22nd/May/2012

Umayya for Researches and Strategic Studies

The Daily Monitoring Report

The Field Situation
- An all-out strike was organized in several areas in mourning for victims of the Hama rural town of Souran.
(4)

Statistics

- Violence clashes erupted between the Free Syrian Army (FSA)'s Der'a Al-Ghab (or Shield of the Forest) and Al-Assad's forces in the Idlib town of Kastoun, causing losses to the Assad forces, which were forced to withdraw to the outskirts of the area. The forces, then, heavily continued firing their tanks and artillery against the area all the day long.(1) - At least six people were martyred in Hama, including a child in the village of Kastoun, and some other 14 were wounded during clashes between government forces and some military defectors, which witnessed crackdowns and heavy gunfire.(1) - Some nine FSA elements were martyred in an ambush set up by the Assad forces on the outskirts of the city of Douma.(1)(4)(6) - For the second day in a row, Al-Assad's intelligence continued combing the central area of Damascus. They are knocking the doors, listing names of inhabitants and checking their identities.(1) - And explosive device exploded in the city of Aleppo, injuring an Assad element.(4) - Activists accused the Assad regime of setting fire to the crops in retaliation against the revolutionary rural areas. They reported operations of running over the crops by tanks and armored vehicles.(1)

21st/May death toll: 32

- A big number of demonstrations took place in several towns and villages in Hama's countryside, demanding the overthrow of the Assad regime. The protesters denounced the UN-Arab envoy Kofi Annan's plan.
(4)

The Military Situation

- Colonel Malik Al-Kurdi, deputy commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), confirmed reports that the Turkish authorities have arrested a group planned to kidnap Colonel Riad Al-Asaad, commander of the FSA. Al-Kurdi said the information is correct, but he has no further details. The FSA deputy commander added the Turkish authorities thwarted about 20 plans aiming at kidnapping commanders of the FSA.(1) - During clashes between the Aleppo rural town of Al-Atareb and Idlib's village of Kafr Karmin, at least 18 Assad soldiers were killed and two dissident soldiers were martyred.(4) - The Homs towns and districts of Al-Hosn, AlRabie Al-Arabi, Al-Khalidiya, Jobar and AlSultaniya came under heavy shelling by heavy weapons and mortars. Explosions and heavy gunfire were also heard in Homs's Street Sixty between Dir Balaba and Al-Bayadiya.(1)(2) - Al-Assad's forces detained relatives of defecting Capt. Qais Al-Qataana, commander of Al-Omari Battalion, in the Lajat village of Al-Taba. Security forces raided the village, destroying a number of shops and taking a number of persons to unknown places.(1)(2)

The Political Mobility

- Mohamed Riad al-Shaqfa, mentor of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group in Syria, said that the international community let down the Syrian people; hence- especially after the failure of Annan's taskthe MB group has to call for arming the Free Syrian Army (FSA). He also added that not only the MB group called for that demand but also the majority of the Syrian National Council (SNC)'s members did the same matter.(1)

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22nd/May/2012
The Internal Situation
- The two detainees, namely Dr. Salah El-Deen AlSaleh and the Young man Walid Mamon Al-Bakor were freed through the mediation of the United Nations' body in return for handing over a destroyed tank previously targeted by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) with the attendance of two figures from the international monitors' mission.
(1)

Umayya for Researches and Strategic Studies

- The Supreme Islamic Legal Council in Lebanon and the Council of Muftis in Lebanon held a joint exceptional session under the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, and with the attendance of the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. In that exceptional session, they rejected and condemned what was mentioned in Al-Assad regime's message to the United Nations in which it accused Tripoli and Akkar of being a center of terrorism and alQaeda.(1)

- Activists asserted again that a number of officialsaffiliated to Al-Assad's regime who are members of the Crisis Management Cell in Syria- were assassinated by poison, namely Hassan Turkomani, Hesham Bikhtiar, Asef Shawkat, Dawood Ragha, Mohamed Said Bekhtian, Mohamed Al-Shaar, Ali Mamlook and Salah Al-Nemi.(1) - "Al-Sahaba Battalions" issued a statement in which they asserted that the battalions' company- responsible for the special tasks- carried out a specific operation that targeted the Crisis Management Cell in Syria. Moreover, the statement said that the personal secretary of Mohamed Said Bekhtian, who put poison in the food, was recruited by the aforementioned company for that task.(1) - The monitors' mission visited Sida Village, Daraa and toured it. This coincided with the village's marking the first week of arresting the activist Mohamed AlHariri who was sentenced to death by the Syrian judiciary.(1) - A group of the international monitors paid a visit to Nahr-Aisha region during escorting a martyr to his final resting place.(1)

International Political Stances

Sources:
- The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki -moon expressed- again- concern that the current violence in Syria would turn into a comprehensive civil war which would extend to Lebanon, adding that the whole world is currently facing a very important moment in which all peoples are searching for a peaceful settlement for the crisis.(2)(4) - European diplomatic sources said that what was issued by the Group of Eight (G8)'s summit and Chicago's summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was "expected". They also pointed out that the two above-mentioned summits "did not add anything new", noting also that focusing on supporting Annan's plan means that "there is no alternative to it in the current time."(1)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16)

Asharq Al-Awsat The London-based Al-Hayat The Kuwaiti Al-Watan Al-Quds Al-Arabi The Lebanese Al-Mustaqbal The Syrian Al-Baath Reuters AFP The Qatari Al-Jazeera The Israeli Haaretz Washington Post wall Street Journal The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth The Guardian The Telegraph Russia Today

Syrian Political Stances

- Al-Assad issued a presidential decree on inviting the People's Assembly (PA) to hold its first session on Thursday, May 24th 2012.(1)(2)(4)

Arab Political Stances

- News reports noted that there are current Iraqi endeavors to host all Syrian parties in Baghdad Conference with the aim of putting an end to violence and establishing dialogue.
(2)

- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asserted that NATO has no intention to militarily intervene in Syria, adding that the best solution to the Syrian crisis is to abide by Annan's six-point plan on the part of AlAssad's regime. He also strictly condemned suppressing the inhabitants at the hands of Al-Assad's troops, calling on "the Syrian leadership" to meet the legitimate demands of the Syrian people.(2)(4)(6)

- Saad al-Hariri, leader of the Lebanese Future Movement, said that Al-Assad's regime tries to undermine Lebanon' security in many different regions there.(1)
(4)

This Report was issued by Umayya for Researches and Strategic Studies, and it contains pure news that do not reflect an opinion. Page 2a Page 2