U.N. Extends Syria Mission as Violence Escalates

Reuters

The scene this week in Homs, Syria.

BEIRUT, Lebanon ? Rebel fighters in Syria, building on the momentum gained by their brazen assassination of three top security officials, seized all four border crossings with Iraq and one into Turkey on Thursday, while government forces claimed Friday to have retaken a pocket of Damascus in just one battle of what rebels called the bloodiest day of the 17-month uprising.

On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said a group of rebel fighters claimed to have routed government soldiers in a section of Midan neighborhood, taking over a piece of one of the city?s oldest neighborhoods. The claim, like most of the reports of fighting and of casualties, could not be independently confirmed.

But on Friday Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory both said government forces, fighting back with a superior military machine pitted against an opposition still working predominantly with small-caliber weapons, had retaken Midan, news reports said, while the number of dead in fighting across the land on Thursday was reported to have risen above 300.

Of the dead, 98 were soldiers, 139 civilians and 65 rebels, rebels said. The figures updated earlier estimates by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights for death toll on Thursday, claiming that 155 civilians and 93 government soldiers were killed, including nearly 60 civilians in and around Damascus.

The latest tally was among the highest ? if not the highest ? claimed in a single day since the revolt began in March 2011. It could not be independently corroborated because of the difficulties and restrictions on independent news-gathering in Syria.

Claiming victory in Midan, Syrian state television declared: ?"Our brave army forces have completely cleaned the area of Midan in Damascus of the remaining mercenary terrorists and have reestablished security," The Associated Press reported.

On Thursday, helicopters blasted the northern Damascus suburb of Qaboun with rockets, while the armed forces warned residents of a wide area of the southern part of the capital to evacuate ahead of an assault. Thousands of people fled to neighboring Lebanon.

?They threatened them and gave them 24 hours to leave their homes or they will be shelled,? said Ali Salem, an activist reached via Skype. Even residents in the western Damascus neighborhoods of Mezze and Kafr Souseh, who were not warned, fled in droves as shells thudded into their neighborhood from military positions on the Qassioun mountain above Damascus.

But the government tried to project an aura of calm, even as it unleashed its forces in a manner similar to the devastating assaults on restive cities like Homs, where neighborhoods were effectively flattened and all the residents driven out.

President Bashar al-Assad appeared for the first time since the bombing attack Wednesday that killed three senior security officials. The Syrian leader showed up on state television to swear in the new defense minister to replace the one assassinated in a bomb attack.

The ceremony for Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij ? the broadcast showed the two men interacting without any sound ? seemed to take place in Damascus in one of the presidential palace?s reception rooms, its wall d�cor a series of distinctive antique doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl that used to grace homes in old Damascus.

Wire service reports said that Mr. Assad had fled to Latakia, the coastal city where he has a home, just one of the many rumors swirling around the capital in the wake of the stunning assassinations. One opposition activist said that only the women and children of the Assad family had flown to the coast ? not unusual for a hot July weekend.

More intense fighting loomed, as the United Nations Security Council deadlocked as expected over a resolution seeking to punish Syria with economic sanctions for not putting a cease-fire into effect. Russia and China vetoed a resolution focused on the Syria crisis for a third time in an acrimonious meeting. On Friday Moscow rejected western criticism of its stance as ?unacceptable,? news reports said.

Neil MacFarquhar reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Tim Arango from Baghdad. Reporting was contributed by Dalal Mawad and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Yasir Ghazi from Baghdad, Alan Cowell from London, Rick Gladstone from New York, Eric Schmitt from Washington, and an employee of The New York Times from Anbar Province, Iraq.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=9825cee7577ea6bae5684112dc4320fc

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