The Assad regime has explained why aid is not reaching the 18,000 residents remaining in the besieged Yarmouk section of Damascus: it is because of “Zionists”.
The Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs, Ali Haidar, told a visiting Palestine Liberation Organization on Tuesday, “What happened in Syria and Iraq is evidence of the Zionist support to the Takfiri movement.” He continued:
Regarding the Palestinian camps in Syria, what hampers this file is the same reason that hampers the rest of files around the country, adding the huge foreign intervention in Yarmouk Camp is the matter that hinders the settlement.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency warned last week that no assistance had reached Yarmouk since late May. A reported ceasefire agreement in late June broke down, preventing any resumption and expansion of humanitarian activities”.
The Syrian regime imposed a siege in July 2013 on the area, which had 200,000 people — most of them long-time displaced Palestinians — at the start of the conflict in March 2011.
The UN said earlier this year that at least 120 people had died in Yarmouk from starvation, malnutrition, and/or lack of urgent medical care.
Syria’s attempt to blame Israel for the humanitarian crisis was part of the promotion of its leadership of “resistance”, as it denounced Israeli attacks on Gaza. Deputy Foreign Minister Feisal Mikdad, meeting the PLO delegation, “reiterated Syria’s support for the Palestinian people in their heroic steadfastness in the face of the Zionist aggression against them”.
Insurgents Advance in Quneitra Province in Southwest, Threaten Last Major Regime Concentration of Forces
Well-placed sources confirm claims on social media that insurgents have resumed their advance in Quneitra Province in southwestern Syria.
The opposition fighters are putting pressure on Brigade 90, one of the last major regime concentrations in the area.
Since the start of the year, insurgents have taken most of the territory between Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, and Daraa.
The current advance threatens to isolate remaining Syrian forces in Daraa Province.
Insurgent Forces Continue Idlib Offensive, Take Regime Checkpoint and Armored Vehicles
Insurgents have advanced farther in their offensive in Idlib Province, overrunning a regime checkpoint at al-Tarrf and taking armored vehicles:
The insurgents have resumed attempts to clear the checkpoints, isolating the regime’s two remaining major bases in Idlib Province and pushing Syria forces back from the highway from Hama Province to Maarat al-Numan in Idlib.
Operations against a regime checkpoint near Maarat al-Numan:
See Syria Daily, July 8: Insurgents Go on Offensive in Idlib Province
Opposition Coalition Elects New President
The Syrian National Coalition has elected Hadi al-Bahra, its chief negotiator at the Geneva talks in January-February, as its new President during a three-day meeting in Istanbul.
Bahra, a US-trained industrial engineer, replaces Ahmad Jarba, who served the maximum two six-month terms.
Like Jarba, Bahra has close ties to Saudi Arabia and has lived in the Kingdom.
“Hadi al-Bahra wins coalition presidency by 62 votes,” the Coalition’s Facebook page said on Wednesday.
