Syrian forces launch all-out Damascus assault

Syrian forces launched an all-out assault on opposition strongholds in Damascus Friday, hours after rebels seized crossings on the Iraq and Turkey borders on the deadliest day so far of the 16-month conflict.
Friday’s firefights came after Russia and China used their powers as permanent UN Security Council members to block resolutions on Syria for the third time in nine months.
State television trumpeted the news of the military’s Damascus offensive. “Our brave army forces have completely cleaned the area of Midan in Damascus of the remaining mercenary terrorists and have reestablished security,” it said, using the regime term for rebels. Reporters taken on a regime-organised trip saw empty streets, shuttered shops and buildings pockmarked with bullet holes. Reporters also heard the occasional sound of gunfire, which soldiers said came from snipers. A security services source told AFP the military has launched a general offensive in Damascus.
The assault comes after a Wednesday bombing that killed four senior members of the regime, including the national security chief, who died on Friday. General Hisham Ikhtiyar had been wounded along with Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar in the National Security headquarters bombing, which was claimed by the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Defence Minister General Daoud Rajha, President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and General Hassan Turkmani, head of the regime’s crisis cell on the uprising, were all killed in the explosion. “The army on Thursday launched a counter-offensive to retake control of areas infiltrated by terrorists to guarantee the security of residents and allow them to return to their homes,” the security source said.
State television broadcast footage it said was from Damascus showing weaponry reportedly captured from rebels, including material marked “Made in USA,” as well as scenes of prisoners seated on the ground, their hands bound. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that regime forces had stormed the Jubar neighbourhood of Damascus. After Wednesday’s bomb targeting members of Assad’s inner circle, a security source warned that the regime would step up its operations against the rebels. “The army has so far exercised restraint in its operations, but after the attack, it has decided to use all the weapons in its possession to finish the terrorists off,” the source said. Damascus, meanwhile, dismissed comments by Russia’s envoy to Paris that Assad is ready to stand down.
“The comments attributed to the Russian ambassador to Paris on the fact that President Assad would agree to relinquish power in a civilised manner are totally baseless,” state television said. At the United Nations, permanent Security Council members Russia and China on Thursday vetoed resolutions on Syria for the third time in nine months.
The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously approved a resolution to extend the UN observer force in Syria for a final 30 days, after Pakistan helped bridge the differences over the way forward to deal with the Syrian crisis. The 15-member Council did so by adopting a revised British resolution which said the council would end the observer mission in 30 days but renew it if Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council confirmed that the use of heavy weapons had ended and the level of violence in Syria was reduced. The mandate of the mission had been set to expire on Friday.
The Council stood deadlocked on Thursday after Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have imposed UN sanctions on the Syrian government to pressure it into implementing a peace plan to halt the 17-month-old conflict. With the Syrian situation taking a dangerous turn, the Pakistani delegation led by Acting Ambassador Raza Bashir Tarar stepped in to help maintain support for UN-Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan to end violence in Syria and build consensus in the council on a way forward. As part of the effort, the Pakistani delegation circulated a draft seeking a 45-day extension for the UN observer force as Pakistan believes, like many other delegates, that the Annan’s plan was the best option to resolve the Syrian conflict. The British delegation produced a competing draft authorizing a final extension of 30 days, but its contents were weighted against the Syrian government.
The draft would undoubtedly have invoked Russian and Chinese vetoes. In this situation, the council members met privately before the formal session on Friday. Pakistan made an impassioned appeal for the council’s unity in the face of the deteriorating situation in Syria.