| Information |  | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
| ||
| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
| ||
07Oct12
Syria stuck in cross-border tension as violence raging
Violence in Syria and cross-border tension with neighboring Turkey continued Saturday while the Syrian defense minister stressed the Syrian army's resolution to rid the country of "terrorism."
The Syrian army on Saturday succeeded in wresting control of al- Sakhour turnabout area in northern Aleppo province, pro-government media said, adding that the area has witnessed furious clashes between the Syrian troops and the armed rebels over the past months of clashes in Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial hub.
Syria's state-TV, meanwhile, said that four Turks were among a group of gunmen who were killed earlier in the day during clashes in Aleppo.
Aleppo has been witnessing intense clashes over the past months, however, the intensity of clashes there has notably ramped up last week after the armed rebels announced the commencement of their " decisive battle" to win control over the northern slice of Syria before pitching for Arab and Western aid like what happened with the Libyan rebels in Benghazi during their civil conflict.
Meantime, sources told Xinhua Saturday that the Syrian army has unleashed a wide-scale operation in central al-Qusair town near Homs province to flush out insurgents.
Also in Homs, the pro-government Sham FM radio said as many as 42 armed men were killed Saturday during clashes with the Syrian troops at Bab Houd district.
The radio also said that an explosive device affixed under communal bus went off on Saturday at al-Warwar suburb of the capital Damascus, causing only injuries.
In separate accounts Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights alleged that the armed rebels have taken over the northern town of Khirbet al-Jous, on the border with Turkey, after 12 hours of intense fighting, during which 40 army personnel and nine rebel fighters were allegedly killed.
The Observatory also reported violence throughout the country including clashes between troops and rebels, placing the death toll of Saturday's violence at 57.
However, the Local Coordination Committees, another group of activists, placed the death toll at 110, 10 of whom were rebels.
As violence inside Syria grinds on, Syria, being busy in its 18- months-long internal conflict it has long blamed on foreign conspiracy schemed for the country by western countries and some regional powerhouses, is facing nowadays the looming danger of a possible war with its northern neighbor, Turkey, despite assurances by the two sides that they are unwilling to fight each other.
Fears of the break-up of a war with Turkey have rekindled Saturday when the Turkish army struck certain targets in Syria for the fourth consecutive day following the launching of a mortal shell at southern Turkey during clashes along the borders between armed rebels and Syrian troops.
The Turkish government said recently that it would not stand idle before such kinds of "provocations" from the Syrian government.
The already-existing tension between Syria and Turkey has dramatically risen on Thursday when Turkey bombarded some targets in Syria following alleged Syrian shelling of a Turkish border town that killed five Turkish civilians.
The Turkish parliament authorized a mandate to approve cross- border military action into Syria in response to the deaths of five civilians. However, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country has no intention of starting a war in the region.
On Saturday, the Turkish semi-official Aanatolia news agency said military vehicles of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were deployed in southeastern Turkey along the border with Syria.
The vehicles sent to Suruc town of the southeastern Sanliurfa province included a large number of tanks and missile defense systems, according to the report.
Turkey, which was a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, is now spearheading attempts to overthrow him. It has become a home to more than 90 thousand Syrian refugees and provides a safe haven for the leaders of Syrian insurgents.
While the violence and cross-border tension seem incessant, Syria's Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij, stressed on Saturday that the Syrian army is "engaging in a global war in which it is defending the homeland and citizens' security."
In an interview with the Syrian TV, Freij stressed the army's determination to restore security and stability to Syria.
The minister also affirmed that "the most serious chapters of the conspiracy on Syria are faltering and the fleeing groups of wahhabi and al-Qaida-linked mercenaries are being crushed under the feet of the Syrian army heroes."
"Our armed forces today are more resolved to restore security and stability to Syria and cut off the hand of whosoever tries to harm it and eliminate the remnants of defeated terrorists wherever they are," Freij reiterated.
The minister's remarks has come on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, known as the October war, which began on Oct. 6 when Egypt and Syria took advantage of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday to launch surprise attacks on territory occupied by Israel in previous conflicts.
[Source: Xinhua, Damascus, 07Oct12]
 | This document has been published on 08Oct12 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |