BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared on Tuesday that his country was at war and ordered his new government to spare no effort to achieve victory, as the worst fighting of the 16-month conflict reached the outskirts of the capital.
Video published by activists recorded heavy gunfire and explosions in suburbs of Damascus. A trail of fresh blood on a sidewalk in the suburb of Qudsiya led into a building where one casualty was taken. A naked man writhed in pain, his body pierced by shrapnel.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said “armed terrorist groups” had blocked the old road from Damascus to Beirut.
The declaration that Syria is at war marks a change of rhetoric from Assad, who had long dismissed the uprising against him as the work of scattered militants funded from abroad.
“We live in a real state of war from all angles,” Assad told a cabinet he appointed on Tuesday in a speech broadcast on state television.
“When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war.”
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/heavy-fighting-around-syrian-capital-activists-080343616.html
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said his country is in “a state of war”, more than a year after the uprising against his rule began.
Addressing his new cabinet, Mr Assad said that all efforts had to be directed towards winning the war.
Earlier, activists said fierce fighting in the suburbs of the capital Damascus had been the worst there so far.
The fresh clashes came amid heightened tensions with neighbouring Turkey over the downing of a military jet.
“We live in a real state of war from all angles,” President Assad told members of the cabinet who were sworn in on Tuesday.
“When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war.”
He criticised countries that have been calling for him to stand down, saying that the West “takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage”.
President Bashar al-Assad addresses his cabinet. 26 June 2012 President Assad has promised reforms but the opposition says they do not go far enough
He added: “We want good relations with all countries but we must know where our interests lie.”
Earlier the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fierce clashes took place near Republican Guard positions in Qadsaya and al-Hama, about 8km (5 miles) from the centre of Damascus.
Correspondents say it is rare for fighting to take place near Republican Guard bases and suggests a growing confidence among the rebels.
The elite Republican Guard, led by President Assad’s younger brother Maher, is tasked with protecting the capital.
State TV confirmed the fighting but said dozens of “terrorists” had been killed and many others taken prisoner, including foreign fighters.
It said large numbers of armed rebels had moved into al-Hama and tried to take control of a main road to the west in order to bring in more arms and fighters.
The Observatory said that 10 people had been killed by shelling in Qadsaya and some 58 people had died in violence across Syria on Tuesday – 24 soldiers, 30 civilians and four rebels. The figures cannot be independently verified.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency: “This is the first time that the regime has used artillery in fighting so close to the capital.
“This development is important because it’s the heaviest fighting in the area and close to the heart of the capital.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18598533
Syria to get more arms from Russia soon: think-tank
Russia is expected to deliver air defence systems, reconditioned helicopters and fighter jets to Syria this year worth nearly half a billion dollars despite international pressure to halt arms sales to Damascus, a defence think-tank said on Tuesday.
Russia halts plans to supply S-300 missile system to Syria – reports
Russia’s main weapons producer has allegedly suspended its contract with Syria to supply S-300 long-range missile systems. Russia’s ‘Vedomosti’ daily published the report, citing unnamed sources within the military-industrial complex.
The very fact of the contract’s existence was not known until it was revealed in an annual report made only last week and published online by the makers of the S-300 systems, Almaz-Antey.
The report states that the company’s largest contracts are with Algeria (which is paying $39 million for a long-range missile defense system), and Syria, which signed a contract for the same system for $105 million.
http://www.rt.com/news/russia-halts-syria-s300-contract-822/
