Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Inside and Outside Aleppo

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2035 GMT: Syria. Christian Science Monitor correspondent Scott Peterson, who has just returned to Turkey for Syria, has spoken of the battle in Aleppo:

It was a very up and down fight at the very early stages....I think [the victory] took the rebel forces by surprise a little bit. They claimed they knocked out eight tanks....

It was surprising to feel the degree of optimism that some of the rebels there felt. Of course what they were concerned about wsa that the quality and the volume of the shelling...was going to yield kind of a destroyed neighbourhood.

Peterson said the supply of weapons to the insurgents markedly increased in the past few days, with many more rocket-propelled grenades and even DShK or "Dushka" anti-aircraft guns appearing.

1755 GMT: Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood has denounced President Assad, his allies Iran and Russia, and the international community for "silence" and failure to protect civilians.

The Brotherhood said Assad was "legally and morally responsible for the death of every victim in Syria" and Iran and Russia were "drowning in the blood of the Syrian people".

The Brotherhood also said the international community was "a partner" to violence in Syria, "by standing silent for too long...and failing to respect its obligation under international law to protect civilians".

1725 GMT: UAE. At least 10 more dissidents have been arrested in recent days in a widening crackdown, according to activists.

At least 40 dissidents have reportedly been seized since March and 20 since 15 July when officials said they were investigating a foreign-linked group planning "crimes against the security of the state".

1645 GMT: Syria. An insurgent commander in Boustan Alkasr in Aleppo Province has told Luke Harding of The Guardian: 

The Free Syrian Army has several hundred soldiers stationed inside Aleppo, and in total a bigger force in the area of around 2000. The regime has 100 tanks, we estimate, and about another 400 troop carriers and armoured vehicles. They also have 43 buses of Shabiha that have been brought inside Aleppo, with around 1500 soldiers. And the regime has helicopters.

Harding reports the insurgents, who entered Aleppo on 20 July, remain in control of a crescent-shaped portion stretching from the east to the south and are encamped in villages near Anadan, 13 kilometres (8 miles) to the north. The Free Syrian Army has set up a network of checkpoints in the neighbourhoods it controls, run by young militia fighters, many of them extremely nervous.

The journalist adds different insurgent groups inside the city are struggling to communicate with each other. They are using walkie-talkies, as the Internet and other services erratic.

1515 GMT: Syria. There have been reports of heavy casualties in Sheikh Miskeen, in Deraa. The Local Coordination Committees says:

The number of martyrs has risen to 21, due to fierce shelling and amid an attempt to raid the area by regime forces Some were slaughtered with knives.

1500 GMT: Syria. Al Jazeera Arabic reports that the Free Syrian Army is in complete control of eight neighbourhoods in Aleppo city.

1445 GMT: Syria. The Assad forces are reportedly killed two non-Syrian men while they were trying to cross the border into Jordan. Zayed Hammad, head of the Ketab and Sunna Society, which provides aid to more than 50,000 Syrian refugees, told the AFP: 

We are trying to identify the nationalities of the two because they are not Syrian. The Syrian army ambushes all those who try to flee to Jordan.

1410 GMT: Syria. Dr Nabil Elaraby, Secretary-General of the Arab League, described the situation in Syria as amounting to war crimes and said those responsible will be held accountable internationally. 

1325 GMT: Jordan. Syria's southern neighbour opened its first official refugee camp where 500 Syrian refugees will be moved today. Interior Minister Ghaleb Zubi said between 1,000 and 2,000 Syrians are fleeing to Jordan every day. He added that his country was now hosting more than 142,000 Syrians, around 36,000 of whom are UN-registered. 
 

1300 GMT: Syria. It is reported that more than 12,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Algeria. The Syrian opposition sources put this number up to 20,000 though. 

1220 GMT:  Syria. A resident of a middle-class area of Aleppo e-mails The Guardian:

Constant shelling for the last 2 days of the poorer areas. I can hear the shells being fired. I can see the helicopters circling and firing in the same areas. We cannot open schools quick enough to take in the fleeing families. Thousands are sheltering in the parks....

No gas, no fuel, no petrol and now no bread.

Fighting has been reported in the Salaheddin and al-Bab sections of the city.

1200 GMT:  Syria. Testimony from a captured member of the shabiha militia, given to Luke Harding of The Guardian....

Dawish Dado, 33, said he was a decorator in Aleppo and was recruited two months ago to join the shabiha. He. said shabiha unit had looted many houses in Aleppo and robbed people: "I didn't witness rape. But I heard talk about it in my unit."

1150 GMT: The Guardian's Luke Harding reports from Aleppo that the Free Syrian Army members and the government forces are about 1.5km apart from each other.

1135 GMT: Syria. A plastic factory in Aleppo claimed to be hit by a shell. Meanwhile, there are reports coming from the south-western neighborhoods of Salaheddin and Saif al-Dawla that intense shelling is continuing. 

1125 GMT: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Moualem said at the joint press conference:

We are facing a campaign from US, Western, and Arab countries....whether we have or do not have weapons of mass destruction, Israel has more than 200 nuclear warheads.

Syria is committed to the [Kofi] Annan plan, but we have two points; preventing any foreign aggression and keeping the union of our land.

1110 GMT: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi dismissed plans about forming a transitional government in Syria. Salehi said:

Thinking naively and wrongly that if there is a power vacuum perhaps in Syria and if there is a transition of power in Syria, simply another government will come to power, that I think is just a dream.

It's an illusion. We have to look carefully at Syria and what's happening inside the country.

1045 GMT: Syria. Abdelbasset Sida, president of the Syrian National Council said that a transitional government would be formed within weeks. Sida continued:

This government should come about before the fall (of Assad) so that it presents itself as an alternative for the next stage.

The committees that we have set up have their own schedules. Obviously, the matter should be concluded within weeks.

There are some elements in the current regime who are not bloodstained, who were not part of major corruption cases. We will discuss (including them) with other parties, but there
should be a national consensus to accept them.

1030 GMT: Syria. The Free Syrian Army seizes a tank in the Al Bab district of Aleppo and turns into the Reo carnival.

1015 GMT:  Syria. Benjamin Hiller, writing in the Egypt Independent, offers an overview of "Kurdish Syria: From Cultural to Armed Revolution".

1000 GMT: Syria. BBC News showing Homs, the "scarred and divided" city:

0945 GMT: Prisoners exchange in Syria. CNN's Ivan Watson witnesses an exchange of Sunni and Shiite prisoners exchange. 

0935 GMT: Syria. The Free Syrian Army fighters were waiting for tanks in Aleppo yesterday.

0925 GMT:  Syria. Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem will meet Iranian officials in Tehran today, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has said.

The Foreign Ministry said Muallem will meet his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi. Iran's ISNA news agency said Muallem will also see the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.

0920 GMT: Syria. The Free Syrian Army has reportedly "liberated a strategic building" in Homs' Bab Hood neighbourhood.

0910 GMT: Syria. Long queues for bread at a public bakery in Aleppo:

0900 GMT: Syria. Several members of the Assad regime's military intelligence in al-Bab city in the northern province of Aleppo have become prisoners of the Free Syrian Army. 

0620 GMT: Syria. Claimed footage of the Sekkari neighbourhood of Aleppo this morning:

Syria. Regime forces pounded areas of Aleppo, notably Salaheddin, yesterday in an attempt to force out insurgents who have now been inside Syria's largest city for more than a week. Among the 160 deaths reported by the Local Coordination Committees, 33 were in Aleppo. The regime gave no figures for its losses.

There was no sign, however, of conclusive victory. To the contrary, activists claimed --- with some video support --- that the attack on Salaheddin had been repulsed.

And even if President Assad's men restore men, it is growing more likely they will face a divided country. As the regime has put its effort into Aleppo, insurgents have consolidated their position in province in towns such as l-Bab and Anadan.