Today's Top Stories
- Fighting escalated in Damascus as the rebels made new gains in Aleppo.
- Hezbollah official and a Syrian General targeted by a roadside bomb in Beirut-Damascus road.
- Damage of industrial establishments in Syria estimated over US$420 million since the beginning of the conflict.
Today's Top Videos
- Jobar, Damascus: Regime indiscriminate shelling leaves dozens of civilians dead and wounded
- Aleppo: Rebel fighters storm the Omayyad mosque, P2, P3
- Damascus Suburb: Roadside bomb targets a convoy carrying high-ranking officials from Syria and Hezbollah
Today's Statistics
- Total Death Toll: 163
- Opposition Death Toll: 135 including 9 children, 7 women and 21 rebel fighters (Damascus and Suburbs: 51, Aleppo: 18, Hama: 10, Homs: 8, Idlib: 6, Daraa: 6, Deir Azzour: 6, Raqa: 1, Suweida: 1)
- Regime Soldiers & Militiamen Death Toll: +33
- Number of areas shelled: +374
- Number of People Wounded: +60
- Number of People Detained: +25
- FSA Key Operations:
- Seized control of the Omayyad mosque in Aleppo city.
- Stormed new buildings inside Aleppo’s police academy.
- Ambushed a convoy carrying high-ranking Syria and Hezbollah officials.
- Stormed a border police station on the Jordanian border.
- Destroyed 3 military tanks and a number of military vehicles.
Summary of EventsFighting intensified in Syria’s main two cities, Damascus and Aleppo, coupled with violent shelling by regime forces that caused dozens of casualties among civilians.
Regime forces shelled more than 374 locations across the country, 20 of which were pounded with fighter jets while six others were hit by Scud-type missiles fired from the base of the army’s 155
th regiment in the Damascus suburb of Qutaifa.
Today’s death toll reached more than 168. Regime forces and loyalist militiamen killed at least 135 people, including nine children, seven women and 21 rebel fighters, whereas the rebels killed more than 33 soldiers and militiamen.
More than 51 people were killed in Damascus and its suburbs, ten of whom died due to the indiscriminate rocket and mortar shelling in the eastern neighborhood of Jobar while six others were killed in an airstrike carried out on the provincial town of Deir Asafeer. Regime shelling inflicted heavy damage on Nestle factory located in the suburb of Khan Sheekh. The factory is one of Nestle’s largest in the Middle East.
Regime shelling also left nine people dead in the Aleppo suburbs of Bayanoun, Taqad, Safeera and Izaz, five more in the Idlib suburbs of Salqin and Saraqeb and one child in the Daraa suburb of Khirbet Ghazaleh. Meanwhile, five civilians were shot dead by regime forces and militiamen in Hama.
Fighting intensified once again in Damascus with the rebels launching several attacks on regime posts across the city. They attacked the Sofiyan Thawry barrack in the district of Maidan and a military checkpoint in the district of Ruken al-Din, destroying a military tank and leaving a number of regime forces dead and wounded. Fighting also broke out in Jobar, Qaboun, Yarmouk Refugee Camp and Tadamon as well as in various towns across the suburb.
In Aleppo, the rebels launched attacks on regime forces taking position in the Justice Palace and they retook control of the Omayyad Mosque in the heart of the city. They also fired mortar shells at army checkpoints surrounding Aleppo Citadel. They inched even closer towards taking full control of the police academy in the western town of Khan Asal as they stormed the academy’s main building and a residential complex for the officers. This came as they continued their attacks on Aleppo’s international airport and the military airports of Nerab, Minneg and Kuwaires.
General Ali Durgham, chief of military operations in the western suburb of Damascus, accompanied by Naim Qasim, a high-ranking Hezbollah official, are said to have been targeted by a
roadside bomb while crossing the border into Syria in Beirut-Damascus road near the Damascus suburb of Jdaidat Yabous. Rijal al-Haq battalion of Tajamo Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for this operation.
Rebel fighters stormed the 48
th police station on the Jordanian border after killing four security personnel and detaining many others. Meanwhile, heavy fighting broke out on various fronts across
Deir Azzour, Hama, Raqa and Idlib where the rebels destroyed at least three
military tanks and several military vehicles.
Samir Nashar, member of the Secretariat of the Syrian National Coalition said the Syrian National Coalition suggested three candidates to lead the transitional government due to be formed next month. The candidates are, Osama Qadi, Burhan Ghalioun and Salem Meslet.
A report issued by the Syrian Ministry of Industry estimated the damages inflicted on its establishments over US$420 million since the start of the uprising on March 2011. This estimate doesn’t include all establishments affected due to restriction of access to hot areas like Aleppo, Idlib and Deir Azzour.
