UN envoy against military solution in Syria

The U.N. and Arab League special envoy to Syria stressed Friday (January 11, 2013) that there is "no military solution" to the brutal civil war being fought in the Arab nation. Lakhdar Brahimi made the remark after meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland. 

"We are all very, very deeply aware of the immense suffering of the Syrian people which has gone for far too long. And we all stressed the need for a speedy end to bloodshed, the destruction, and all forms violence in Syria," he said. "We stressed again, in our view, there is no military solution to this conflict." 

Syria accused Brahimi of bias Thursday (January 10, 2013), casting a shadow on efforts to end a war that, according to the United Nations, has killed more than 60,000 people in nearly two years. 

Brahimi has "deviated from the essence of his mission and clearly unveiled his bias to circles known for conspiring against Syria and the interests of the Syrian people," Syrian state media reported. 

The statement from Damascus was a response to a BBC interview in which Brahimi in effect called on al-Assad to resign. He said the president would have no place in the transition to a post-conflict Syria. "I think what people are saying is, a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long," Brahimi said, according to the interview Thursday. 

Al-Assad took over from his late father, who seized power in 1970 and ruled for three decades. Brahimi said both the United States and Russia want to help end the war and forge a future. The United States long has called for al-Assad to resign. 

Russia, which historically has had close ties with Syria, has blocked tough action against the government in the U.N. Security Council. "I'm absolutely certain the Russians are as preoccupied as I am, as Americans are, by the bad situation that exists in Syria and its continuing deterioration, and I'm absolutely certain they would like to contribute to its solution," he said. He cited the "absolute necessity" for pushing for a peaceful solution. "It is the wider international community," he said, particularly Security Council members, who "can really create the opening that is necessary to start effectively solving the problem." Securing chemical weapons The escalating conflict and the president's efforts to retain his grip on power have sparked a push to ensure that chemical weapons are secure. 

U.S. officials say they are working with nations in the Middle East to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons sites. "We're not talking about ground troops, but it depends on what ... happens in a transition," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday. Asked whether he had ruled out putting U.S. troops in Syria to secure such weapons, Panetta said: "You always have to keep the possibility that, if there is a peaceful transition and international organizations get involved, that they might ask for assistance in that situation. But in a hostile situation, we're not planning to ask for that." 

Russian navy holding exercises off Syria's coast Ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are heading to the eastern Mediterranean for exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said. A tactical group of Black Sea Fleet warships, headed by the cruiser Moskva, will undertake exercises in the eastern sector of the Mediterranean Sea. The tanker Ivan Bubnov has fueled the ships, and emergency drills have been carried out for the upcoming exercises. The tanker filled up on fuel and water Thursday at the Cyprus port of Larnaka. A Baltic Fleet group consisting of the patrol vessel Yaroslav Mudry and tanker Lena will head for the eastern Mediterranean, where the two ships will practice stores transfers at sea. The patrol vessel will carry out anti-submarine warfare drills. Russia has a maintenance naval base at Tartus on the coast. 

No let-up in refugee flight The United Nations said Friday that more than 612,000 people have been registered as Syrian refugees or are "being assisted as such." There were 194,769 in Lebanon, 176,569 in Jordan, 153,163 in Turkey, 69,282 in Iraq, 13,292 in Egypt and 5,059 elsewhere in North Africa, the U.N. refugee agency said. 

"Even with the winter preparation work that has been done in recent months, many refugees in both camp and noncamp situations are facing particularly cold and damp conditions. 

The Syrian crisis started in March 2011, when peaceful protesters demanding democracy and reforms were met by a fierce government crackdown, which spiraled into an armed opposition movement and a civil war. At least 106 people were killed Friday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. Among them were 40 people killed in shelling by artillery and jet fighters in Hasaka province, in the northeastern part of the country.

Idlib captured by Syrian rebels, oppositions demand

Syrian rebel fighters said Friday (January 11, 2013) they have captured a strategic northern military base used by the government to bomb opposition strongholds. Rebel fighters and militants from various Islamic groups, including the jihadist al-Nusra Front, took part in the offensive, an opposition spokesman said.

They've seized control of buildings, ammunition and military equipment at the base in Idlib province, the opposition said, signaling a major blow to President Bashar al-Assad's forces. "They are taking credit now for having taken the air base," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday. 

"And, as you know, we consider this significant on two fronts. "First of all, to ground some of the air assets of the Assad regime that they've been using against civilians. And, secondly, to break their ability to resupply in the north." 

Pentagon weighs how to secure Syria's chemical weapons. The strategic base has been used by government forces to send explosives to areas in the north, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In addition to housing about government 400 soldiers, the group said, warplanes that attack the region were taking off from there. 

"The Taftanaz air base has been completely liberated," said Hamza Abu Hussam, a spokesman for the Binnish Coordination Committee, a local opposition group. "I went down to see with my own eyes and was able to get in." 

Opposition forces from various groups cheer and chant "God is great," purportedly after they took over the military airport.  

Stench of burnt bodies in Syrian Air, thousands killed

Syrian Government has termed his general people and unarmed civilians as Terrorists and killing them persistently irrespective of age, gender, religion, casts and communities.  

News footage showed bodies that appeared to have been dragged across the floor in a building, leaving long trails of blood behind. The news report said forces had killed "several terrorists" in the Deir Baalbeh area.

The government frequently refers to rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists." But another opposition activist in Homs, Rahi Abdallah, said the situation in nearby Deir Baalbeh" is only turning from bad to worse."

"Smoke is rising from Deir Baalbeh this morning, and a stench is coming out of some of its streets due to the burning of some corpses by the regime forces," Abdallah said Sunday.

"What is noticeable in the bodies we found yesterday and today in Deir Baalbeh is that they appear to have been slaughtered at the neck and then burned, including women and children. 

Others appear to have been killed from knife and bullet wounds." Syria's state-run news agency SANA said on 30th Dec 2012 (Sunday) that the military has been killing many terrorists. One army unit "killed several terrorists and injured many others" and destroyed launchers of locally made missiles that the terrorists had used to attack orchards in the Maartamasrin area in Idlib province, SANA reported.

The stench of the burnt bodies was so potent, Abu Jafar said, he could smell it from 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away. "It smells awful because the regime appears to have burnt so many bodies recently," the opposition activist said on Sunday, 30th December 2012, from the beleaguered city of Homs.

"Some cars arrived this morning and carried away dead bodies. We are not sure where." Jafar's account comes a day after what may be the deadliest day yet in Syria's 21-month civil war, according to opposition figures. 

Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, gave a dire warning on Sunday 30th December 2012 on the rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria. "If nearly 50,000 people have been killed in about two years, do not expect just 25,000 people to die next year -- maybe 100,000 will die," he told reporters in Cairo. "The pace is increasing," he said.

"A solution is still possible, but it is only getting more complicated every day," Brahimi added. "Had we dealt more carefully with this conflict in 2011, it would have been much easier to resolve it. There is no question that it is much harder today." Brahimi met Sunday with Nabil Elaraby, secretary-general of the Arab League.

On Saturday, 29th December 2012, Brahimi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia and China have used their veto power in the U.N. Security Council to block some of the toughest resolutions proposed against the Syrian regime. Traveling heavily in hopes of brokering a halt to the war, Brahimi said last week he is pinning his hopes on the formation of a transitional government. 

At least 397 people were killed across the country Saturday 29th December 2012, the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) of Syria said. At least 143 deaths were reported on Sunday 30th December 2012, including 10 children. The LCC said Saturday's death toll included more than 200 people who were captured and "field executed" by Syrian soldiers in the Homs suburb of Deir Baalbeh after Syrian forces won a battle there. 

The group's representative in Deir Baalbeh said he could only personally account for 27 deaths, but said a Syrian soldier who had been captured by rebels said government forces killed at least 200 people in the suburb. The group posted video of several men's bodies lined up in a grassy field with wounds to the head, in what it claimed was footage taken by witnesses. 

Jafar said he believes Deir Baalbeh was targeted "because it is the main gate to reach the Khaldiya neighborhood, which has been under the control of the rebels." Syrian state-run TV confirmed there was conflict in the area but said that government forces had been chasing down "terrorists."