53 KILLED IN ALLEGED ATTACKS BY SYRIA REGIME

Damaskus, 2 Jumadil Awal 1435/4 March 2014 ( MINA ) – Attacks allegedly carried out by Syria President Bashar al-Assad’s regime killed 53 people across Syria on Sunday, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

The organization said 25 died in Aleppo, 10 in Homs, eight in Damascus, four in Idlib, two in both Dera and Deir az-Zor, and one in each Hama and Latakia, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Monday.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC) reported that residents of the Yarmouk camp near Damascus, which is mainly populated by Palestinian refugees, were killed and wounded when the Syria regime allegedly shelled and used tanks and rockets on the camp.

Also Read: Houthis Launch Missile from a Mosque

The LCC also said fierce clashes took place within the capital between Free Syrian Army members and the regime forces, who carried out air and ground attacks in Darayya, Eastern Guta, Berze, and Yarmouk towns in Damascus.

Meanwhile, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported that security forces killed members of armed groups and destroyed their vehicles.

In April 2011, the Syrian Army was deployed to quell the uprising and soldiers fired on demonstrators across the country.

After months of military sieges, the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. The conflict isasymmetrical, with clashes taking place in many towns and cities across the country. In 2013, Hezbollah entered the war in support of the Syrian army.

Also Read: IRAN WILL NOT BOW TO THREATS: ROUHANI

The Syrian government is further upheld by military support from Russia, which it stepped up in the winter of 2013 – 2014, – and Iran, while Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United States transfer weapons to the rebels.

By July 2013, the Syrian government controls approximately 30 – 40 percent of the country’s territory and 60 percent of the Syrian population.

A late 2012 UN report described the conflict as “overtly sectarian in nature”, between Alawite government forces, militias and other Shia groups fighting largely against Sunni-dominated rebel groups, though both opposition and government forces denied that. (T/P012)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)