Syria 1st-Hand: An Emotional Road Trip Through Idlib Province (Hanano)

Syrian family leave Taftanaz after shelling by regime forces (Photo: Philippe Desmazes/AFP)

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As I walked away, I saw a tall, elderly man with a red-and-white scarf on his head speaking with men from the neighbourhood. He gestured with his hands and repeated over and over: "This is my home, did you see it? This is my home." They tried calming him, telling him to be grateful that none of his loved ones had been killed in the strike. He responded, crying: "This is my home." Our eyes met and I was ashamed that I had embarrassed him by meeting his tearful gaze. I looked down and walked away.

Sitting alone in the car for the first time that day, my own tears escalated into uncontrollable sobs. I thought I would have felt these emotions when I crossed the border, when I saw the graffiti, when I saw the destruction, but the old man was the missing connection. These primal expressions of despair are absent from the images and even the videos. You can't imagine them from a distance. You have to be close enough to see the tears.

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Syria Live Coverage: The Refugee Emergency Grows

2019 GMT: Death Toll Reaches 112. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 112 people have been killed today nationwide:

28 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 18 in Homs including an entire family, 17 in Daraa, 17 in Aleppo, 16 in Idlib, 10 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, 2 in Raqqa and 1 in Hassakeh.

See our note on the casualty figures published by the LCC.

2015 GMT: Idlib Prison Captured by Rebels. Rebel forces have stormed the central Idlib prison, releasing 300 prisoners according to activists. Several videos show the battle for the prison and the releasing of some prisoners:

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Syria Live Coverage: A Growing Crisis Over Food?

2045 GMT: Helicopter Shot Down in Aleppo. The LCC posts this video, which we also saw from other sources, of a helicopter shot down somewhere in Aleppo province. We have not seen this footage, or any similar footage, before, suggesting that this could be new. The description says the aircraft was "brought down by machineguns," presumably anti-aircraft guns:

2012 GMT: 90 Killed Nationwide Today. The death toll has risen to 90, according to the Local Coordination Committees:

40 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs; 13 in Homs, during a raid of Qusair; 12 in Aleppo; 9 in Idlib; 5 in Lattakia; 5 in Daraa; 4 in Hama; 2 in Deir Ezzor.

The Local Coordination Committees (LCC) is an activist network operating both inside and outside of Syria. They claim to use stringent verification processes to ensure that a member of the LCC can vouch for any information posted either on their Facebook page or their website. The LCC also populates a database of those killed in the Syrian conflict, which can be seen at the website for the Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria.

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Syria Live Coverage: Deaths of the Past, Deaths of the Present

1930 GMT: Jabhat Strikes Qusayr. a contact reports that, "Jabhat Al Nusra has just blown up the biggest military zone in Al Qasier-Homs using a truck loaded with 20 tones of explosives." Several other social media accounts also post similar news:

#FSA and #JN Blew up an army checkpoint that is considered the biggest and most strategic checkpoint in #Qusair #Homs twitter.com/samersniper/st…

— samer (@samersniper) January 23, 2013

Homs - Qusair :: Fierce clashes between the FSA and regime's army at the city's outskirts.#Syria

— أخبار الثورة السورية (@NewsSyRev) January 23, 2013

This video reportedly shows the smoke rising after the explosion:

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Turkey Analysis: The Opposition, the Government, and the “Grand Kurdish Settlement”

Abdullah Ocalan and Recep Tayyip ErdoganThe challenges to a "grand Kurdish project" go beyond Ankara. The first is over the crisis in Syria --- indirectly involving Iran --- where the Erdogan Government has no intention of repairing times with Syrian Kurds of the Democratic Union Party. The second is the inclusion of Iraq's Massoud Barzani in a political process: it is unclear what incentive Ankara has to acknowledge, let alone accept, the demand of the pro-Kurdish opposition party BDP.

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Syria Live Coverage: "We Will Pursue Terrorist Groups Until Victory"

2206 GMT: Location of Airstrike. Felim McMahon, of Storyful, has placed the explosions and various camera angles of the videos from Aleppo University on a map. As you can see, the new "smoking gun" video is marked in blue:

Felim is excellent at what he does, so the map is very likely accurate. But there's a way to check his accuracy. There is approximately a 600-700 millisecond delay between the flash of the explosion to the sound of the explosion. That means that the person walking is approximately 200 meters away when the explosion goes off - which matches Felim's map exactly.

There's another very important piece of information. The missile strike came from the south. We know the missile was behind the camera because we hear the missile before we hear the explosion. We also know that a jet fighter would have to line up on the road in order to strike this accurately.

This means that the jet fighter came from the direction of the major Assad military and airforce bases in the south.

Also, Felim says that there were 3 minutes between the 2 strikes. Again, this means that the pilot would have to fire the missile, circle around, and fire again.

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Syria Live Coverage: The Battle for Idlib Begins?

See also Algeria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 81 Killed in Gas Plant Siege
Sunday's Syria Live Coverage: "Darayya is Being Pounded to Dust"

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Opposition Commander Ayachi Abdel Rahman2136 GMT: Casualties. The Local Coordination Committees claim 92 people were killed today, including 27 in Aleppo Province and 24 in Damascus and its suburbs.

1946 GMT: Russian Evacuation. Moscow is sending two planes to Lebanon to evacuate more than 100 Russians from Syria.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said the planes would fly to Beirut on Tuesday to carry more than 100 Russians from Syria.

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Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader's Top Advisor Draws A "Red Line" on Syria

See also Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: Regime Explains --- Talk of "Free Elections" Is "Sedition"

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Supreme Leader Aide Ali Akbar Velayati2147 GMT: Bank Watch. The Supreme Audit Court has given Central Bank head Mahmoud Bahmani 20 days to appeal the order for his dismissal because of illegal financial transactions.

2037 GMT: Bank Watch. Najmeh Bozorgmehr of the Financial Times summarises a day's turmoil over the Central Bank and the Iranian currency, with reports of the resignation or dismissal of Bank head Mahmoud Bahmani.

Bozorgmehr puts the fall of the Rial today at 8%, from 32800:1 to 35300:1.

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Jordan Feature: The Kingdom's "Syria Problem" (Pelham)

Zaatari Refugee CampAs the uprising in Syria takes on an increasingly sectarian cast, Jordan has become a crucial center for the Islamist opposition — fighters, regime defectors, and their supporters, who speak of replacing the secular-Alawite regime with a new government that brings a Sunni majority to power. More extremist groups, like Jabhat al-Nasra, an Al-Qaeda affiliate based in and around Aleppo that wants to establish a caliphate, have strengthened their numbers with Jordanian recruits in the south, and are fighting to take the capital first. And while Jordan’s own secular monarchy contends with hundreds of thousands of newly arrived Syrian refugees, it is fearful that the conflict is also creating a powerful cause for its own restless Islamists.

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Syria Live Coverage: "Darayya is Being Pounded to Dust"

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton on Syrians decimating forests to survive the winter

See also Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Gas Plant Siege Ends with 23 Hostages, 32 Attackers Killed
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: UN Human Rights Chief Calls for War Crimes Investigation

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2029 GMT: A Town After the Bombardment. Al Jazeera English's Basma Atassi reports:

The centre of Salqin in northern Syria looked deceptively normal, just a day after the town came under lethal government air strikes.

Shops were open for business. Residents strolled through the main square. Children could be seen playing in the narrow streets.

Yet a closer look at the streets of Salqin revealed the brutal scars of war. Away from the square, sidewalks were stained with blood and littered with broken glass.

Residents said six people were killed when government forces attacked the rebel-held town bordering Turkey on Friday. Dozens of people were injured, locals said, including many children.

Three siblings --- Basel, 12, Doriyeh, 10, and Raghad, 8 --- were injured by shrapnel as a rocket detonated near their home while they played.

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