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Entries in Halfaya (3)

Monday
Dec242012

Syria Live Coverage: "94 Killed" in Regime Airstrike on Bakery Queue

See also Syria Video Discussion: The Dwindling Resources of the Regime (Al Jazeera English)
Sunday's Syria Live Coverage: Starving in Aleppo


2103 GMT: The Local Coordination Committees report that 115 people have been killed today, including 35 in Damascus and its suburbs, 28 in Homs Province, 18 in Aleppo Province, and 16 in Hama Province.

2017 GMT: Colonel Abdel-Jabbar Oqaidi, the head of the insurgent military council in Aleppo Province, has spoken to Reuters of the change in strategy from fighting regime forces in the cities to surrounding bases in the countryside:

At the beginning...we were forced to attack the forces in the districts to kick them out so that they do not harm civilians.

After achieving fighting experience, we went back to the countryside to liberate the big military bases. These bases are fortified with tanks, rockets, artillery, mortars, in addition airplanes. The siege...cuts off the supply lines to these bases and most importantly it helps elements to defect.

Oqaidi said the remaining obstacle for the insurgents was Assad's warplanes:

We have no problem except for the air force. We're used to the tanks fighting and their shelling, we have no problem except for the air force.

We're used to taking over military bases that have tanks and APCs (armored personnel carriers) but we haven't been used to take over control yet of airplanes and God willing we'll have control of them soon.

Oqaidi estimated that the regime has less than 100 functional planes left.

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Sunday
Dec232012

Syria Live Coverage: Starving in Aleppo

Queuing for bread in Aleppo, 8 December 2012

See also Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A "Yes" for the Constitution --- But How Big?
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: "The Land Where Assad Killed Santa Claus"


2125 GMT: The opposition Local Coordination Committees are reporting 94 people killed in the regime strike on the bakery queue in Halfaya.

The Committees claim 191 people have been slain across the country, with 43 deaths in Damascus and its suburbs.

2045 GMT: Blogger Razan Ghazzawi writes after the Halfaya mass killing:

Look into Halfaya martyrs’ eyes and dare to tell me you’re worried about “Islamists” in Syria. Dare to tell me, you piece of shit, that you’re worried about “FSA [Free Syrian Army] human rights violations,” worried about “civil war,” about Qatar and KSA, and that’s why you won’t support people’s revolution.

So you’re worried. I see. That explains a lot. Of course.

Newsflash: the minute you have forsaken the people of Syria, the Syrian people have also forsaken you and what you worry about, habibi: you and your civilization doesn’t exist in our time and space. It’s over, you and I aren’t fellow human beings anymore.

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Tuesday
Dec182012

Syria Live Coverage: A Battle for Hama?

2120 GMT: This is an interesting video - it claims to have been leaked by "shabiha," or at least Assad military. This video reportedly shows artillery pieces firing on the city of Zabadani, the mountain city northwest of Damascus that has essentially been bombarded for many months with hardly any interruption:

Unfortunately, without a closeup of the men, or any dialogue to analyze, it's going to be hard to verify this claim.

2045 GMT: Incredible video, reportedly taken today in Damascus - the mountain appears to be Mt. Kassioun (map), and the target East Ghouta. These could be GRAD rockets, but they could also be Type 63:

2020 GMT: On December 6th we reported that the rebels were making considerable gains near the Al-Safira military base in Aleppo (map). The problem - Al Safira could be, according to some sources, not only the largest chemical weapons depot in all of Syria, but perhaps the largest chemical weapons stockpile in the entire region.

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