{"id":2115,"date":"2012-05-18T16:07:27","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T16:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2012-05-18T16:07:27","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T16:07:27","slug":"largest-protest-in-aleppo-since-the-start-of-the-uprising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2012\/05\/18\/2115\/","title":{"rendered":"Largest protest in Aleppo since the start of the uprising"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regime forces fired on protesters in Aleppo on Friday, wounding several people at the biggest rally seen in Syria\u2019s second city since an uprising erupted last year. As many as 22 people have been killed by Syrian forces across the country, Al Arabiya reported citing activists at the Local Coordination Committees.
\u201cThis is the largest protest in Aleppo since the beginning of the revolution. Thousands of protesters are demonstrating, despite the regime forces repression\u201d, said Rami Abdul Rahman from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said the tens of thousands of protesters on the streets across the country, are \u201cthe largest gatherings since the ceasefire went into effect\u201d on April 12.
\u201cAleppo is experiencing a real uprising,\u201d a local activist Mohammed Halabi told AFP in Beirut.
Anti-regime activists had earlier called for Friday protests under the slogan, \u201cHeroes of Aleppo University\u201d, in solidarity with students who demonstrated despite brutal repression against the university.
Students in the northern city demonstrated on campus demanding the fall of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime on Thursday as U.N. observers were visiting to oversee a ceasefire, largely ignored for a month, according to activists.
Meanwhile, Kofi Annan, the special U.N.-Arab League envoy to violence-torn Syria, plans to return to Damascus \u201csoon\u201d to further efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, his spokesman said.
Ahmad Fawzi said no date had been set for Annan\u2019s second trip to Syria since he was named special envoy.
A deputy is also planning a trip, he added, but owing to security risks he cannot reveal when.
\u201cWe said before that the joint special envoy is considering an invitation to visit Syria,\u201d Fawzi told reporters in Geneva.
\u201cI can say that yes, we can expect a visit soon.
\u201cHis deputy also plans to visit Syria but I cannot disclose his arrival time or his arrival date at this time.\u201d
Annan went to Damascus on March 9-10 to meet President Bashar al-Assad who later agreed a six-point peace plan.
However, the commitment to Annan\u2019s plan did not seem to hold as violence never ceased on the ground.

Shelling of cities continues<\/strong><\/p>\n

The town of Rastan, north of the city of Homs, came under heavy shelling by regime forces, which tried to break through the defensive lines set up by the armed opposition. The dozens of mortar shells landing on residential areas killed eight people on Friday morning, according to an initial tally by local activists.
In Damascus, an explosion accompanied by heavy gunfire was heard in the district of Tadamun, according to the Syrian Revolution Council. It was not immediately known if there were any victims.
Anti-regime activists have called for nationwide protests on Friday in support of students in Aleppo in solidarity with students in the northern city who demonstrated there the day before despite brutal repression in the presence of U.N. military observers.
Growing suspicions of an al-Qaeda presence in Syria, meanwhile, further complicated matters for the fragmented opposition, which has repeatedly refuted any links to the Islamist organisation.
Now U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon says he believes al-Qaeda was behind recent huge attacks in Damascus.
Syria is \u201cvery, very, dangerous,\u201d said Edmond Mulet, assistant secretary general for U.N. peacekeeping.
\u201cThey are there unarmed and there is no ceasefire, there is no peace agreement, there is no dialogue between the parties and it\u2019s an urban warfare.
\u201cThis is something we have never seen before. We have never placed our military observers in a situation like this,\u201d he said.
The U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) is closing on its full strength of 300 monitors. But Western countries are still predicting UNSMIS will not be renewed after its first 90 day mandate on July 20.
\u201cThere is a risk that at any moment military observers will be killed or injured,\u201d said Britain\u2019s U.N. envoy Mark Lyall Grant. \u201cThere have been some close shaves, so it is a situation we are keeping under close review.\u201d
Artillery attacks on towns have reduced since the mission deployed, but the death toll is still high.
\u201cIt is the same strategy with a different tactic,\u201d said one senior U.N. diplomat. \u201cInstead of killing 100 they kill 60 and arrest 500.\u201d Rights groups and other sources say there has been an explosion in targeted killings. The U.N. says up to 10,000 people have been killed in the past 15 months.
Assad has shown willingness to start political talks. And the opposition is still too divided for negotiations, diplomats said.
No one has a Plan B to propose however to the peace plan of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

No credible alternative<\/strong>
<\/strong>
\u201cI know lots of questions have been asked about what happens if the plan fails,\u201d Annan said last week. \u201cI am waiting for some suggestions as to what else we do. If there are better ideas I will be the first to jump onto it.\u201d
\u201cThere is no credible alternative,\u201d according to Germany\u2019s U.N. ambassador Peter Wittig.
So the international community is sticking with Annan\u2019s plan though most diplomats and observers say the a new Security Council battle over Syria is likely when the 90 day mandate ends.
Russia, Assad\u2019s main international ally, may demand an extension of UNSMIS, along with fellow permanent member China, and India, Pakistan and South Africa.
The United States, Britain and France, the three Western permanent members, are not yet sure how to call time on the mission. Even US officials who most opposed UNSMIS are not yet calling Annan\u2019s plan a failure.
Richard Gowan, a specialist at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, has predicted that the Annan mission will be a \u201cheroic failure.\u201d
But he said \u201cit\u2019s important that the Western powers allow Annan to declare failure himself, or Russia will attack them for killing his mission.
\u201cAnnan may feel he cannot give up, as this might be the final act in his long career as an international official. But if he feels that his plan is now dead, he should realize that there is greater honor in declaring this than carrying on hopelessly,\u201d Gowan said.
The debate on Syria is expected to be taken up at the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and Monday.
\u201cIf Annan does not call off the attempt then it could put us in confrontation with him,\u201d said a senior Western diplomat. \u201cThen Russia will block sanctions and everything.\u201d
\u201cIf Annan recommends sanctions then Russia and China could go on the attack against him,\u201d added another Security Council envoy.
The Syrian opposition and some Middle East countries would like a military solution. \u201cBut for the moment no country in the West has signed up for this,\u201d said the envoy.
\u201cWe may well conclude down the line that (the plan) doesn\u2019t work and a different tack has to be taken. And that would be a very sad day and a tough day for the region,\u201d Annan said.

Source: Al Arabiya With Agencies<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regime forces fired on protesters in Aleppo on Friday, wounding several people at the biggest rally seen in Syria\u2019s second city since an uprising erupted last year. As many as 22 people have been killed by Syrian forces across the country, Al Arabiya reported citing activists at the Local Coordination Committees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLargest protest in Aleppo since the start of the uprising - SunniOnline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2012\/05\/18\/2115\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Largest protest in Aleppo since the start of the uprising - SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Regime forces fired on protesters in Aleppo on Friday, wounding several people at the biggest rally seen in Syria\u2019s second city since an uprising erupted last year. 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