead filled the clinic’s two rooms. About 4 a.m., Dr. Ismail passed out from the chemicals. He said he was revived with an atropine injection.

By 10 a.m., the doctor said, he had tallied 200 dead. “The worst part was the wailing” of grieving families, he said.

Dr. Ismail recorded videos on his Sony Ericsson cellphone. In one viewed by The Wall Street Journal, a veiled woman in a brown trench coat is seen stepping over bodies. “Where is God?” she is heard saying. “Where are you my children?”

The doctor said he spent the next two weeks in a daze. Activists reached him on Skype, saying Western governments, particularly the French, wanted witnesses to give testimony about the gas attack….

On Sept. 10, Dr. Ismail left with hair and blood samples, traveling through the deserts of Deir el-Zour in the east and then north to the border with Turkey. He and two travel companions were hosted by tribal families for most of the 10-day trip.

Dr. Ismail crossed the border in a truck smuggling fuel and generators. He said he was held by Turkish authorities for two days over a misunderstanding over who should get the samples, and whether his companions — who didn’t carry passports — could cross into Turkey.

Turkish intelligence eventually took the samples, he said, which were destined for the French Embassy in Ankara. One French official said national intelligence agencies coordinated efforts to get survivors and witnesses of the sarin-gas attack out of Syria, and the details were largely kept secret….

As Dr. Ismail waits to return, he moves among various homes of activists and rebels. He has crossed into Syria three times but has been forced back by the constantly shifting battle lines.

He assumes if he is caught by government forces, he will be killed. Yet he said he was eager to again tend to the wounded — disappointed that his mission took him out of Syria and failed to draw Western intervention.

Did Russia Block UN Statement Criticizing Regime Airstrikes?

Russia has blocked a proposed United Nations Security Council statement expressing outrage at Syrian regime airstrikes, especially this week’s bombardment in and near Aleppo.

The statement, proposed by the United States, required approval from all 15 Council members.

Kurtis Cooper, a spokesman for the US Mission, said:

[We are] very disappointed that a Security Council statement expressing our collective outrage at the brutal and indiscriminant tactics employed by the Syrian regime against civilians has been blocked.

These barrel bombs — and the explosive materials contained within them — further underscore the brutality of the Assad regime and the lengths they will go to attack and kill their own people, including women and children….

Regime air raids in and around Aleppo have continued unabated. Surely, at a minimum, the Security Council should be able to condemn such barbarities.

Russian officials claimed that they had not blocked the statement but that the US had rejected Moscow’s “balancing amendments”.

The statement would also have condemned violence by all parties in Syria.

Russia Criticizes Syrian Declaration that Assad to Run for Re-Election

In a rare public dissent from its ally, Russia has rebuked Syrian officials for declaring that President Assad intends to run for re-election in 2014.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the Interfax news agency that the announcement could hurt the prospects for an international “peace” conference, scheduled for Switzerland on January 22.

“Exchanging such rhetorical statements just makes the atmosphere heavier and does not make the situation calmer,” Bogdanov said. “We believe that ahead of the peace talks there should be no statements which someone may not like and can cause emotions and a reaction in response.”

Syria’s leading opposition groups and insurgents have said they will not participate in the conference without an assurance that Assad will leave power.

Syrian news media claimed that Moscow, speaking through the Russian Embassy in Damascus, denied the remarks, while Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad insisted:

Nobody has the right to interfere and say [Assad] must run or he should not run. President Assad in my opinion should be a candidate but he will decide when the time comes for him to decide.

I shall ask the opposition: Why doesn’t a Syrian national have the right to be a candidate? Who can prevent him? Any Syrian national can be a candidate.

The ballot boxes will decide who will lead Syria … President Assad enjoys a big majority while President [Francois] Hollande has only 15 percent support of the French people.