Syria Update, September 1, 2012

Syria Update, September 1, 2012 (Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic and Strategic Studies. By Sherifa Zuhur)

The death toll was 162. The LCC reported 55 dead in Damascus and Damascene subrbs, 34 in Deir az-Zur, 16 in Homs, 20 in Dara`a, 18 in Aleppo, 7 in Hama, 11 in Idlib and 1 in Latakia.

Revised deathtoll for Friday is 116

Some 267 prisoners in Syrian jails were set free today; about 158 from Damascus headquarters. Many had no clothes but their underwear, marks of beatings and torture on them, and were detained for minor reasons such as a damaged ID card. They were tortured on the supposition that they might support the opposition. Those released signed a statement saying they would not be part of any demonstration. (In Syria, there is no habeus corpus, and families are not officially informed as to the fate of detainees or arrestees, they have to obtain this information via personal contacts.) http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gCR9cIbcG73wKrazpifUV5-i5qMg?docId=CNG.52cbc915320346c648d3cf5387aff4df.5d1

The opposition captured a military defense building in Deir az-Zur taking captives and seizing aircraft. The opposition also attacked the Hamdan military air base, but reports diverged, with Reuters saying that the opposition could not break into that base. The SAA shelled Abu Kamal resulting in many casualties.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/01/syria-crisis-idUSL6E8K10G820120901

Syrian forces continued shelling by helicopter throughout the day on the village of Taftanaz which is about 2 kilometers from a major military airbase which the opposition had attacked on Wednesday. The opposition has destroyed at least a dozen aircraft on the ground over the last week.

The SAA captured 20 people at the Sahnaya checkpoint in Jdeidat Artouz and there were clashes in Bebila, in Housh Arab and shelling of the Deir as-Safir farms. In Damascus, the SAA fiercely shelled Sayyida Zaynab. Sabina was heavily shelled, killing 5 and two mosques were hit. There was also heavy shelling and sniper fire in Tadamon and Hajar al-Aswad in Damascus.

The SAA raided the neighborhood of al-Abassiya in Dara`a al-Balad and burnt homes there. Raids were carried out in Nawa. The SAA heavily shelled villages in Lajah.

The SAA carried out a third day of raids in the city of Hassake.

In Latakia, the SAA heavily shelled the village of Sekariya.

The SAA shelled Homs today, targeting Um al-Zanar, an ancient church in Old Homs and destroying the square near it and the SAA heavily shelled Qusair in Homs today.

Activists found a grave with 7 bodies of executed persons in al-Rastan in Homs.

There was shelling of olive factories in Baedin in Aleppo today and the SAA targeted a pharmaceutical factory in Anjara.

The SAA shelled Maer Shoreen, destroying homes and causing injuries.

International: Denmark pledged two million Euros to aid Syrian refugees.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee visited Syrian refugees and opposition groups at Camp Kilis on the Turkey-Syria border today.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the new special U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria has been holding meetings in New York at the United Nations headquarters.

Thousands of Turkish supporters of Bashar al-Assad demonstrated in Antakya in southern Turkey today. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=EiCgRAB9Tc8&feature=player_embedded