Canada takes refugees
Prime Minister Harper pledges Canada will take an additional 10,000 refugees from Iraq and Syria over the next four years if the Conservative government is re-elected in October. Canada has already settled roughly 20,000 Iraqi refugees and 2,500 Syrians. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada website shows it finalized 19,900 refugee claims from all countries in 2014. Harper:
We must stop ISIS
Russia urges US to include Syria
Russia says the United States is ‘unprepared’ for including the Syrian government in international plans to counter extremist ISIS. Lavrov says he discussed Putin’s proposal on coordinating efforts against IS during a recent meeting in Qatar with Kerry.
I asked him if it wouldn’t be easier to reach an agreement, to sit down at the negotiating table and discuss everything with the involvement of the Syrian Army. Unfortunately, the Americans are unprepared for that.
Lavrov says he also expressed concern about a U.S. decision to provide air support for Syrian opposition groups fighting against Assad’s government. He said he warned Kerry that some ‘grave mistake,’ such as the accidental bombing of civilians, could
explode the situation to such an extent that nobody would be able to control it.
Lavrov also rejects allegations that the Assad government has undeclared stockpiles of chemical weapons. He says ‘groundless accusations’ must be avoided and gave his ‘guarantee’ that all the claims ‘will be double-checked.’
We have every reason to believe that the Syrian government will continue cooperating closely.
Protesters call for execution
More than 1000 Syrians stage a protest in Latakia, calling for the execution of a Assad’s cousin, who has been accused of killing an army officer in a road rage incident. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 1,000 people gathered in the city holding up pictures of the victim. The demonstrators call for the execution of Assad’s cousin. They also chanted slogans in support of the president. Syria’s state media did not report the protest, the traffic incident or the reported killing.
Cousin kills air force official in road rage incident
A cousin of Syria’s president shoots dead a senior air force officer in a road rage incident according to a monitoring group. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the incident happened when the cousin followed the officer because he overtook him at a crossroads, then swerved the car around, got out and shot him dead. The cousin has not been arrested.
Kidnaps 230 civilians
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that ISIS abducted 230 civilians, including at least 60 Christians, in Al-Qaryatain hours after the group captured the town. Many of the Christians had fled from Aleppo province, in Syria’s north, to seek refuge in Al-Qaryatain. SOHR says those abducted were wanted by ISIS for ‘collaborating with the regime’ and their names were on a list used by the jihadists as they swept through the town. Families who tried to flee or hide were tracked down and taken by the jihadists. Al-Qaryatain lies at the crossroads between ISIS territory in the eastern countryside of Homs and areas further west in the Qalamun area.
UN to examine chemical weapons attacks
The UN adopts a resolution aimed at identifying those behind chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Ban and the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be asked to prepare a plan for an inquiry. US ambassador to the UN, Power:
Today’s resolution has been adopted with the council’s unanimous support. This sends a clear and powerful message to all those involved in chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The joint investigative mechanism will identify you if you gas people. It bears repeating as well that we need to bring the same unity that we have shown today to urgently find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.”
The resolution follows months of negotiations between the US and Russia. Syria’s ambassador to the UN denies his government was behind the attacks, claiming the Islamic State (IS) group and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front are to blame. Under the terms of the agreement, a team of expert inspectors will be given full access where possible to all locations in Syria and be allowed to collect materials and interview witnesses. Churkin, the UN’s Russian representative, says he hopes that the joint investigative body will work
impartially, objectively and professionally.
The resolution calls for Ban and the OPCW to recommend a team of investigators within 20 days.
Iran to present Syria peace plan to UN
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Abdollahian announces that Tehran will present an updated version of its plan to the UN to settle the crisis in Syria.
The plan will be declared and presented to the UN secretary general after precise consultations between Tehran and Damascus.
Syria, Hezbollah forces advance at border
Syrian government forces, backed by members of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group, advance from different directions in the mountain resort of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon. The fighting comes as Ahrar al-Sham insurgent group say that it has stopped communicating with Iranian mediators after they insisted that fighters and residents leave the resort. Ahrar al-Sham says the government aims to clear out the area’s Sunni Muslim population. Syrian opposition groups accuse the government and Hezbollah of displacing thousands of Sunnis from areas along the border with Lebanon and preventing them from returning to their homes.
Coalition warplanes target areas held by the Islamic State group near the town of Tabqa in the northern province of Raqqa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, a local activist group. The Observatory says the airstrikes killed at least five IS fighters and wounded 23, including teenage fighters of the so-called ‘Cubs of the Caliphate.’
Rebels say they won’t fight al-Nusra
Division 30 rebels in Syria defy their Pentagon-funded programme by pledging to fight against Assad regime troops.
The Division was formed from the honourable sons of Syria to help rid their country of Assad gangs and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
The Division also rejects a U.S. promise to defend the brigade against al Nusra with airstrikes:
[We have no] connection to the operations of the coalition against any faction on Syrian lands. [We will] not be dragged into any side battle with any faction. We did not and will not fight Jabhat al-Nusra.
Captures US-trained rebels
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, Nusra Front, abducts five rebels believed to have been trained by the United States after raiding areas along the Turkish border. The militant group is now holding a total of 13 men from ‘Division 30.’ It is not immediately clear whether the five men abducted overnight had been on the new U.S. military training programme or on an existing, separate CIA-led program. Pentagon spokesperson says the United States remains committed to defending the Syrian fighters, including against the threat from Nusra Front. There is no official reaction from the Syrian government, but a source says:
[The U.S.] relayed a message to Damascus not to worry about these statements. It’s about hitting Al-Nusra hard, not the Syrian army.
Authorizes defence against Syrian attacks
Obama authorizes using air power to defend a new U.S.-backed fighting force in Syria if it is attacked by Syrian government forces or other groups, raising the risk of the American military coming into direct conflict with the regime of Assad. Though the new rules allow Pentagon strikes to defend the U.S.-allied force against any regime attacks, U.S. military officials play down the chances of a direct confrontation. The newly trained force is committed to fighting Islamic State, not the Syrian regime, and won’t be fielded in areas the regime controls. U.S. officials say they believe the regime won’t challenge the new force.
Isis-free zone
Turkey and the US have agreed on the outlines of a plan to drive Islamic State out of a strip of land along the Turkish-Syrian border, in a landmark deal that will draw Turkey further into Syria’s civil war and looks likely to increase the intensity of the U.S. air war against Isis. The YPG accuses Turkey of targeting its fighters inside Syria as they laid siege to Isis-held positions close to another key border crossing, the town of Jarabulus.
Admits army under pressure
Assad says the Syrian army has been forced to give up areas in order to hold onto more important ones in its fight with insurgents, and the scale of the war means the military faces a manpower shortage.
Sometimes, in some circumstances, we are forced to give up areas to move those forces to the areas that we want to hold onto. We must define the important regions that the armed forces hold onto so it doesn’t allow the collapse of the rest of the areas…Everything is available (for the army), but there is a shortfall in human capacity, Mr Assad said. Despite that, I am not presenting a dark picture.
Assad says increased support from states backing the rebels is the reason for recent setbacks and dismisses the view that Syria is heading towards partition into areas run separately by the Damascus government and armed groups fighting him. He says amnesty for men at home and abroad who have dodged military service will encourage thousands of conscripts who want to join the army but hold back because of penalties.
Opposition groups agree Assad must go
Syria’s two main opposition groups settle longstanding differences to agree that Assad must step down in any deal to end the country’s conflict. The issue has dogged efforts to get the exiled Syrian National Coalition and the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCCDC), to agree a common platform. The two groups say in a statement after a meeting in Brussels that peace:
can be achieved through a political process undertaken by the Syrians themselves, under the auspices of the UN.
They say they now have:
a fundamental and comprehensive change of the current political regime, including the head of the regime and all its leaders, pillars and security agencies.
agreed a road map for the salvation of Syria, including the basic principles of a political settlement, to be adopted by their respective competent bodies.
Airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
The U.S., and its allies launch coordinated airstrikes on the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. At least 23 airstrikes are conducted over the two nations, with nine launched over Syria and 14 launched over Iraq. These airstrikes target tactical units and fighting positions in seven cities between the two countries.
Attacks Kobane, 120 killed
ISIS conducts a 24-hour “killing rampage” through the Kurdish town of Kobane, Syria. A majority of those slain are mainly women and children. Over 120 civilians are reported executed in their homes or killed by rocket and sniper fire. The killings are widely seen as vengeance for a series of defeats inflicted on ISIS by Kurdish militia in recent weeks.
Congratulates Iran
Assad sends a personal letter of congratulations to Iranian Supreme Leader, celebrating the occasion of a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 world powers. Assad calls the nuclear agreement a turning point for Iran. Assad says in a message to Iran;
We are confident that the Islamic Republic of Iran will support, with greater drive, just causes of nations and work for peace and stability in the region and the world…In the name of the Syrian people, I congratulate you and the people of Iran on this historic achievement, This deal provides clear recognition on the part of the world powers of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program
Executes over 200 per month
SOHR says that since June last year ISIS has executed over 2,150 people in Syria alone. This number includes over 1,300 civilians and nearly 530 Syrian government troops.
We believe that the real number of people that have been killed by IS is higher than the number documented by SOHR because there are hundreds of missing and detainees inside IS jails, and because there are dozens of Kurds who are still been missing since the beginning of IS attack on the countryside of Kobani in September 16.
Charges have ranged from insulting God (blasphemy), spying for the benefit of the Nusayri [Alawite] regime, sodomy and dealing and supporting YPG [Kurdish forces].
Criticizes UNSC
Jolie criticizes U.N. Security Council for its lack of action in solving humanitarian crisis in Syria.
We cannot look at Syria, and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision, and think this is not the lowest point in the world’s inability to protect and defend the innocent.
Ban seeks action on barrel bombs
A report by the UN chief Ban to the Security Council lists five priorities for action including the lifting of sieges on 212,000 people, ensuring access to medical aid to all of Syria, and rebuilding the education system. He also says the 15-member council must address barrel-bomb attacks on civilians and ending the practice of denying services as a weapon of war. Ban says barrel bombs are used against civilians in Aleppo, where the United Nations is seeking to freeze fighting as part of peace efforts. Ban:
This conflict has become business as usual.
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