Save Syria's Children Now

More than 2 million Syrians have fled their country,
according to the United Nations refugee agency. With nowhere to go
and often with just the clothes on their backs, many end up in
refugee camps that are both overcrowded and overwhelmed.

There are 4 million Syrian children are suffering as a result of a horrific
conflict – one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time -
which is now stretching into its third year. Two million people
have fled to neighboring countries, but many more remain in
dire need of assistance.

Many
organizations are offering supplies, shelter and medical care for the
people displaced by the crisis and you can help.

Save the Children is helping the children in this crisis with temporary
learning facilities, child friendly spaces and programs to help them
cope with their trauma. They are also providing necessities like food,
blankets and clothing to refugee families. You can support their Syria
Children in Crisis fund by donating online or by calling
1-800-728-3843.

http://www.savethechildren.org

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In this undated picture posted on the Facebook page of a militant group, a militant fighter exercises at an unknown training camp in Syria.

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Russia blocks U.N. action against Syria air attacks (AFP)

The Associated Press, United Nations
Friday, 20 December 2013
Russia objected to a proposed U.N. Security Council statement
expressing outrage at Syrian government airstrikes, especially
this week’s indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in Aleppo that
have killed more than 100 people, U.N. diplomats said Thursday.
The statement, proposed by the United States, required approval
from all 15 council members.
Diplomats said Russia, the most important ally of Syrian
President Bashar Assad, wanted all references to the regime
stripped from the statement so the U.S. decided to drop it. The
diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the
statement was circulated privately.
The statement would also have condemned violence by all
parties in Syria and expressed deep concern at the escalating
level of violence in the Syrian conflict, including the use of Scud
missiles and “barrel bombs” in Aleppo.
Russia and China, which also supports the Assad government,
have vetoed three resolutions that would have pressured Assad
to end the violence. They were backed by the U.S. and its
Western allies who support the opposition.
Kurtis Cooper, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United
Nations, said the United States is “very disappointed that a
Security Council statement expressing our collective outrage at
the brutal and indiscriminant tactics employed by the Syrian
regime against civilians has been blocked.”
“These barrel bombs - and the explosive materials contained
within them - further underscore the brutality of the Assad
regime and the lengths they will go to attack and kill their own
people, including women and children. ... And regime air raids in
and around Aleppo have continued unabated,” Cooper said.
“Surely, at a minimum, the Security Council should be able to
condemn such barbarities.”
Before Russia’s objection was made known, Syria’s main
opposition group in exile, the Western-backed Syrian National
Coalition, criticized the Security Council for considering “a mere
press statement” to protest “the latest act of terror” in Aleppo.
The coalition also accused the council of failing “to take any
steps to eliminate the use of conventional weapons that are
being used as weapons of mass destruction on a much larger
scale.”
In a withering air assault this week, the Syrian government has
pummeled opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city
of Aleppo, leveling apartment buildings and flooding hospitals
with casualties.
Rebels say the unusually intense airstrikes in Aleppo have
prompted civilians to flee to the countryside and could portend a
government ground offensive against the opposition-held half of
the city, which has been divided for a year and half by grueling
fighting.
The government launched the campaign five weeks before peace
talks are scheduled to begin on Jan. 22 in Montreaux,
Switzerland, sparking speculation that Assad may be trying to
strengthen his position on the ground and expose opposition
weaknesses before sitting down at the negotiating table.
The proposed U.S. statement would have welcomed the Jan. 22
conference aimed at ending the Syrian conflict and reiterated the
council’s call for greater access for humanitarian workers to
deliver desperately needed aid.

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Syria: No one can stop Assad from election run (Al Arabiya)

The Syrian government said Thursday that nobody can prevent
the country’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad from running
for re-election next year.
“Nobody has the right to interfere and say he must run or he
should not run,” Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad told
Agence France-Presse, shortly after Russia criticized statements
that he wanted to seek another term.
“President Assad in my opinion should be a candidate but he
will decide when the time comes for him to decide,” he said.
“I shall ask the opposition: why a Syrian national does not have
the right to be a candidate? Who can prevent him? Any Syrian
national can be candidate,” added Muqdad.
“The ballot boxes will decide who will lead Syria... President
Assad enjoys a big majority while [France’s] President [Francois]
Hollande has only 15 percent support of the French people,” he
argued.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia issued rare criticism of its ally Assad
concerning the 2014 presidential election.
“Exchanging such rhetorical statements just makes the
atmosphere heavier and does not make the situation calmer,”
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russia’s Interfax
news agency.
Bogdanov added that Assad and all parties should steer clear of
fanning tensions ahead of the Geneva II peace talks to take
place in Switzerland in January.
“We believe that ahead of the peace talks there should be no
statements which someone may not like and can cause emotions
and a reaction in response,” he added.
While the Syrian opposition insists on Assad’s ouster, the Syrian
government has repeatedly said he would run in 2014 polls.
Assad himself said in a television interview in October: “I don’t
see any reason why I shouldn’t run in the next election.”

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Chinese Ship to Help Protect US Vessel Destroying Syria's Chemical Weapons

"China has decided to send a military ship to participate in the protection mission for the
shipping of Syrian chemical weapons," Reuters quoted ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying
as saying.
She described it as an "important move" to show China’s support.
The chemicals will be destroyed on board the US ship, although there is no agreement yet on
where the ship will anchor.

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Syria: Militants Boats, Vehicles Destroyed, Gunmen Killed

TEHRAN (FNA)- Units of the Syrian armed forces on Thursday targeted militants in a
number of cities and areas, killing scores of them and destroying their hideouts and
vehicles.

A military source said that a number of militants were killed and injured as their cars were
destroyed in al-Zarzor, al-Nakarin, North al-Nayrab, in the vicinity of al-Kindi hospital, Aleppo
central prison, the industrial area, West of the thermal station, Rasm Bakro, Deir Hafer, Manbej,
Tal Ref'at, Andan, Haritan, Mayer and Tallet al-Ghali.
The source added that cars for militants loaded with weapons and ammunition were destroyed
at the entrance of Kafr Hamra, Kafr Obeid, Kafr Naha, Kassarat al-Wadihy and Hilan. All
militants inside the cars were killed.

All members of militant groups were killed and eliminated in the youth housings, Hanano,
Qadi Askar, al-Fardous, al-Salehin and al-Ma'adi.
A militants' infiltration attempt from al-Amerieh to the neighboring safe areas was thwarted.
Dozens of militants were also killed and injured in successful military operations targeted the
gunmen's hideouts in Bselia groves and surrounding al-Arba'en Mountain in Idlib countryside.
Boats for militants destroyed, gunmen killed and injured in Homs
A military source said that army units on Thursday destroyed a number of boats used by the
militant groups in their terrorist acts in Kissin Gulf in al-Rastan, Homs countryside.
According to the source, a number of militants were killed and wounded while they were
trying to sneak between al-Ghasebieh and al-Khaledieh in al-Dara al-Kabira villages in Homs
countryside.

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Abuse 'rife in secret al-Qaeda jails in Syria' (BBC)

                    Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) vehicle pictured 
Torture and summary executions are rife in secret prisons in Syria run by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Amnesty International says.

A new report says al-Qaeda affiliate had committed serious rights abuses, including some amounting to war crimes.

Isis is one of the main jihadist groups fighting government forces, and has a strong presence in the north of Syria.

The rights group says "the people of al-Raqqa and Aleppo are suffering under a new form of tyranny imposed by Isis".

"Those abducted and detained by ISIS include children as young as eight who are held together with adults in the same cruel and inhuman conditions," said Amnesty's regional director Philip Luther.

'Reign of terror'
The report alleges that in areas they control, ISIS forces had committed numerous serious rights abuses, including some that amount to war crimes, such as abductions, arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and unlawful killings.

Continue reading the main story
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He shouted at the boy to come forward, ordered him to lie on the ground and he whipped him with a cable around 30 to 40 times”

Former detainee at Sadd al-Baath
Ten former detainees interviewed by an Amnesty researcher in the past month recounted "a shocking catalogue of abuses", the report said, including being flogged with rubber generator belts or cables, tortured with electric shocks or forced to adopt a painful stress position in which their wrists were secured together over one shoulder.

Some of those held by ISIS were suspected of theft; others of "crimes" against Islam, such as smoking, alcohol consumption or sex outside marriage, the report added. Others were seized for challenging ISIS's rule or because they belonged to rival rebel groups.

Amnesty said it was told that several children had received severe floggings. Two detainees described how they had seen a 14-year-old get more than 90 lashes during interrogation at Sadd al-Baath, an ISIS prison beside a dam on the Euphrates river at al-Mansoura.

Amnesty said the local Sharia court judge at Sadd al-Baath invariably appeared wearing an explosives belt and had "instituted a reign of terror over its detainees".

Former detainees accused him of presiding over grotesquely unfair trials lasting no more than a few minutes, and of handing down death penalties which were subsequently carried out.

"After years in which they were prey to the brutality of the Assad regime, the people of Raqqa and Aleppo are now suffering under a new form of tyranny imposed on them by ISIS, in which arbitrary detention, torture and executions have become the order of the day," Mr Luther said.

'Significant advances'
Raqqa, a city sheltering around a million people, is under the full control of ISIS.

Smaller but better funded than other rebel groups, it has historically been made up of foreign jihadists from Arab countries - particularly Iraq, but also Libya, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia - Russia's north Caucasus, and Europe.

But activists from Raqqa told the BBC's Newsnight that it was now attracting more and more Syrian recruits.

In the past few months, ISIS has made significant advances, largely at the expense of rebel brigades affiliated to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, and controls a wide swathe of northern Syria close to the Turkish border.

Amnesty called on the international community to help to block the flow of arms to Isis and other armed groups implicated in war crimes and serious rights abuses.

It also renewed its appeal to the Syrian government to "end its violations of human rights and international law, including the use of torture in its own detention centres".

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. More than nine million others have been forced from their homes.

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The death of Dr Abbas Khan shows how Syria's President Assad shares power with ruthless and erratic henchmen (The Independent)

From child torture to sarin gas, the security services’ methods have dictated the war

Why did Dr Abbas Khan die? Nobody takes seriously the obvious lie that he committed suicide four days before he was to be released from prison. Who gave the orders for his murder? And why?

It would be difficult to think of a more self-destructive act by the security services of the Syrian government and leads to questions about who really holds power in Damascus. Just at the moment when President Assad’s government is seeing the first signs of being reengaged by the US and West Europeans there is an atrocity for which it will be blamed.

Napoleon famously said that battles go to those who make the least mistakes and recently the Syrian opposition has been making more mistakes than the government.  Western governments have been appalled to see al-Qa’ida affiliates and equally sectarian Sunni brigades backed by Saudi Arabia assume the dominant role in the rebel military forces. The former US ambassador to Damascus, Ryan Crocker, said there would have to be confidential contacts between the US and the Assad government about how to deal with al-Qa’ida. Exiled opposition members are reportedly being told by Western diplomats that the deposition of President Assad will not be the objective of the peace talks in Geneva on 22 January. Just as Assad’s government wants to give an impression of moderation by releasing Abbas Khan, his death is announced. A PR coup turns into a self-inflicted wound. But in some ways it is not so surprising, though it remains shocking, when one considers the Syrian government’s recent history.

Most striking is the attack with Sarin gas on rebel controlled districts in Damascus for which it is difficult to think of any explanation other than that it was carried out by the Syrian armed forces. It is beyond belief that bands of rebel gunmen would be able to obtain or make the poison gas in quantity and then simultaneously release it different parts of Damascus amid their own supporters and to do this, moreover, without anybody finding out. The use of sarin against civilians might have precipitated foreign and primarily American military intervention. Close air support by the US air force is the one development that might have led to the opposition winning a purely military victory. As well as being a horrific crime the use of poison gas was an act of extraordinary stupidity since it almost led to an American, British and French air assault. Mr Assad was only saved because of the popular determination in the US and Britain not to see a repeat performance of the Iraq and Afghan wars.

In many respects the excessive and self-defeating use of violence by the state has been one of the main motors driving the Syrian civil war from its beginning in 2011. There are deep social and economic frustrations behind the Syrian revolt, but the trigger for explosion of dissent was the arrest and alleged torture of children in Deraa. The head of local security responsible for their mistreatment was not court-martialled. Brutal collective punishment created martyrs, delegitimised the government and ultimately turned peaceful protests into an armed revolt. The government claimed – and probably came to believe – that armed militants were there from the beginning but if the aim of some of the opposition was to provoke the state security forces into an excessive response then they succeeded beyond their dreams.

Power in Syria is in the hands of the Presidency and the security services. The rest of the government scarcely matters in terms of determining security policy. Where else could the prime minister of a country defect and officials smoothly say this did not matter because he had no power? Real power-sharing with the opposition in Syria will have to include deconstructing the security forces.

As the revolt gathered pace in the summer of 2011 the International Crisis Group published a report entitled “The Syrian Regime’s Slow Motion Suicide”. It concluded that “the security services brutal and often erratic performance has created more problems than it has solved, as [their] violence almost certainly has been the primary reason behind the protest-movement’s growth and radicalisation.” The same mindless and uncontrolled violence by the security services probably explains the death of Dr Abbas Khan.

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Syrian refugees pose in the snow in front of their makeshift home in Ankara. (ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Russia signals to Syria's Assad to stay silent on re-election (Reuters)

A man walks through a graveyard that was damaged by what activists said was shelling from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Kadi Askar neighbourhood of Aleppo, December 14, 2013.
(Reuters) - A Russian diplomat signalled on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should refrain from statements suggesting he might seek re-election because it could fuel tension before planned peace talks.

Russia has been Assad's most important international ally during Syria's civil war, but the remarks by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to Interfax news agency appeared to be a rare public criticism of Assad by Moscow.

Assad told Syria's Al Mayadeen television in October that he had no intention of quitting, despite pressure to do so from the United States and rebels fighting government forces. He also saw no obstacles to being nominated for a new term.

"Such rhetorical statements affect the atmosphere and do not make the situation any calmer," Bogdanov was quoted as saying.

Looking ahead to an international peace conference which is planned on Syria next month in Geneva, he said: "Our position is that ahead of the start of negotiations, there should be no remarks that could displease anyone or provoke emotions and a response. They should rather be avoided."

Bogdanov has been involved in preparations for the peace talks that are due to start in Geneva on Jan 22.

Russia has blocked Western-backed efforts to condemn Assad at the U.N. Security Council or to push him out of power. Moscow says it is not trying to prop up Assad but that his departure cannot be a precondition for peace moves.

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Al-Qaida-linked group accused of torture in areas of Syria, says Amnesty (The Guardian)

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – the al-Qaida-affiliated group in Syria – has been accused of widespread human rights abuses including torture and summary killings in the first detailed account of the conditions in the areas it controls.

Among documented victims of ISIS are children as young as 13 who have been subjected to repeated floggings and other abuses, while eight-year-olds have been detained.

In a report prepared by Amnesty International the group is charged with running a regime of terror in the secret prisons that it operates both in al-Raqqa governorate and in Aleppo which it operates under its own version of sharia law.

Detailing violence against minors, the reports describes the case of one child whom ISIS had accused of stealing a motorbike who was flogged 30 or 40 times a day for several days.

It also detailed cases of death penalties being handed down in hearings at sharia courts lasting less than a minute.

In one of the most chilling parts of the report, witnesses described the ISIS judge's practice of sitting in judgment wearing an explosive suicide belt at the Sadd al-Ba'ath prison at al-Mansura. The group accuses the judge of a reign of terror over the prison's detainees.

Among those held in the ISIS prisons are known to be a number of foreign journalists kidnapped by the group.

The report comes amid growing concern among western diplomats over the rising strength of Islamist groups among the Syrian opposition, which now threaten to eclipse the Free Syrian Army.

Identifying seven separate prisons run by the group, and accusing it of abuses amounting to war crimes, Amnesty called on states in the Gulf whose citizens are backing ISIS – and Turkey – to take action to prevent the flow of arms and recruits to the jihadi group.

People who had been held at ISIS detention centres told Amnesty researchers of a shocking catalogue of violence including beatings with cables.

Some of those held by ISIS were suspected of theft or other crimes, while others were accused of "crimes" against Islam, such as smoking cigarettes or sex outside marriage. Amnesty International's Middle East and north Africa director, Philip Luther, said: "After years in which they were prey to the brutality of the al-Assad regime, the people of al-Raqqa and Aleppo are now suffering under a new form of tyranny imposed on them by ISIS, in which arbitrary detention, torture and executions have become the order of the day.

"Gulf states that have voiced support for the armed groups fighting against the Syrian government should take action to prevent arms flows, equipment or other support reaching ISIS in view of its appalling human rights record."

He added: "The Turkish government, in particular, should prevent its territory being used by ISIS to bring in arms and recruits to Syria."

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PM stresses importance of Syrian experts in developing national establishments (SANA NEWS)

Damascus, (SANA) – Prime Minister, Wel al-Halqi, stressed the importance of making use of Syrian experts in developing the work of national establishments in light of the administrative and economic reform process which was launched by the government.

During a ceremony held on the occasion of graduating the 9th batch of the National Institute for Public Management students, the Prime Minister   hailed the role of the institute in preparing the administrative cadres, stressing that the government is interested in the students who have graduated from the institute as a basic step in the comprehensive institutional and administrative reform process in Syria.

Al-Halqi reiterated the government's commitment to combating terrorism and providing the requirements of the Syrian people's steadfastness.

He added that the government has allocated SYP 615 billion in the general budget for 2014 in addition to SYP 50 billion for reconstruction.

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ICSR : Thousands of foreigners fight in Syria

The International Center for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), reported that “Between 3,300 and 11,000 fighters from more than 70 nations, including a rising number from Western Europe, have joined the struggle in Syria.  

Most of them had fought for al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, two groups linked to al Qaeda.

The Centre said “we estimate that - from late 2011 to 10 December 2013 - between 3,300 and 11,000 individuals have gone to Syria to fight .These figures include those who are currently present (in Syria) as well as those who have since returned home, been arrested or killed”.

The report showed that Arabs and Europeans made up the bulk of foreign fighters, with up to 80 per cent, but militants from southeast Asia, North America, Africa, the Balkans and countries of the former Soviet Union were also represented.

Western Europeans, with the largest contingents from France and Britain, represent up to 18 per cent of the foreign fighters in Syria. Up to 70 percent were from the Middle East.

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Saudi Arabia and Iran must end proxy war in Syria (Gulf News)

After last week’s suspension of non-lethal aid to the Free Syrian Army by the US and UK,
western strategy towards the country lies in tatters. Washington and London were forced to
act after Islamist rebels, including the Al Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,
took over the headquarters and warehouses of the western-backed Free Syian Army (FSA) and
reportedly seized anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, some of which are said to be American-
supplied.

This humiliating defeat shows the rise of the Islamist rebels, most of whom oppose political
dialogue with President Bashar Al Assad’s regime and call for the establishment of a Quranic-
based state. It also demonstrates the near-collapse of the FSA, which the west had hoped
would unify the rebels, lead the campaign to topple Assad, and then take on Al Qaida. Many of
the armed groups, including the powerful Islamic Front, say they do not recognise the
western-backed political opposition, the Syrian National Coalition, as a legitimate
representative and warn it against participating in next month’s proposed peace conference in
Geneva.

In the past year warfare among the armed rebels has overshadowed the bigger fight against Al
Assad, allowing his forces to gain the upper hand and make tactical gains in Homs, Damascus
and even the rebel stronghold Aleppo. Emboldened, Al Assad and his henchmen, with the
backing of Iran and Russia, have repeatedly reminded the opposition they will not go to
Geneva to hand over power to a transitional government.

Last week, the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, conceded that Washington’s approach to
Syria is in disarray. Even Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, called on the rebels to
“avoid discord and unite”, reflecting Moscow’s anxiety that the opposition’s fragmentation
does not bode well for the peace talks.

Hopes buried

After almost three years of urban warfare, the uprising has mutated and produced unintended
consequences. It has been hijacked by religious hardliners, criminal warlords and regional
rivalries. The early hopes and dreams of millions of Syrians of an open, inclusive and
pluralistic post-Al Assad government are now buried in the country’s killing fields.
From the beginning, the odds were against the nationalist opposition. It was always
overwhelmingly dependent on regional powers for military and financial support, which left it
vulnerable to external manipulation.

Alongside this, the Obama administration’s initial grandstanding insisting that Al Assad must
step down and that his days were numbered was not matched by credible strategic planning
or an accurate assessment of conditions on the ground. Britain and France repeated the US
line without preparing for the fact that Syria could implode and trigger a catastrophic
humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the recent freezing temperatures, and a regional war.

Syria is now mainly a battlefield where Saudi Arabia and Iran are waging a proxy war, with
devastating sectarian repercussions. It is doubtful the peace talks can be even convened, let
alone produce results, without an implicit understanding between the two warring Gulf
powers. While Saudi Arabia exercises considerable influence on Islamist rebels, Iran is crucial
to Al Assad’s survival.

Both have much to gain from preventing Syria’s implosion. Under its new president, Iran may
be willing to cut the umbilical cord with Al Assad, who has become a big liability for Tehran in
the Arab world. Similarly, if Saudi Arabia can use its influence, it may avoid militant Islamist
rebels haunting Syria’s neighbours for years to come. It is a tall order, but the stakes for the
Syrian people and the international community are huge.

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Syrian children play with snow in the Arsal refugee camp on (CNN)

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British surgeon dies in Syrian jail (REUTERS)

A British surgeon who was arrested last November within 48 hours of
arriving in Syria to offer his services as an emergency doctor has died in
jail, his family said on Tuesday.

The family of Abbas Khan, 32, an orthopedic surgeon from south London
who had planned to volunteer in rebel-held Aleppo, was told he would be
released this week, his brother Afroze Khan told the BBC. But when his
mother went to visit him in prison in Damascus on Monday she was told he
had died, he said.

The BBC reported that a Syrian government official said Khan, a father of
two, had committed suicide. But his brother said that was impossible, given
that he was preparing to go home with his mother who had spent the past
four months in the Syrian capital to be near her son.
“He was happy and looking forward to being released,” Khan said. “We are
devastated, distraught and we are angry at the Foreign Office for dragging
their feet for 13 months.”
The British foreign office said it was “extremely concerned” by the report,
and defended its actions.
“If these tragic reports are true, responsibility for Dr Khan’s death lies with
them (the Syrian authorities) and we will be pressing for answers about
what happened,” it said in a statement.

The foreign office said officials had frequently sought consular access to
Khan as well as information on his detention, both directly and through the
Russians, Czechs and others. Britain closed its embassy in Damascus in
February 2012.
“These requests have consistently been ignored,” it said.
Khan said when his mother arrived his brother weighed just 32 kg (70
pounds) and was barely able to walk. In letters Abbas Khan wrote to British
Foreign Secretary William Hague, he said he had been tortured in detention
and kept in isolated, squalid conditions.

Reuters was not able to reach the Khan family for comment.
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International’s Syria campaigner in the United
Kingdom, said the British government should denounce Khan’s death and
ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.
A second Briton, 23-year-old Ifthekar Jaman, was reported to have been
killed in Syria at the weekend after joining a rebel extremist group opposed
to President Bashar al-Assad.

The foreign office said it was aware of the report and was seeking
clarification, but added again that its options for supporting Britons in Syria
were “extremely limited”.
“We continue to advise against all travel to Syria,” it said.
A partnership of five universities based at King’s College London reported
on Tuesday that between 3,300 and 11,000 fighters from more than 70
nations, including a rising number from Western Europe, have joined the
struggle in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad.

After security forces repressed peaceful protests against more than 40
years of Assad family rule in 2011, an armed revolt ensued with an
increasingly sectarian element.
Well over 100,000 people have been killed and millions forced from their
homes.

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A Syrian man feeds his child in the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Sunday, December 15. Thousands of Syrian refugees living in makeshift camps in Lebanon weathered a winter storm that brought snow, rain and freezing temperatures to the country. (CNN )

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Washington Post: Terrorists' Camps to train Syrian children to carry weapons (Syrian Arab News Agency)

Washington, (SANA) – U.S. journalist Joby Warrick, a
Washington Post reporter, revealed a video footage showing
young boys being trained at camps affiliated to the "Islam
State of Iraq and Sham".

In a report published on Washington Post Newspaper under
the title " Extremist Syrian faction touts training camp for
boys", Warrick said that the video shows hooded recruits in
camouflage shoot at targets or march in formation under the
black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, adding that all
of the trainees are young boys.

" But look closer and the “fighters” appear quite small. The
tallest are barely chest-high to their instructors, and the
shorter ones wear ill-fitting uniforms and appear to struggle
under the weight of their weapons. A photo of the recruits
without their hoods confirms that all of them are young
boys," he wrote.
"They are “Zarqawi’s Cubs,” the youth brigade of Syria’s most
fearsome Islamist rebel group and one of the newest
manifestations of al-Qaeda’s deepening roots in rebel-
controlled sections of the country. Building on earlier efforts
to expand their influence in Syrian schools, radical Islamists
appear to be stepping up efforts to indoctrinate and train
children, some as young as 10, according to independent
experts who have studied the phenomenon", he added.
The reporter goes on saying that " The establishment of the
Zarqawi’s Cubs camp — revealed in a video posted last month
by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS — is viewed as
particularly worrisome because of the similarities to Iraq’s
“Birds of Paradise.” That brigade was created a decade ago by
the same terrorist group, in its earlier incarnation as al-Qaeda
in Iraq, to train children for military missions, including
suicide bombings".

Last month, The Syrian Ministry of Expatriates and Foreign
Affairs sent two messages to the Secretary-General of the UN
and Chairman of the UN Security Council, saying that children
are being exposed to many types of crimes at the hands of the
armed terrorist groups, including recruiting, abducting and
killing them. The Ministry added that the terrorists are also
occupying schools and using them as torturing centers.

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Don't let Syria become another Afghanistan - IRC's Miliband (REUTERS)

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The world must stop Syria
becoming "another Afghanistan", the head of a major aid agency
warned Monday as the United Nations launched a $6.5 billion
appeal for the Middle East country.

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee
(IRC), also said that starvation is now threatening large numbers of
Syrians after the first winter storm of the season.
He told the BBC News channel that Syria was facing “an absolute
catastrophe – a middle-income country dissolving in front of our
eyes”.

Miliband, a former British foreign secretary in the Labour
government, said the international community was failing Syria and
called for world leaders to “step up several gears” to address the
enormous humanitarian needs.
“We cannot afford the creation of another Afghanistan in the (heart)
of the Middle East,” he told the BBC. “For the world to turn away is a
terrible mistake.”

More than three decades of conflict in Afghanistan has caused a
massive humanitarian crisis with millions of refugees fleeing into neighbouring Pakistan and
Iran. The Afghan refugee population reached 6.6 million in 1990. It is down to 2.58 million now
but is still the world's biggest refugee crisis although the Syrian refugee population is
expected to overtake it soon.

The U.N. appeal for Syria, the biggest in history for a single emergency, coincides with the
release of an IRC study which shows that bread prices in some areas have risen 500 percent in
two years. Four in five communities surveyed said food was their greatest need.
“These findings show that starvation is now threatening large parts of the Syrian population,”
Miliband said in a statement. “With polio on the loose, and a sub-zero winter already here, the
people of Syria now face months of more death and despair.”
Other goods are also in short supply. Blankets are unavailable to buy in 95 percent of the
communities surveyed, the IRC said. Where they are available, the $27 cost is more than 90
percent of the average monthly income. The study also showed there was limited access to
clean water and severe shortages of basic medical items such as antibiotics, painkillers, and
gauze in many regions.

Miliband also said international humanitarian law was being broken in Syria with pregnant
women subjected to sniper fire and doctors and aid workers targeted.
The United Nations estimates nearly three-quarters of Syria's 22.4 million population will need
humanitarian aid in 2014.

“We’re facing a terrifying situation here where, by the end of 2014, substantially more of the
population of Syria could be displaced or in need of humanitarian help than not,” U.N. refugee
chief António Guterres said at the launch of the appeal.
The United Nations is seeking $2.3 bln to help 9.3 mln people in Syria next year, and another
$4.2 bln to help 4.1 mln Syrian refugees and host communities in five neighbouring countries -
Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, and Iraq.

  In photo-   Syrian refugees sit by their tent in a Syrian refugee camp on the Lebanese border town of
Arsal, on December 15, 2013. REUTERS/Ahmad Shalha

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‘Slaughtered like sheep’: Eyewitnesses recount massacre in Adra, Syria (Russia Today)

New details of atrocities carried out by Islamist rebel
fighters in the town of Adra, 20 kilometers north of
Damascus, continue to pour in from survivors of the
massacre there, in which reportedly at least 80 people lost
their lives.

"The decapitators" is how the Adra residents, who managed to flee the violence there, now call
the people who currently have the town under their control. Adra, a town with a population of
20,000, was captured by Islamist rebels from the Al-Nusra front and the Army of Islam last
week, following fierce fighting with the government forces. The town’s seizure was
accompanied by mass executions of civilians.

RT Arabic has managed to speak to some of the eyewitnesses of the atrocities. Most of them
have fled the town, leaving their relatives and friends behind, so they asked not to be
identified in the report for security reasons.

An Adra resident said he escaped from the town “ under a storm of bullets.” He later contacted
his colleagues, who described how the executions of civilians were carried out by the
militants.

“They had lists of government employees on them,” the man told RT. “ This means they had
planned for it beforehand and knew who works in the governmental agencies. They went to
the addresses they had on their list, forced the people out and subjected them to the so-
called “Sharia trials .” I think that’s what they call it. They sentenced them to death by
beheading. ”

A woman, hiding her face from the camera, told RT of the beheadings she had seen.
“There was slaughter everywhere ,” she said. “ The eldest was only 20 years old; he was
slaughtered. They were all children. I saw them with my own eyes. They killed fourteen people
with a machete. I don’t know if these people were Alawites. I don’t know why they were
slaughtered. They grabbed them by their heads and slaughtered them like sheep .”
It’s been reported that 80 civilians were killed in the massacre. The death toll could still grow,
as currently the information coming from Adra is scarce. The town has been surrounded and
isolated by the Syrian army, who have been trying to force the extremists out.

“Civilians told us that the workers of an Adra bakery were all executed and burned during the
first hours of the attack. Whole families were massacred. We do not have an exact estimation of
the number because we are unable to get into the town, but the number is high, ” Kinda
Shimat, Syria’s Social Affairs Minister, told RT.

Details of the executions are trickling out of the town as eyewitnesses tell their stories.
“They killed everyone at the Adra Ummalia police station ,” another fugitive from the town told
RT. “ And they killed everyone at the Adra Ummalia hospital where my sister works. She stayed
alive only because she didn’t show up for work that day. There are about 200 people at the
police station. They are civilians. The militants are hiding among them, using them as a shield
to prevent the Army from bombing the police. ”

The events in Adra are a further example of the shift that has taken place within the Syrian
Qrebel forces which has lately been dominated by Islamist extremists, according to Michel
Chossudovsky, director of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

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The Daily Star: 75 Swedish fighters joined al-Qaida-linked groups fighting in Syria

Sweden's security police "SAP" said that at least 75 people have left the country to join al-
Qaida-linked groups fighting in Syria since mid-2012.

Those who travel from Sweden are mainly men aged between 18 and 30. Many are new recruits,
who haven't been involved with militant Islamist groups before.
In April SAPO said it believed around 30 fighters had left Sweden for Syria.

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A car suffering mostly cosmetic damages sits among a pile of debris as residents gather on the hazy streets following the attack. Locals said Syrian government helicopters dropped barrels laden with explosives in at least 10 different districts across Syria's largest city (RT)

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Exclusive - Syria region where polio found excluded from 2012 vaccination drive (REUTERS)

(Reuters) - The Syrian government excluded the largely rebel-
held province of Deir al-Zor - where polio broke out this year -
from a 2012 vaccination campaign, arguing that most residents
had fled although hundreds of thousands were still there, a
Reuters investigation shows.

Public health researchers say missing out the Syrian province
contributed to the reemergence there of polio, a highly
infectious, incurable disease that can paralyse a child within
hours but has been wiped out in many parts of the world.
In November, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said 13
cases had been found in the province. Two more have since
been recorded there and the virus has surfaced in Aleppo city
and near Damascus, the first outbreak since 1999 in Syria,
where civil war has raged since a crackdown on protests in
2011.

A Dec 6, 2012, WHO statement said it, in conjunction with the
Syrian Ministry of Health and the United Nations Children's
Fund, had launched a campaign to vaccinate "all children below
the age of five against polio".
It said the campaign, involving 4,000 health workers and
volunteers, would cover roughly 2.5 million children in 13 of
Syria's 14 governorates except for Deir al-Zor as "the majority
of its residents have relocated to other areas in the country".
It was not possible to contact the Syrian government for
comment on its reported decision to leave out Deir al-Zor, a region of roughly 1.2 million
people, where more than 600,000 under 15s were living in 2012, according to WHO data.
By December of that year, rebels had taken territory in other provinces as well.
While international agencies support such vaccination campaigns, designed to fill gaps left
when emergencies prevent routine vaccinations, it is a country's government which
decides when and where they will take place.
Asked to comment on researchers' allegations aid groups should have raised the alarm
earlier and prepared better, Chris Maher, who is coordinating the regional polio response
for the WHO, said it had warned vaccination rates were falling.
The Dec 2012 and the Oct-Nov 2013 campaigns were planned and organised in response to
that, he said. "In a complex emergency setting, it is not that easy to continue routine
campaigns."

PARTIAL VACCINATION LATER
Maher said it was reported that 67,000 children under the age of five were subsequently
vaccinated in Deir al-Zor in January 2013.
Public health researchers say that is a coverage rate of around 50 percent, insufficient to
prevent polio from spreading, based on census data. The actual population is hard to
establish; some residents fled while other people fled into Deir al-Zor from elsewhere.
Repeated vaccinations and high coverage levels are needed to interrupt transmission of the
virus and prevent outbreaks.
"There was a lack of a proper campaign to vaccinate children across the country over the
past two years," said Dr Adam Coutts, a Lebanon-based public health researcher who has
been studying the humanitarian response in Syria.
"With the breakdown of the health system, sanitation and nutrition, the exclusion of Deir
al-Zour from the vaccination campaign provided the ideal conditions for an outbreak to
occur."
It was not clear why the remote province near Syria's border with Iraq was singled out.
The city of Deir al-Zor is partially controlled by Syrian government forces while the
countryside around it is in the hands of rebels fighting to remove President Bashar al-
Assad.
Maher did not say whether there were other vaccination campaigns in Deir al-Zor during
2012 but confirmed that there was one in October this year, around the same time that
polio cases were found in Deir al-Zor.
Asked if he thought leaving a gap in the 2012 campaign allowed polio to take hold in Deir al
Zor, Maher said: "There are unimmunised kids all over Syria."
"I have no information that that particular area was higher risk than anywhere else given
the general deterioration of immunisation rates during the conflict."
He said polio vaccination coverage had dropped across Syria from more than 90 percent in
2010 to below 70 percent in 2012.
United Nations humanitarian agencies work in Syria with the permission of the Syrian
government, which has blocked aid convoys to some areas of the country. Opposition
fighters and clashes have also hampered access for aid work.
Despite dramatic progress many parts of the world thanks to a 25-year-old campaign to
eradicate the disease, Polio is still endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
There is no cure and it can only be prevented through immunisation, usually three doses.
The WHO's long-standing and repeated warning on the disease is that as long as any child
remains infected, children everywhere are at risk.
"Questions remain as to why WHO did not better prepare for this, given their own
recognition about the risk of outbreaks," said Coutts, whose colleague Dr Fouad Fouad
shares his concern.
The WHO says the largest-ever immunisation response in the Middle East is under way,
aiming to vaccinate more than 23 million children against polio in Syria and neighbouring
countries.
"Inside Syria, the campaign aims to reach 2.2 million children, including those who live in
contested areas and those who were missed in an earlier campaign. Many children in Syria
remain inaccessible, particularly those trapped in sealed off areas or living in areas where
conflict is ongoing," it said.
The WHO says almost 2 million children in Syria have already been vaccinated, including
600,000 in contested areas of the country, in the first of several rounds.
Coutts says public health professionals in the region are concerned that this response is
"too little too late and is exposing a deeper failure of regional health agencies and systems
to respond to a very predictable health crisis".

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Workers stage sit-in before UN in Damascus condemning Adra massacre (SANA NEWS)

Damascus, (SANA)- Hundreds of workers staged a
sit-in before the UN Headquarters in Damascus condemning
the terrorist massacre perpetrated by the armed terrorist
groups against civilians in Adra, Damascus countryside.

In a letter sent to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the
workers denounced the silence of the UN and its organizations
towards the acts of terrorists against the Syrian labors.
They called on the UN, the international Labor organization to
immediately and actively intervene at the countries which
support the mercenaries in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to
pressure those terrorists to halt the killing, slaughtering
against the Syrian workers in Adra or in any other places.

"The Syrian workers had a big part of the crimes of terrorists
through targeting them in their factories, companies and
transport means, houses, the latest of which was the terrorist
attack on Adra," participants in the sit-in said.
They added that the crime is a dishonor on the world's
civilized forehead where innocent workers are being killed by
takfiri thinking.

The workers concluded by saying that the fault of those who
were slaughtered that they had stood by the homeland and
worked hard to ensure the basic needs of Syrian citizen.
Gathering of "Syrians against terrorism and war"
condemns the act

Meanwhile, the gathering of "Syrians against terrorism and
war" strongly condemned the brutal acts of the terrorist groups
against unarmed civilians in Adra.
"Targeting the workers, employees is a terrorist crime which
exceeds all brutality of war crimes," the gathering said in a
statement, holding the international community responsible
for such terrorist crimes.
It called on the UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi to put
counter-terrorism as a priority in the works of Geneva
conference, considering that no political solution or life for
Syrians with the remaining of terrorism.

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28 children among 76 killed by Syria ‘barrel bombs’  (Arab News)

BEIRUT: Regime air raids using barrel bombs on rebel-controlled areas of Syria’s second city of Aleppo at the weekend killed at least 76 people, including 28 children, activists said on Monday.

The number of people “killed after the bombing of areas in the city of Aleppo with explosive-packed barrels yesterday (Sunday) rose to 76,” including “28 children and four women,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said that one youth and 43 men had also been killed in the bombings, but did not specify whether any opposition fighters were among the casualties.A previous toll from the Observatory — which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and medics for its information — had put the number of killed at 36, among them 15 children.

The Aleppo Media Center, a network of activists on the ground, called the raids on the northern city “unprecedented.”The Local Coordination Committees, a network of pro-opposition activists, said military aircraft had dropped barrels packed with explosives on rebel-held areas of Aleppo.Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the raids had targeted the Sakhur, Ard Al-Hamra and Haydariyeh areas of the capital.
Activists posted footage online from the aftermath of the raids in Aleppo, showing bulldozers clearing rubble from the streets as men searched for survivors in bombed-out buildings.The bombardment came a day after the Syrian Red Crescent delivered food and medicine to Aleppo central prison, which has been under rebel siege for eight months.
Earlier this week, the government announced an amnesty on humanitarian grounds for scores of prisoners held on criminal charges.More than 126,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, and millions more have fled their homes.

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A wounded Syrian woman walks with her children following airstrikes on a rebel area of the war-torn northern city of Aleppo- BY Mohammed al-Khatieb -AFP

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Journalists hit by surge of attacks in Iraq’s Mosul (AFP)

MOSUL, Iraq: The north Iraq city of Mosul has become a nightmare
for journalists, with five killed since October with alleged impunity,
pushing some to flee the area or even the country.
Iraq has come in for repeated criticism over the lack of media
freedom and the number of unsolved killings of journalists.

But the series of attacks on journalists in Mosul, with the latest on
Sunday when gunmen shot dead TV presenter Nawras Al-Nuaimi, is
the worst to hit Iraq in years.
“I had to change my place of residence in Mosul and remain at my
(new) home without leaving, after the killings that affected a number
of my colleagues,” said journalist Salim Fadhel, 30.
“My colleagues left Mosul for the Kurdistan region with their
families, or for outside Iraq,” Fadhel said, referring to the
autonomous three-province region of north Iraq where attacks are
relatively rare compared to the rest of the country.
“There is a rumor in Mosul saying that armed groups issued a list of
names of 40 journalists who will be eliminated by them,” Fadhel
added.

Al-Nuaimi, a young presenter for Al-Mosuliyah TV, was the sixth
journalist to be killed in Iraq since October, of whom five died in
Mosul.

Her death came after that of Alaa Edwar, a Christian journalist
working for the Nineveh Al-Ghad television network, who was shot
dead in Mosul in November.

And Al-Mosuliyah cameraman Bashar Abdulqader Najm and two
journalists from Sharqiya television channel — correspondent
Mohammed Karim Al-Badrani and cameraman Mohammed Ghanem — were killed in Mosul in
October.

Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, is one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq, with
militants frequently carrying out attacks and reportedly extorting money from shopkeepers.
And Iraq as a whole has come in for repeated criticism from media rights groups.
“Many Iraqi journalists are routinely exposed to threats, murder attempts, attacks, difficulties
obtaining permission, denial of access, confiscation of equipment and so on,” media rights
watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said earlier this year.
Another journalist, Kawa Ahmed Germyani, was shot dead earlier this month in front of his
mother in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Following that killing, RSF said it was “worried about the very dangerous climate for
journalists both in Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, and about the impunity enjoyed by
their attackers and killers.”

Ban Al-Obaidi, the Mosul representative of an Iraqi media rights group, said its efforts are
limited to issuing condemnations when attacks or other violations occur, “because of the lack
of interest of relevant government agencies.”
“Fifty journalists or media (employees) have been killed in the province of Nineveh at the
hands of unknown (people) since 2003,” and others have been wounded or disabled, she said.
“We are astonished by the weakness of the security forces and the local government, which
appear helpless in front of the killing and targeting of journalists that is happening without
them moving a finger to protect them,” said Fadhel.
Authorities should “at least arrest some of those who carry out killings, to find out who is
behind them,” he said.
Adhawi Al-Suaib, a member of the Nineveh provincial council’s culture committee, which is
responsible for handling issues related to journalists, admitted it is unable to protect them.
“We recognize our inability to do what is necessary to ensure journalists in Mosul are
protected,” Suaib told AFP.
“We are not even able to protect ourselves.”

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Israeli Soldier Shot Dead on the Lebanese Border with Occupied Palestine (Al manar.Lebnon)

A Lebanese soldier opened fire on an Israeli patrol in the area of Naqoura southern  Lebanon, killing an Israeli soldier. In response, the Israeli army launched flares over the area and flied helicopters.
Haaretz confirmed the death of the soldier on the Lebanese border and
said the army left the it to the Israeli officials to decide on the appropriate
response.

Al-Manar Website correspondent in the South reported that a general security post came
under fire from the Israeli side.
The Lebanese army denied reports that a soldier went missing Sunday night and of the
suspicion he was in Israeli hands.

A meeting is scheduled between Israeli and Lebanese officers at the UNIFIL headquarters.
According to the report, the Lebanese army is still investigating the incident but no formal
statement has been issued.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in statement that both sides were, "cooperating
with the United Nations ... to ascertain the facts," and he urged both sides to exercise
restraint.

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UN makes $6 . 5 billion appeal for Syria (Al Jazeera )

The worldwide appeal to help victims of the Syrian conflict is the largest ever UN appeal for a
single crisis .

The United Nations has appealed for a record $6.5 billion for Syria and its neighbours to help 16
million people, many of them hungry or homeless victims of a conflict that has lasted 33 months
with no end in sight .

The Syrian appeal accounted for half of an overall funding plan of $ 12.9 billion for 2014 to help 52
million people in 17 countries, announced by UN emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos at a
meeting of donor countries in Geneva on Monday .

There are parts of country where for 22- 23 hours a day people aren ' t getting electricity. Fuel is
scarce . Even if the violence were to stop tomorrow we would have to maintain help on the
humanitarian front .

Valerie Amos, UN emergency relief coordinator.
" This is the largest amount we have ever had to request at the start of the year , " Amos told a
news conference , referring to the worldwide appeal.
The money requested for Syria, covering food, drinking water , shelter, education, health services
and polio vaccines , was the largest UN appeal ever for a single crisis .
More than 100, 000 people have been killed in a civil war that has uprooted millions of people,
devastated many cities and wreaked havoc on the economy and basic public services.
Syria' s currency has plummeted by 80 per cent since the revolt began in March 2011, and
destruction of the water network has left 10 million people - almost half the pre - war population -
relying on the UN to chlorinate water .
" There are parts of country where for 22- 23 hours a day people aren ' t getting electricity. Fuel is
scarce , " said Amos, who visited Damascus briefly on Saturday to meet ministers .
" Even if the violence were to stop tomorrow we would have to maintain help on the humanitarian
front , " she said .
Amos was cautious about chances of a breakthrough at peace talks between President Bashar al -
Assad' s government and his opponents that are scheduled to begin in Switzerland on January 22.
" Obviously the expectations have to be modest in this point of time , " she said.
Airlifts from Iraq

The UN estimates that 250, 000 Syrians are living under siege as winter bites, most of them
encircled by government forces, but also including 45, 000 in two towns in the north that are
besieged by anti - Assad rebels.

The United Nation' s Security Council issued a presidential statement on October 2 calling for
protection of civilians, demilitarisation of schools and hospitals , and improved access for aid
workers.

The UN started airlifting aid from Iraq on Sunday, as it was too dangerous to go by land , said
Antonio Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency .
The UN is seeking $2.3 billion to help 9.3 million people in Syria next year , compared with its
2013 appeal of $1.4 billion, of which only 62 percent has been received.
For five neighbouring countries - Egypt, Iraq , Jordan , Lebanon and Turkey - it is seeking $4.2
billion to assist up to 4 .1 million Syrian refugees and host communities who will be given food
aid , including cash or vouchers .
Its overall appeal for 2014 also includes aid to Sudan , South Sudan , Yemen, Democratic Republic
of Congo , Afghanistan and the Philippines.

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83 dead in aerial bombardments on Aleppo, Syria, opposition group says (CNN)

(CNN) -- At least 83 people died in aerial bombardments conducted
by government forces in Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, said the Local
Coordination Committees, an opposition group.
At least 27 children and eight women were among the dead, the
group said; it reported that 50 more people had sustained injuries in
the bombardments.

Helicopters dropped barrel bombs on 12 neighborhoods in the city,
where people have strongly backed rebels opposing the government
of President Bashar al-Assad.
The opposition organization says it is not the first time the Syrian
regime has dropped barrels filled with explosives on Aleppo
neighborhoods.

The LCC said 135 people died in total in the conflict on Sunday.
The United Nations estimates that more than 100,000
people have died since the Syrian conflict began in March
2011. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have also been
injured.
It began when government forces cracked down on
peaceful protesters during the Arab Spring movement, and
slowly spiraled into a bloody, full-blown civil war.
More than 2.3 million people have fled Syria, and another 4.25 million
Syrians have become refugees within their country since the civil war
began, according to an Amnesty International report released on
Friday.

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Army continues operations against armed terrorist groups in different provinces (SYRIAN ARAB NEWS AGENCY)

The army on Sunday achieved a big progress over the armed terrorist groups in several areas in the country, killing and injuring a number of terrorists and destroying their tools.

Army kills terrorists in Damascus countryside

Army units eliminated armed terrorist groups in Adra city, Douma, Rima farms and al-Dmair, destroying big amounts of weapons and ammunition.

Sources told SANA that an army unit eliminated an entire terrorist group and destroyed a heavy machinegun in Adra city. Mohammad Toumeh and Abdullah al-Nawwas have been identified among the dead terrorists.

20 terrorists have been killed in quality army operations against terrorist groups' dens near the Municipality roundabout and behind Hawa Mosque in Douma city, with the terrorist Alaa Salam identified among the killed terrorists.

A den for terrorists and a car, with the weapons and ammunition inside have been destroyed in Alia farms. Nine terrorists were killed, among them Adnan Anis.

The sources said that an army unit destroyed a den for terrorists in Erbin town and killed the terrorists inside, among them Ihsan Zarifa, as another units targeted Jabhat al-Nusra concentrations in Rima farms in Yabroud area, killing the terrorist Ayman Khouzai.

In al-Nabek, an army unit discovered amounts of weapons, ammunition, modern communication devices and materials for manufacturing explosives in a den for terrorists during mopping-up operations in the city.

The sources pointed out that several terrorists have been killed during army operations against their dens in al-Dmair farms, among them Firas al-Shaer, in addition to destroying large amounts of weapons and ammunition.

An army unit repelled an attempt of an armed terrorist group to attack a military checkpoint east of al-Dmair city in Damascus countryside, killing and injuring scores of its members.

Numbers of terrorists have been killed near al-Hasan Mosque in al-Qaboun neighborhood and the area surrounding al-Hussain Mosque in Barzeh neighborhood.

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Kilian Kleinschmidt- On Running the Zaatari Refugee Camp (SYRIA DEEPLY)

                                                             Kilian Klienschmidt in Za'atari refugee camp,Jordan

The kids of Za’atari. The kids, now 45,000 of them. Kids wherever you look. Kids around you when you walk. Kids when you shop in the souk. Kids hanging on water tankers looking for adventure. Kids with wheelbarrows carrying items to be smuggled. Kids selling phone cards. Kids playing counterstrike in the computer cafes. Kids screaming Allah-u-Akbar and making V signs. Kids running after your car. Kids throwing stones and tent pegs after you. Kids playing in child friendly spaces. Kids learning Tae Kwon Do. Kids playing soccer. Kids making music and painting. Kids dismantling fences when our backs are turned. 12,000 kids going to school. Kids crying when they are vaccinated.

When I close my eyes after a day of work in Za’atari, I see children. Children everywhere. And it’s only the children I remember as I try to sleep.

The kids bring a good and bad power to Za’atari. A positive and a negative energy. The ying and the yang. Some days I will remember the bad stories they have brought to me, but often there is one child that has made a difference. The one child who offered me friendship, a cup of tea or who held my hand.

But frequently there is a child that comes to me with a gruesome story. I have often said that I do not want to focus on this terrible stories. I cannot. If I focus on individual stories, and there are some truly horrific things these children have experienced, I will not be able to do my job as Camp Manager at Za’atari. If I focus on the individual stories and allow an individual story to affect me, I will become overwhelmed.

But rules are often broken, and this is a rule I have broken many times.

We can see all too clearly the scale of the crisis Syria is currently undergoing through the behavior of its children.  The moral, traditional and societal values of the community is unravelling. It is losing its bearings. And as the community has become dysfunctional – so have the children.

At times it feels as if 45,000 little souls are free floating bubbles in space erring through the 530 hectares of the Za’atari desert. They are searching for that landing spot where they can find peace and a protecting warm hand; looking for the hug many parents have forgotten to give.

Often just one handshake will bring a smile to a lost face, but too often all I see are faces that are hard, strong, angry and full of hate against a life, which has not been good to them. And that is unbelievably sad. We are losing a generation.

We believe that more than 2,000 kids have already reached a stage where they cannot be saved by a friendly smile, a place in school, a football game, or Tae Kwon Do lessons. They have checked out, moved on, and left their childhood far behind.

When faced with their criminal acts, we refer them to the juvenile police unit, when we can catch them that is. But we are avoiding them rather than confronting their problems, because they scare us with their violence. They need specialized help and focus.

The thousands of other children need many many hands to hold if we want to prevent them from reaching the next levels of violence and despair. But we do not have enough of those hands to offer. And this isn’t just about those of us who work at the camp. Only by working with the Syrians themselves can we manage to hold so many hands. Outreach on such a scale cannot be humanitarian but is a challenge the adult refugees have to take on as well. But they themselves are lost, hardened and angry.

Those who dream of a peaceful Syria in the future must invest in building the foundations of a functioning and a fully accountable society by the letting the children be children again. The Future of Syria report launched today by UNHCR  highlights that of the 680 shops in Za’atari, most of them employ children. This is unacceptable. Children shouldn’t be working. They must be given time and space to play and learn.

The children I see every day are incredible. They are innovative and they are resourceful, but they are also angry. And most importantly they are missing out on an education which will provide them with the skills so necessary for helping to rebuild the country they have been forced to leave behind. We must do everything we can to ensure as many children as possible are given all the attention and skills they need. Saving lives is not only about food, water and shelter – it’s about dignity.

http://beta.syriadeeply.org/op-eds/zaataris-manager-conflict/#.Uq7SpNIW3zk

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