Syria Live Coverage: The Fight in Daraa Province

Fighting in Daraa city on Tuesday

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2200 GMT: Intense Fight in Damascus. Today's fighting near Jobar in northeast Damascus was intense. At the height of the battle, incoming artillery and mortar shells lit large parts of the city on fire, however, it is unclear who was firing what. What we do know is that by nightfall there was still fighting in parts of Damascus, and the battle lines, at least for the moment, have changed considerably.

A Syrian microblogger has collected dozens of videos of the fighting in a post. This video reportedly shows the early stages of the battle for the the Harmala checkpoint:

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Syria Live Coverage: The Battle for Idlib Begins?

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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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Syria Analysis: Assad Says "I Am Not Leaving"

President Assad is mobbed by supporters after his Sunday speech

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President Assad spoke for almost an hour on Sunday, often in long, almost-rambling sentences. However, the thousands of words can be reduced to four.

I am not leaving.

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Syria Live Coverage: Regime Warplanes Strike in Damascus for 1st Time

2104 GMT: A micro-blogger has collected a series of videos from the FSA offensive against Halfaya, north of Hama city (map). The city is under heavy rebel attack, as the Free Syrian Army and other units are stretching the front lines to the south. After weeks of ambushes, IED attacks, and generally picking at Assad's supply lines, it appears that the insurgents have moved into Hama province with a vengeance. If this kind of momentum can be sustained over the next few days, it could signal a further Assad military collapse, but this one just kilometers from one of the most important cities in Syria:

#Syria #Hama Rebels destroyed officers club & surround National Hospital in city of #Helfaia which is under occupation youtube.com/watch?v=dEMBOn…

— Mark (@markito0171) December 17, 2012

#Syria #Hama Rebels in #Helfaia seized T-72 tankyoutube.com/watch?v=3dWzKw… wikimapia.org/#lat=35.259858…

— Mark (@markito0171) December 17, 2012

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Syria Live Coverage: Uncertainty Over the Mass Killing in Aqrab

1946 GMT: Syrian Media, SANA, now reports that three different explosions resulted in "martyring of a number of people and the injuring of others" at the Interior Ministry in Damascus. SANA does not say whether any officials have been injured, though rumors are flying, rumors which State TV has already denied. They have posted several pictures, two of which we post here (click for full size):

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Syria Live Coverage: So, Are "Al Qa'eda Terrorists" Winning the Civil War?

Insurgents celebrate the capture of the major military base near Shiekh Suleiman, west of Aleppo

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2032 GMT: Another video reportedly shows an eyewitness account from Aqrab:

Zilal translates the video into this basic narrative:

The man says that elements of regime forces did this. [The boy says "Jish," which means army, and the man clarifies that he means "Shabiha", which has become a catch-all term for pro-Assad armed forces]. Also the second injured boy is saying that "shabiha" were responsible. The man says that there are still 300 people in the hands of shabiha and that probably the shabiha will kill them to accuse the FSA of the crime.

And the child replies that these 300 people have already all been killed.

At the end of the video the man says that these two children, another little girl, and a woman are all under his protection and under the protection of FSA and he calls for the Red Cross to come in order to treat them and take their version of the events. Then he says the date and location (Houla, 11 December 2012).

Storyful's Felim McMahon sends me another eyewitness report, written in Arabic. Another source sends us this narrative, which we believe is just a translation:

The Free Syrian Army surrounding a building belonging to the shabiha in Aqrab village, in which the regime forces had taken women and children captive. They intended on using the civilians as human shields to protect themselves from an attack by the FSA. Afterwards, some of the leaders of the village, including Shaikh Ali al-Omar and Shaikh Saa'do Hamash and the retired Colonel Shaker Akkash, [were in] a group of eight people who went to negotiate the release of the women and children, and to ask the regime forces to turn themselves in, promising their safety. The leaders were kidnapped in an attempt to pressure the FSA, and thus the FSA retreated. Afterwards, the shabiha killed the leaders and threw hand grenades at the women and children who were trying to escape. They took advantage of the FSA's retreat by leaving the building and blowing it up, attempting to frame the FSA for this operation. They also fired missiles at the building, and an air raid on the area left it completely destroyed, killing the 200-250 civilians (including women and children) inside. Some of the wounded Alawites, women and children, were evacuated, and verified this report.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Damascus Shakes as Assad Regime Wobbles

2114 GMT: Syria. Markito0171 posts an interesting video, reportedly taken yesterday, showing an FSA rocket attack on an airforce intelligence building in Aleppo (map):

#Syria #Aleppo Video of the Air Force Intelligence building- besieged from rebelsyoutube.com/watch?v=O51xBi… wikimapia.org/#lat=36.229081…

— Mark (@markito0171) November 21, 2012

As you can see from the screenshot of Google maps, the video matches the satellite images:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: On "Quiet" Sunday, 78 People Are Killed

2240 GMT: Syria. The LCC has posted an EXTREMELY GRAPHIC video, reportedly showing 13 bodies "massacred," shot in the head in Bahdalieh, a suburb south of Damascus (map).

We cannot verify the video, except to say that, with graphic closeups of the brains shot over the pavement, it looks real. The hands of the bodies appear to be bound, and all the bodies (men) were wearing civilian clothing. At one point a man holds a sign that reads today's date.

The only problem - a different video, which sounds like it was taken by teenagers, was posted two days ago, and shows only five bodies. Here is the description:

GRAPHIC - Five more Syrian Sunni Arab victims of Assad's reign of terror in Damascus: Al-Bahdalieh, Nov 17th, '12 (Graphic)

Five males are found on waste ground in Al-Bahdalieh, having been stopped by an Alawite gang.

There are commonalities between the two videos. The video shot on the 17th appears to show the men to the far left of the frame (note the shirt colors and the red bag near the bodies - at the 23 second mark in the liveleaks video and the 51 second mark of the Youtube video). The Youtube video explains that the 8 new bodies (on the right) were in addition to the ones on the left, which were old:

Published on Nov 19, 2012 - Eight bodies were executed on the ground by firing squad in the Bahdalieh added to a group of bodies that are found almost daily in the region...

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Change the Situation on the Ground

Friday's attack on protesters in Aleppo in Syria

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2159 GMT: Syria.. he Local Coordination Committees report 120 people have been killed today, including 63 in Damascus and its suburbs.

2119 GMT: Syria The Local Coordiation Committee in Damascus, an opposition activist group, reports that of "several" injuries after 3 shells fell on Jalbout Building in Schools Street at the Palestinian refugee Yarmouk Camp in Damascus earlier today.

Claimed footage of the aftermath of the attack has been uploaded to YouTube by Ugrait news:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: International Meeting in London Discusses Support for "New" Opposition

2240 GMT: Syria. The website for the FSA in AlBukamal still claims that despite the fact that 37 Assad soldiers defected today, the Hamdan airport (map) is still in Assad hands.

Still, the FSA made significant strides against it today. The FSA has demonstrated that it is stronger in the east than many analysts expected. If this base falls, it will be a major blow to the Assad military in the region.

2139 GMT: Syria. Al Jazeera reports on how civilian volunteers, using Italian ambulances, help save lives in the northern city of Aleppo:

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