Timeline of the Syrian civil war as U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction

 

Latest in Syria Disaster as devolution to total middle east war continues: Click on the subject below that you want to learn more about.   Timeline of the Syrian civil war, Syria Conflict: Cameron Vows More Help:  U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction: Car Bomb in Syria's Hama Kills 50 Pro-regime Fighters : Syria's opposition groups convene in Qatar – can they build a unified front? U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction: Syrian rebels fire at, miss Assad's palace : Palestinian Refugees Fight Over Syria's War as Gunmen in Damascus Kill Brother of Parliament Speaker, Israel complains about Syrian tanks along Golan Heights border: Turkey considers deployment of "Patriot" missiles on Syria border

*  Timeline of the Syrian civil war:

*  Car Bomb in Syria's Hama Kills 50 Pro-regime Fighters : The suicide car bomb attack on a military post in the central province of Hama struck early Monday, killing at least 50 government troops and loyalist militiamen, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "The post, located at the Centre for Rural Development, is the largest gathering place for troops and pro-regime militiamen in the region," said the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group. 

 Regime aircraft meanwhile continued to pound rebel-held positions around the country, with one air strike killing at least 20 rebel fighters in the town of Harem in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said. The rebels have scored significant wins in recent weeks and hold swathes of territory in the country's north, but have come under intense bombardment from the air as President Bashar al-Assad's regime seeks to reverse rebel gains.

* Syria's opposition groups convene in Qatar – can they build a unified front? The Syrian opposition is well aware that it is widely regarded as fragmented and ineffective, and that this is becoming more and more an issue as events on the ground gather pace. The coming days will see the most concerted effort so far to pull the bulk of the opposition together and to create effective and credible structures that the outside world can work with in trying to bring about a transition in Syria.  

Secretary Clinton said last week that "the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition. But that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard."

 * U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction:  At this point, no one in Syria – not the government, not the rebels – can emerge from the crisis with an unsullied reputation. Both factions are now strong candidates to face charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. 

Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint special representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, has also hit a dead end both with the Syrian government and the rebel groups fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, who is refusing to step down or agree to a political compromise. “The United Nations remains helpless against the political and military complexities inside Syria,” says one Asian diplomat. This may well be one of the biggest political failures of the United Nations, he said.

*  Syria Conflict: Cameron Vows More Help: The Prime Minister was expecting to use his first conversation with Barack Obama to tell the newly re-elected US president that the international response to the civil war in Syria "simply isn't working". He said: "Right here in Jordan I'm hearing appalling stories of what is happening inside Syria and one of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis." 

 The PM, who visited the Zatari refugee camp, said: "I wanted to hear for myself the stories of people who have been bombed and shot and blasted out of their homes in Syria by a deeply-illegitimate and unpleasant regime that is raining down death and destruction on its own people. "It is truly horrendous to hear those stories and just redoubles my determination that now, with a newly-elected American president, we have got to do more to help this part of the world, to help Syria achieve transition." 

* Syrian rebels fire at, miss Assad's palace : Residents told Reuters the heavy-caliber shells hit a neighboring residential district that is home to members of Assad's Alawite sect. State-run media said at least three people were killed and seven wounded in what it described as a "terrorist attack".

Syria's war, which has already spilled into neighboring Lebanon and threatened to spread instability in the Middle East, poses one of the greatest foreign policy challenges for U.S. President Barack Obama as he starts his second term. Fighters in the mainly Sunni Muslim opposition have stepped up attacks in the capital this week, setting off at least two bombs in areas populated by Alawites and assassinating two figures seen as close to the Assad administration.

 * Israel complains about Syrian tanks along Golan Heights border: Three Syrian tanks entered a demilitarized zone Saturday afternoon along the border with the Golan Heights, spurring Israel to file a complaint with the United Nations, Israeli officials said. The Syrian tanks were battling Syrian rebel forces when the fighting moved into the demilitarized area, Israeli media reported. Israeli officials said they did not view the tanks as a provocation or an attempt to draw Israel into the fighting in Syria, where an uprising against President Bashar Assad has devolved into a civil war. 

It’s not the first time violence from Syria’s war has drifted into the Golan Heights. In September, errant mortars struck the region. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East War and announced in 1981 that it was annexing the region, though the move was not recognized by the international community. 

* Turkey considers deployment of "Patriot" missiles on Syria border: Turkey considers the Patriot missiles on its territory as a precaution against a potential Syrian military offensive, while Syrian bombings on the southern border of Turkey have increased tensions between the two countries.

Turkey and the United States consider the deployment of missiles in the Turkish province of Kilis (south), and the missiles should protect an area of 60 km up to the Syrian city of Aleppo, the newspaper said. Turkey's move also aims to protect civilians and Syrian opposition forces from shelling by the Syrian government, it added.

James Joiner

Gardner, Ma

http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com