Syria: The Executive Summary, 1/22
To give you an overview of the latest news, we’ve organized the latest Syrian developments in a curated summary.
End of Bad Weather Coincides with Rise in Death Toll
The end of bad weather has coincided with the return of intensive regime airstrikes and an a rise in death toll, the Daily Star reports.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, regime forces carried out 211 airstrikes between mid-Tuesday and mid-Wednesday.
“Eighty-eight of the attacks were carried out by warplanes and more than 123 were barrel bombs dropped by helicopter,” the Observatory added.
“The LCC reported over 100 civilian deaths Tuesday, after several days earlier in the month when the daily civilian fatality figure ranged between 10 and 20, as poor weather conditions limited the number of airstrikes.”
At least 65 people were killed Tuesday in a Syrian air raid on a livestock market in Khansaa,south of the Kurdish-held city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, Reuters reports.
The past few months have seen a rapid increase in strikes by regime forces on rebel-held areas, raising concerns that the regime is benefitting from U.S.-led strikes on ISIS, using their cover to intensify attacks on the moderate opposition.
Car Bomb Explodes in Syria’s Government-Controlled City of Homs
A car bomb exploded in Syria’s government-controlled city of Homs, killing at least six people and wounding dozens Wednesday, AP reports.
The Akrama neighborhood is majority Alawite, the sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs, and is frequently targeted by rebels. Homs Governor Talal Barazi called it a “cowardly terrorist act” that claimed the lives of mostly women and children.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claim the blast killed 10 people, citing a figure from activists on the ground.
In October, a twin car bomb outside a school killed at least 32 people, sparking outrage in the city. According to the governor, it was the third attack to target the street over the past year.
The incident comes following the announcement of a 10-day truce between Syrian rebels and government forces in the last rebel-held area of Homs.
Syria Calls on U.N. to Take Action Against Turkey Following Paris Attacks
“Syria called on the United Nations Security Council to take action against Turkey for allowing a French woman linked to militant attacks in Paris to illegally enter Syria along with other foreign fighters,” Reuters reports.
Turkish officials insisted that they were not to blame for allowing her to enter and then leave Turkey without being detained, saying that European intelligence agencies hadn’t shared her name with Turkish authorities.
Syria has repeatedly accused Turkey of enabling passage of foreign fighters into Syria and supporting militants fighting the Assad regime.
“That statement is a formal admission of a point that we have repeatedly made … that Turkey remains the main channel to smuggle foreign terrorists and mercenaries from around the world into Syria,” Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari wrote in a letter to the Security Council and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.
“The country is also a route through which they return to their countries or travel to third States,” Ja’afari wrote.
“The Syrian Arab Republic therefore calls on the Security Council and the international community to take effective action to condemn and curb the Turkish regime’s policies,” said Ja’afari. Reuters reports that action is “unlikely as the 15-member council has been largely deadlocked on how to end the Syrian conflict.”
http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2015/01/6679/syria-executive-summary-122/