Deadly fighting rages on across Syria

Fierce battles and army shelling in and around Damascus have killed at least 41 people, mostly civilians, as warplanes launch more air raids on a town on the Turkish border, according to media reports.
“Several army units are fighting with armed terrorist groups near the Othman mosque in the [Damascus] neighbourhood of Tadamun,” Syrian state television said on Tuesday.

Tadamun has been the scene of intermittent clashes since mid-summer, state television and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A car bomb, meanwhile, struck the town of Ain al-Fijeh, west of the capital, “injuring a number of people and causing widespread material damage,” state media reported.

The Observatory also reported the car bomb, but neither source gave details on casualties.

Fighting in the Eastern Ghuta area, east of the Damascus, cost the lives of at least 10 soldiers and a rebel, after rebel forces attacked public buildings in the area, the Observatory said.

The army used tanks to shell several towns east of the capital, including Harasta, Zabadani and Irbin, killing at least seven civilians including an unknown number of women and children, the Observatory said.

In other violence, the army shelled rebel positions in the southern province of Deraa, in the central province of Homs, in Idlib in the northwest and in the northern city of Aleppo, said the Observatory.

There are few civilians left in the most dangerous districts of Aleppo.

“Those who remain, even children, run for their lives every day. They are used to the sound of bullets whistling by,” Al Jazeera correspondent Andrew Simmons reported from Aleppo.

“You can see it in their eyes, in their expressions: they’ve given up on calling for help from America, from the rest of the West, from the Arab states… “

Border violence
The Syrian Observatory also reported fresh air raids on Ras al-Ain, in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, and said 1,000 government troops had been sent to the town.

Syrian rebels have been firing heavy machine guns at military jets in the embattled border town. Rebels claimed Ras al-Ain last week prompting an offensive from Assad’s forces.

Air strikes have sent a new wave of civilians pouring into Turkey, adding to the 9,000 refugees who fled late last week when rebels overran the town, an AFP photographer said.

“Ras al-Ain is deserted now, it is a ghost town,” said the Observatory.

The latest refugee movements into Turkey have been some of the largest since the conflict began.

At least 63 people were killed on Tuesday across Syria – 29 civilians, 11 soldiers and 23 rebels – said the Observatory, which relies for its information on a network of activists, lawyers and medics.

Among those killed was Abdel Razzaq al-Yusef a transport official assassinated by unidentified armed men in the northwestern province of Idlib, said the Observatory.

The watchdog has given an overall death toll of more than 37,000 since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011.

France recognises Syria opposition coalition
France has become the first Western power to recognise the newly united Syrian opposition as the only representative of the Syrian people.

“France recognises the Syrian National Coalition as the only representative of the Syrian people and therefore as the future provisional government of a democratic Syria,” President Francois Hollande told a press conference in Paris on Tuesday.

The question of arming the rebels would be looked at as soon as the rebel coalition formed a transitional government, Hollande said.

“On the question of weapons deliveries, France did not support it as long as it wasn’t clear where these weapons went,” Hollande said.

“With the coalition, as soon as it is a legitimate government of Syria, this question will be looked at by France, but also by all countries that recognise this government.”

The announcement comes after opposition groups agreed on Sunday in Doha to unite against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The French move comes 24 hours after the coalition was recognised by the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman.

Pledging support
Arab League and European Union foreign ministers pledged after their meeting in Cairo on Tuesday to support the Syrian opposition and welcomed steps to unite the various groups under a new, united banner, in order to facilitate a solution to the 20-month conflict.

“The ministers welcomed the formation of the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces. They called on all opposition groups to adhere to the national coalition and on the national coalition to engage with all sections of Syrian society,” said a statement issued at the close of the meeting held in Cairo on Tuesday.

Syria’s divided opposition had come under pressure from Western powers to join forces and offer a single interlocutor during negotiations, in order to provide a single contact for international critics of the regime’s efforts to stamp down the opposition since 2011.

The coalition brings together the Syrian National Council and other groups inside Syria.

The Arab League has recognised the coalition as “the legitimate representative of the Syrian people’s aspirations.”

Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi described it as “a glimmer of hope.”

Frustration at UN deadlock
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on the group “to demonstrate they are acting on behalf of all Syria’s communities. The more progress the coalition makes towards those goals, the greater practical support it will have from the United Kingdom.”

Hague expressed frustration at the deadlock on Syria in the UN Security Council, saying that “our efforts … to encourage the UNSC to take on its responsibilities have been vetoed by Russia and China. In the absence of such progress, we will increase our support to Syrian opposition groups.”

Moscow and Beijing, both allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have vetoed three Western-and Arab-backed resolutions at the Security Council condemning the Syrian regime for violence.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country “is ready to join hands with the Arab League to help (the new alliance) to become a credible and inclusive alternative to al-Assad’s regime.”

Westerwelle and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius both met the head of the coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib.

Source: Aljazeera