DAMASCUS, Aug 13, (Agencies): Syrian rebels claimed they downed a fighter jet Monday in what would be a major coup for the opposition but the regime seized the upper hand in Aleppo as it advanced into a new rebel-held district.
Government forces also bombarded areas around Damascus and launched a wide sweep of the capital, including its once-bustling historic Old City, while shocking videos emerged showing alleged rebel atrocities in the Aleppo area.
State media said a military plane on a training mission crashed in the east of the country after suffering a malfunction and that the pilot had ejected.
But the Free Syria Army, which has been calling for the international community to arm it with anti-aircraft weapons as it battles escalating regime attacks from the sky, claimed it shot down the Russian-made MiG in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
“With God’s help, a MiG 23 plane was downed in Muhasen on Monday morning, by the hands of the Ahfad Mohammed (Grandchildren of Mohammed) Brigade,” said Captain Abul Laith, whose group is part of the FSA.
Another group calling itself the “Revolutionary Youth of the Land of the Euphrates” distributed a video showing a man identified as pilot Mufid Mohammed Suleiman, surrounded by three armed men.
“My mission was to bomb the town of Muhasen,” said the purported pilot.
If confirmed, the attack would be the first time the rebels have succeeded in downing a Syrian plane since President Bashar al-Assad’s regime launched an increasingly brutal crackdown on protests 17 months ago.
International concern is mounting over how to end a conflict that has triggered a major humanitarian crisis and sent around 140,000 Syrians fleeing to neighbouring countries, with scores of people being killed every day.
At least 87 lost their lives on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The opposition has accused the regime of increasingly resorting to firing from fighter planes, particularly on the second city of Aleppo which has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.
An amateur video posted on YouTube by activists shows a fighter jet apparently being hit in a ball of fire, leaving a trail of smoke.
The incident occurred after umbrella opposition group the Syrian National Council issued a new appeal for the establishment of no-fly zones similar to those set up over Libya during last year’s conflict.
SNC head Abdel Basset Sayda told AFP the rebels wanted “two no-fly zones, one in the north near the Turkish border, and another in the south near the border with Jordan,” in addition to “safe places for refugees and humanitarian corridors.”
Atrocities
Meanwhile, grisly footage of apparent atrocities in the Aleppo area emerged, appearing to show rebels callously throwing bodies off a post office building, while another video showed a man, blindfolded and bound, as his throat was savagely cut.
A crowd gathered around several bodies crumpled on the ground outside a building said to be in Al-Bab, near Aleppo, before another three victims were hurled one-by-one from the rooftop.
In another video, a blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back is forced down on to a pavement in Aleppo, calling out: “I would rather die by a bullet.”
As the group chanted “Allahu Akbar” an assailant forced what appeared to be a small knife repeatedly across his throat as his blood spurted onto the pavement.
Both sides in the increasingly vicious conflict have been accused of human rights violations as reports of cold-blooded killings mount, although the authenticity of the latest videos could not be verified.
“What is the difference between them and a wild animal in the jungle? At least a wild animal does not kill unless it is hungry,” said Massoud Akko, a Kurdish activist and co-founder of the Association of Syrian Journalists.
Syria’s army gained some ground as it advanced into a new rebel-held area of Aleppo, the northern metropolis seen as pivotal to the outcome of the conflict.
“With tanks, Syria’s regime forces have stormed the west of the district of Saif al-Dawla,” said the Observatory. “They are now clashing with the rebels, and parts of Salaheddin are being shelled.”
Rebels in July took over several districts but regime forces last week reclaimed most of the Salaheddin district that neighbours Saif al-Dawla.
More than 21,000 people have been killed since March last year, with fighting escalating after the failure of outgoing international envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan and the regime hit by an increasing number of defections by high-ranking officials.
The latest to flee Monday was Syria’s top representative at the UN Human Rights Council.
Meanwhile, foreign ministers of Muslim states gathered in Jeddah on Monday, with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation expected to suspend Syria, despite divisions between host Saudi Arabia and regional rival Iran.
World powers are still deadlocked over a conflict that has major military and geo-political repercussions for the region, and although the West has piled on sanctions against Syria, the UN Security Council has failed to agree to even the threat of punitive action because of vetoes by China and Russia.
The Council meets Thursday to debate the future of its mission in Syria which expires on August 19.
Also Monday, security forces arrested 22 residents in a major security sweep in the heart of Damascus, including the Old City, while shells slammed into rebel strongholds around the capital, according to the Observatory.
It was biggest operation of its kind in Damascus since the launch of the uprising, the Observatory said.
Violence
The head of the United Nations monitors in Syria said on Monday violence was intensifying across the country, blaming both President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebel fighters for ignoring the plight of civilians.
“It is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of Syria,” General Babacar Gaye, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, told journalists in Damascus.
“The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons by the government and targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centres are inflicting a heavy toll on innocent civilians.
“I deeply regret that none of the parties has prioritised the needs of civilians.”
Activists say more than 18,000 people, including soldiers, rebels and civilians, have been killed since the start of the Syrian uprising against Assad in March last year.
Assad’s forces are battling to regain control of the biggest city, Aleppo, from rebel fighters who went on the offensive last month, seizing districts of the capital and the northern commercial hub, as well as several border crossings.
Free Syrian Army rebels also control towns and villages in a wide swathe of territory near the northern border with Turkey.
Assad’s forces have hit back, regaining much of Damascus and bombarding opposition strongholds in and around the capital. Residents reported overnight shelling from the Qassioun mountains overlooking north Damascus into Jobar neighbourhood.
Activists also reported shelling in the northern Damascus suburb of Tell, which they say has been under rebel control for two weeks, and in Muadamiya suburb, where they said four men had been found executed after troops pulled out.
State television said the army was battling rebels in the city of Homs and had attacked “terrorist lairs” in the town of Talbiseh to the north.
The mandate for the UN monitors, whose original mission was to observe an April ceasefire that never took hold, expires on Aug. 19. Their numbers have already been cut to a third because violence has made it impossible for them to move around.
“But the remaining 100 observers, along with our civilian colleagues, will operate till the last minute,” Gaye said.
“I call on the parties to cease military operations and come to the (negotiating) table,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues had delivered the same appeal in person to the government and the Syrian opposition abroad.
Defects
Syria’s top representative at the UN Human Rights Council said Monday he had defected because he no longer felt able in that position to do anything for the Syrian people.
“Basically, when I felt I could not help my people any more I had to move on,” Danny al-Baaj, the first Syrian diplomat in Switzerland to abandon Bashar al-Assad’s regime, told AFP.
“When I was involved in any negotiations (on Syria) my concern was to protect the country not the government,” he added.
Baaj said he took his decision a long time ago and had been in contact with Syrian opposition group the Democratic Forum based in Paris.
He had been in Geneva for two years and met the opposition group “some time ago”, before announcing his resignation last Friday, he said.
“I met the charge d’affaires (of Syria in Geneva) and I told him I had made my decision that I was going to the opposition... He said it was my choice and he wished me luck.”
Speaking from Geneva where he is considering his next move, Baaj described the Democratic Forum as one of the main opposition groups. It is headed by Michel Kilo, a long-time opponent of the regime.
The development comes ahead of the release on Wednesday of an official UNHRC independent commission of inquiry report into Syria.
Baaj said he “hoped” the Geneva-based body would make progress towards consensus on the situation in Syria despite many countries letting their own agendas interfere with finding a solution.
“At the last session the HRC was very close to reaching consensus ... I hope different countries put aside their agendas to help the Syrian people,” he said.
Baaj also stressed his opposition to outside military intervention in the conflict but supported the role of the UN’s Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), calling it “a good thing”.
“I hope it stays there. It’s very important to document abuses by both sides,” he said.
Refugees
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has reached around 60,000 Monday after some 7,000 people fled across the border in a three-day mass exodus, according to official Turkish data.
As of Monday, the number of Syrian citizens who have fled violence in their homeland and crossed into Turkey has reached 59,710, read an online statement from the country’s Disaster and Emergency Administration (AFAD).
The mass arrivals prompted a summit at the prime minister’s office to discuss contingency planning in the event the refugee numbers keep increasing at the current rate, reported Turkey’s state-run news agency Anatolia.
The summit was led by Deputy Premier Besir Atalay and was attended by Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin and Turkish intelligence undersecretary Hakan Fidan, as well as governors from the border cities that shelter the refugees.
Turkey currently has eight tent settlements set up in the border cities of Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Hatay, and a city of prefabricated homes in Kilis that can hold up to 12,000 people.
After the increase in arrivals, thousands of newcomers were transferred to school dormitories and hostels in nearby cities for temporary accommodation as Turkey kept up work to build additional settlements, AFAD said.
There has been a marked increase in the number of refugees making their way to Turkey amid the battle between regime forces and rebels for Syria’s northern city of Aleppo.
Turkey is sheltering thousands of refugees in camps in the southern part of the country and also providing sanctuary to Syrian military defectors in a separate camp near the border, where security is tighter.
Suspension
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday said his country opposed the expected suspension of Syria’s membership in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
“I’m openly against the suspension of the membership of any country, any organisation,” Salehi told reporters in Jeddah, seat of the 57-strong OIC of which allies Iran and Syria are members.
“By suspending the membership, this does not mean you are moving towards resolving an issue. By this, you are erasing the issue,” he said of the 17-month Syria conflict,
“Every country, especially OIC countries must join hands to resolve this issue in such a way that will help the peace security and stability in the region,” he added on the eve of an OIC summit in Saudi Arabia.
The secretary general of the OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has told AFP that war-ravaged Syria will not be represented in the summit.
But foreign ministers gathered Monday to prepare the meeting were expected to “announce the suspension of Syria’s membership as recommended by member states,” Ihsanoglu said.
On Monday, he told the meeting that he was “sorry Syria has entered a dark tunnel which has no clear end.” adding that this “is the expected outcome of ignoring the demands of the people.”
Syria is “living the horrors of a grinding war from which the OIC has repeatedly warned,” he said.
Tuesday’s summit has been called by Saudi King Abdullah who is pushing to mobilise support for Syrian rebels battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Iran is Assad’s key supporter and has repeatedly warned against intervention in the 17-month conflict that has killed more than 21,000 people, according to monitoring groups.
Option
The United States said Monday it has not ruled out any option to bring about the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, following renewed speculation about a possible no-fly zone.
White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked about comments by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Turkey that sparked a new round of questions about a stepped-up Western role in the violence-wracked country.
“The President and his team have ruled out no option as we try to bring about, with all of our partners and with the Syrian people, the diplomatic transition that is so desperately needed in Syria,” he said.
But Carney did not explicitly refer to a no-fly zone and insisted the current US approach — of aiding rebels with non-military supplies as well as imposing sanctions on the regime — was putting pressure on Assad.
“We review all options as you would expect and will continue to do so,” he said, in comments which did not seem to mark a new departure for US policy.
On Sunday, Clinton was asked after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu whether operational planning being conducted by Washington and its allies included a possible no-fly zone to protect Syrian civilians.
“The issues you posed in your question are exactly the ones the minister and I agreed need greater in-depth analysis,” she said.
“It is one thing to talk about all kinds of potential actions, but you cannot make reasoned decisions without doing intense analysis and operational planning,” she added.
Washington insists Assad must leave office as part of any solution to the 17-month-old civil conflict in Syria, which has left more than 21,000 dead.
But there appears to be little appetite in Western capitals for another military intervention in the Middle East, even the imposition of an aerial exclusion zone like that imposed in Libya by NATO last year.
US military officers have warned that the imposition of a no-fly zone could quickly escalate into a broader military intervention, as it did in Libya.