http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/20127189355415804.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/jul/18/syria-crisis-damascus-diplomatic-battles-live
| Damascus blast kills Syrian defence minister | |||||
General Daoud Rajha is fatally wounded in suicide bomb attack on the National Security headquarters in Damascus.
Last Modified: 18 Jul 2012 11:26
| |||||
Rebels said they had launched a major offensive to liberate Syria days before the deadly blast
| |||||
| The Syrian defence minister has been killed and several other senior security officials wounded after a suicide bomber struck the National Security building in Damascus during a meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officials. State television confirmed General Daoud Rajha was killed in Wednesday's suicide blast.
According to Al Manar TV Syrian Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar, President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and head of the national security office Hisham Bekhtyar were all killed in the blast.
Syrian state TV said that several other participants in a top-level meeting who were wounded in the blast had been rushed to Al-Shami hospital in the capital. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, capital of neighbouring Lebanon, said: "We don know yet the number of casualties but the fact that it happened near where the president lives is significant." "It seems it is a very serious explosion and we are not sure if it’s a suicide bomber in a car or if it’s one of the bodyguards or one of the insiders who blew himself up as a high-level meeting was taking place with a number of ministers and high level security official attending it." Rajha, 65, is the most senior government official to be killed in the Syrian civil war as rebels battle to oust President Bashar Assad. Rajha, a former army general, was the most senior Christian government official in Syria. Assad appointed him to the post last year. Two groups claimed responsibility for the explosion in Damascus On Wednesday that killed several top Syrian officials, including the defence minister and the president's brother-in-law. Liwa al-Islam, an Islamist rebel group whose name means "The Brigade of Islam", said in a statement on its Facebook page that it "targeted the cell called the crisis control room in the capital of Damascus." A spokesman for the group confirmed the claim by telephone. The Free Syrian Army also claimed responsibility for the attack, according to spokesman Qassim Saadedine. "This is the volcano we talked about, we have just started," he said. The explosion came as clashes beween the Syrian military and the Free Syrian Army in Damascus entered a fourth straight day.
Citing the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, news agencies reported sounds of explosions on the outskirts of the Syrian capital on Wednesday.
Fighting was also reported in the central district of al-Midan, where rebel fighters are holed up.There were no immediate reports of casualties. More government forces and tanks were deployed in areas inside and around Damascus following the violence, activists said. The SOHR also said that more than 60 soldiers had been killed in clashes with the FSA fighters in the past 48 hours, but there was no independent confirmation of the claim as foreign media is barred from reporting inside Syria. "Between 40 and 50 soldiers of the regular Syrian forces were killed the day before yesterday [Monday] in fighting in Damascus, and at least 20 were killed yesterday," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told the AFP news agency. He added that forces of the presidential guard had deployed around the capital, but "they are not involved in the fighting" that erupted in several districts of the city on Sunday. Soldiers loyal to al-Assad have called on civilians in Damascus areas controlled by the rebels to "leave immediately" ahead of an attack to purge those areas of "terrorists", activists said. 'Victory is nigh' The rebels said on Tuesday they had intensified their offensive, declaring the latest phase of their offensive would "liberate" Damascus. A rebel spokesman said "victory is nigh". "We have transferred the battle from Damascus province to the capital. We have a clear plan to control the whole of Damascus. We only have light weapons, but it's enough,' said FSA spokesman Colonel Kassem Saadeddine. "Expect surprises," Saadeddine added, before adding later that rebels had downed a helicopter over Qaboon, although an activist in the district said there was "no foundation" to the report. The fighting came as Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, pressed leaders of Syria's major ally, China, to back tougher action to stop violence.
But diplomats warned there is little chance the resolution will be adopted by a divided council.
The key stumbling block is the Western demand for the resolution to impose non-military sanctions, which is tied to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, and which could eventually pave the way for military force to end the conflict in Syria. Russia, another Syria ally with veto power at the Security Council, is reportedly opposed to any mention of non-military sanctions or Chapter 7, but the US and its European allies insist it must be included in a new resolution. Late on Tuesday, Russia called for consultations on the proposed resolution. Alexander Pankin, a Russian deputy ambassador, said after the meetings that any mention of Chapter 7 or sanctions were still a "red line for Moscow". Both Russia and China have previously vetoed Security Council resolutions seeking to take a hard line on the violence-wracked country. Putin pledges support But Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, vowed earlier on Tuesday to do everything to support UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's plan for ending the violence. Annan, who told Putin the violence had reached "unacceptable" proportions, arrived on Tuesday for his first meeting with the Kremlin chief since he won elections for a third term in office.
"From the very start, from the first steps, we supported and continue to support your efforts aimed at restoring civil peace," Putin told Annan at the start of their talks. Annan replied that "the Syrian crisis is at a critical time" before the discussion was closed to the media.
|
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/jul/18/syria-crisis-damascus-diplomatic-battles-live
Syria crisis: Assad's brother-in-law killed, says state TV - live updates
• Intelligence chief and defence minister reported dead
• Interior minister wounded but condition said to be stable
• Russia drafts an 'enhanced' UN security council resolution
• Interior minister wounded but condition said to be stable
• Russia drafts an 'enhanced' UN security council resolution
Email
This page will update automatically every minute: On | Off
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stands next to Syrian defence minister general Dawoud Rajha, right in October 2011. Rajha was reported to have been killed in an attack today. Photograph: Ho/AP
Syria: Al-Jazeera is reporting two claims of responsibility for the attack on Assad's inner circle: from the Free Syrian Army and also a group called the Islamic Brigade.
Syria Activist Shakeeb al-Jabri reckons the attack was the work of the Free Syrian Army and he predicts the regime will launch a "massive retaliation" against rebel strongholds in the capital over the next few hours.
Jabri, who tweets under the name @LeShaque, has been monitoring Syrian state TV from neighbouring Lebanon.
He says the way the state media has covered the attack is unprecedented. Speaking before the state media confirmed the death of Assef Shawkat he said:
The reaction of state media is the biggest question here. Typically this isn't the kind of thing they announce. They like to give the impression that all is fine.They didn't say it was a body guard. They said it was a suicide bomber who targeted the building, and the [only] casualty was Dawoud Rajha. State media hasn't elaborated on other casualties.
Asked to comment on speculation that the killing of the defence minister was a targeted to eliminate a potential defector Jabri said:
I'm not sure. They could have done it a lot more quietly. What they did today was create a media circus.It could have been an internal elimination ... nobody is reporting a loud explosion. My theory is that it wasn't an internal thing, it was the FSA or some third party group - one of those groups who have snuck into Syria. From what I've heard so far I suspect it was an IED, because a suicide bomber would have had to dive into the building and exploded themselves inside it. You would ask how the hell the would he get in the building?'
This is a big development. It is likely to be used as an excuse to escalate the oppression campaign in Damascus. So I expect that by nightfall there is going to be a massive retaliation against the FSA in Damascus.Syria: State TV says interior minister is injured but in stable condition.Syria: The website of the government news agency, Sana, is inaccessible again today. It was brought down by a cyber-attack a few days ago but later re-appeared.Hezbollah TV is now saying Assad's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, is dead. Reuters says the suicide bomber worked as a bodyguard for President Assad's inner circle.Syria: The Lebanese Hezbollah TV channel says the interior minister and Assad's brother-in-law have been wounded.Syria: The defence minister, Gen Dawoud Rajha, was a Greek Orthodox Christian from Damascus. Aged 65, he was appointed defence minister last August. He had previously served as the army's chief of staff.
He was reportedly present at another high-level meeting in May where the rebel sources claimed to have poisoned several of those attending.A Reuters article earlier today described him as one of Assad's inner circle:Assad has taken charge of a military crisis unit and takes all the daily decisions, from the deployment of army units to tasks assigned to the security services, as well as mobilisation of the Alawite Shabbiha, the feared militia accused of a series of massacres in the past two months."Bashar remains the centre. He is involved in the day-to-day details of managing the crisis," said a Lebanese politician close to the Syrian rulers. "He set up an elite unit led by him to manage the crisis daily."In this unit, intelligence chief Hisham Bekhtyar is responsible for security coordination, Dawoud Rajha is minister of defence, Assef Shawkat, the president's powerful brother-in-law, is deputy chief of staff of the armed forces. Alongside them are Ali Mamlouk, special adviser on security, Abdel-Fattah Qudsiyeh, head of military intelligence, and Mohammad Nassif Kheyrbek, a veteran operator from the era of Assad's father.Maher al-Assad, the president's younger brother and Syria's second most powerful man, commands the main loyalist strike forces.Syria: State media has confirmed that the defence minister was killed in the blast, according to multiple sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment