28th/May/2012

Umayya for Researches and Strategic Studies

The Daily Monitoring Report

The Field Situation The Internal Situation
- Residents of Khirbet Ghazaleh refused allowing the UN observers out of the town, after having examined the bombing of houses by the regime's forces.(1)

Statistics

27th/May death toll: 75

Political Mobility

- Demonstrations took place countrywide in solidarity with the town of Houla.(1)(4) - An all-out strike has been staged in various towns in Rif Dimashq and Hama.(1) - Burhan Ghalyoun, who has recently resigned as head of the Syrian National Council (SNC), calls on the Syrian people to fight a "war of liberation", relying on their own forces in the event the international community failed to take a decision on Syria under Chapter VII of the UN Security Council.(1)(2)(4) - The Free Syrian Army (FSA)'s joint command said that the FSA could no longer continue honoring its commitment to the cease-fire plan brokered by the UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, unless an immediate solution to the violence perpetrated by the Assad regime is reached.(1) - Mohammed Sarmini, member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), emphasizes the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is ready to militarily move and end the battle on the ground in its favor, pointing out that over 50% of Syria is now under the FSA control in spite of its modest arms. Sarmini called on the international community to supply the rebels in Syria with qualitative weapons.(1)

The Military Situation

- Al-Assad's troops bombed the Hama neighborhoods of Masha' Al-Forousiya, Masha' Janub AlMa'lab and Al-Arbaeen.(2) - Fierce clashes erupted between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Al-Assad's forces in several areas in Hama and its countryside. Security forces also set fire to a number of houses in several neighborhoods in the city of Hama amid mass exodus of families to the neighborhood of Al-Dahariya. The forces also cut off electricity and telecommunications in the city.(1)(2) - Al-Assad's troops opened fire to prevent the UN observers from visiting houses of victims of Houla massacre.(2) - Clashes broke out between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the government forces in Harasta in Rif Dimashq.
(1)(4)

- Blasts rocked Damascus' Al-Maidan neighborhood amid heavy gunfire. Al-Assad's forces made random arrests and crackdowns on houses during storming into Barzeh neighborhood in Damascus.(2) - Yesterday midnight, violent clashes erupted between the FSA and Al-Assad's troops in AlBukamal, Deir Al-Zour, as well as in theAlepoo neighborhoods of Al-Zahra and New Aleppo.(2) - Government forces stormed into the Idlib village of Jabal Al-Zawiya, raiding, searching and setting fire to houses and shops.(1)

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28th/May/2012
Activities of Civil Organizations
- Nadim Houry, an official with "Human Rights Watch", accused Al-Assad's troops of committing Houla crime, noting that there are sufficient evidences that confirm Assad troops' involvement in coldbloodedly killing those victims.(2)

Umayya for Researches and Strategic Studies

- The White House spokesman announced that he was deeply shocked by such a brutal attack described by him as being "mean sign of the practices of an illegitimate regime."(1)(2) - The American senator Ben Nelson pointed out that the military option in Syria is always the last option not the first.(1) - The American New York Times newspaper unveiled a plan as per which the American president Barack Obama, in cooperation with Russia, seeks to remove Bashar Al-Assad from office. That plan stipulates conducting political negotiations in Syria that would appease the opposition on condition that some remnants of Al-Assad's government are in power after his abdication.(2)

Syrian Political Stances

Sources:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Asharq Al-Awsat AlJazeera net Reuters AFP AP Guardian Telegraph

- Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdessy claims that Assad regime's forces are not responsible for Houla massacre, announcing that the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan would visit Syria shortly.(1)(2)(4)(5)

Arab Political Stances

- Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi announced holding a ministerial meeting in Doha on next Saturday with the aim of considering steps that should be followed in the UN Security Council on the current situation in Syria.(1) - The Lebanese "Hezbollah" condemned Houla Massacre. In addition, it strongly denounced those who committed such a crime, but without blaming the massacre on a specific party. Moreover, it asserted that the dialogue and peaceful political process are the sole mean to reach a solution to the Syrian crisis.
(2)(4)

- The military maneuvers of "Eager Lion 2012" in Jordan were completed three days before its official date, after continuing controversy about their relations with the Syrian crisis, among an American officials' confirmation and Jordanian officials' denial.(2) - Russia's deputy Permanent Representative at the

International Political Stances

- The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a non-binding statement in which it condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the killings, confirmed by the international monitors, of tens of men, women and children in addition to wounding other hundreds of civilians in Houla village by the government artillery fire, calling for investigating that massacre and bringing the perpetrators to account.(1)(2)(3)(6)

United Nations (UN) Igor Pankin questioned the allegations that Al-Assad's regime is responsible for Houla massacre, hinting that the number of victims is inconsistent with the destruction witnessed in the area.(4)(5)

This Report was issued by Umayya for Researches and Strategic Studies, and it contains pure news that do not reflect an opinion. Edited by Abed Alrhman Alsarraj Page 2