A major attack by the Syrian regime on a town west of Homs is being led by the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah, according to the opposition Syrian National Coalition and activists. The area is a key supply route to rebel forces in and around Homs and also on the main road from Damascus to pro-regime Alawite districts further north. Hizbollah fighters are better trained in guerrilla warfare than the regime’s and have taken over from regime forces on the ground and are leading the battle in Qusayr, with its elite forces. It’s not necessarily fighters coming from Lebanon. It’s Hizbollah fighters from Shiite villages on the Syrian side which are inhabited by Lebanese. The war has put great pressure on Lebanon’s fragile internal politics, with Hizbollah supporting the Assad regime and Sunni Muslims supporting the rebels, in some cases with arms and money. The Omar Farouq Brigade, a prominent rebel militia, admitted shelling Shia villages inside Lebanon, a move condemned by Human Rights Watch on Monday. See item 7 below.
Pray: against groups in Lebanon getting further involved in the Syrian conflict, pray for protection for the civilians increasingly paying the price of indiscriminate attacks.
Syria: Horrible life for Palestinian refugees
24 Jan 2013Palestinians who fled Syria’s war to neighbouring Lebanon are living up to 20 in a room with no water, fresh air or electricity, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday. More help is needed for at least 20,000 Palestinians who have already come in and more than 200 who join them every day, the chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Filippo Grandi, told Reuters. Most of the Palestinians who crossed Syria’s south-western boundary into Lebanon were living with friends and family in existing Palestinian camps set up to take in refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948. He toured the Shatila Palestinian camp in Beirut and found ‘the conditions were horrible’ for new arrivals. The main problem they have is accommodation. They rent small, cramped, very unsanitary premises without running water, without ventilation, without electricity.
Pray: for NGO’s to be able to bring relief to the 200,000 refugees and for new camps to be built and resourced. (Ps.68:9-11)
Syria: Homs update
17 Feb 2012Besieged residents of Homs have resorted to carrier pigeons to communicate with each other. One message attached to a pigeon’s leg read, ‘please tell us what you need in terms of supplies, medicine and food. God willing we will deliver them to you.’ The city has been under a barrage of heavy machine-gun fire, tank shells, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades since February 4th. The UN reported 300+ people dead in Homs, which has the second largest Christian population in Syria. Last week Reuters reported, ‘Rising violence is forcing hundreds out of Homs’ Two weeks ago a refugee fled with his family and nothing but the clothes they stood up in after being trapped inside for days. Since then, heavy bombardment has killed hundreds more and levelled dozens of buildings in a matter of days. Cold weather has slowed the flow of refugees into Turkey.
Pray: for those struggling to escape to be able to dodge Syrian military patrols, and for God’s protection on those who stay. (Ps.7:10)
Syria: Forty tons of aid from Iran
18 Mar 2012On the first anniversary of anti-government uprisings in Syria (March 15th) forty tons of Iranian aid supplies arrived in Damascus. The shipment is the first of four planeloads that Iran plans to send to its most important regional ally. Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Raouf Sheibani said the supplies included medicine, medical equipment, tents, blankets, food and ambulances. He said the aid shows Iran’s support for Syria’s current government. ‘Iran is standing fully behind the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad as it battles armed rebel groups it describes as terrorists,’ Sheibani said. Iran maintains last Thursday’s aid package was free of any weaponry. However, the Washington Post quoted an unnamed U.S. intelligence authority saying the aid from Iran is ‘increasingly focused on lethal assistance.’ The last thing Iran wants is to see a regime change in one of its staunchest regional allies.
Pray: God’s hand to direct the course of the conflicting camps emerging in the Middle East, and for His purposes to be quickly realized. (Is.25:3)
More: http://www.thetrumpet.com/9218.8059.0.0/middle-east/iran-pumping-aid-into-syria
Syria: Fighting overspills
11 Jul 2013On Tuesday explosions rocked the centre of Damascus and a car bomb went off in the Shi'ite quarter of Beirut. – see item 4 above. These events served as a reminder that Syria continues to bleed and the repercussions of the horrendous civil war are still being felt by neighbours. In the south of the Golan Heights near where Israel, Jordan and Syria meet, sits a UN outpost deserted by international observers months ago when the fighting between the Syrian army and extremist Sunni rebels escalated. The observers fled and the outpost is now held by a small group of armed Sunni extremists. From the Israeli side of the border you can easily spot them. When they're not fighting Assad's forces they spend their time in the small swimming pool abandoned by the UN soldiers. Some Israelis fear that sooner or later they might seek some other pastime on the western side of the fence and Syria’s internal violence will be reflected in tensions with Israel as Syria’s war overspills onto neighbouring borders.
Pray: that in the midst of turmoil and change - God’s purposes will be achieved in the Middle East. (Mat.16:18) Pray that Believers will know the reality of His peace. (Ps.29)
More: http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/tensions-in-syria-and-egypt-are-flaring-but-israel-s-responses-are-limited.premium-1.534876
Syria: Fight continues for Aleppo
04 Aug 2012With the bloodshed mounting in Aleppo the Arab League chief accused Assad's government of atrocities. A report on the Aleppo carnage Amnesty International said, ‘Scores of demonstrators and bystanders, most of them young men and boys but including several children and older men, have been shot dead and hundreds injured in the city by security forces and the notorious Shabiha, the armed militias working alongside government forces. Some of the victims were bystanders who were not taking part in the demonstrations. Families of demonstrators and bystanders shot dead by security forces have been pressured to sign statements saying that their loved ones were killed by 'armed terrorist gangs'. Life for Aleppo's three million residents is becoming unbearable under military siege. An activist told the Associated Press by Skype. ‘There is not enough food and people are trying to leave. We really need support from the outside. There is random shelling against civilians.’
Pray: for international protection for those who are trapped in the city and the 200,000 who have managed to escape.
More: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/08/20128125840642184.html
Syria: Envoy expected in Turkey for crisis talks
16 Jun 2011
A Syrian envoy arrived in Turkey on Wednesday for crisis talks with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, days after the Turkish leader described the Syrian government's repression of protests as ‘savagery.’ The once-close relationship between the neighbours appears close to breaking point as thousands of Syrians have fled to Turkey to escape a fierce crackdown by President Bashar Assad's security forces.
Pray: for Jesus Christ to be in the midst of these talks and for every strategy to be inspired by God's wisdom. (Ps.17:13)
More: http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=225080
Syria: Descent into civil war?
28 Nov 2011Army defectors attacked and destroyed parts of the Air Force Intelligence building in Harsata, (a major military base near Damascus). It is the Free Syrian Army's most high-profile attack since anti-government protests began. The rebel army was formed by military defectors opposed to Mr Assad and affirmed 15,000 members by mid-October, saying more soldiers and officers are defecting every day. They work alongside the Syrian people to topple the government and ‘stand up to the irresponsible military machine which is protecting the regime’. The government has severely restricted access for foreign journalists, and reports of violence are extremely difficult to verify. The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Rabat for the Arab League meeting, says reports of the attack show how the situation in Syria is becoming more serious by the hour. It is also a graphic illustration of how the conflict is moving close to being a civil war which might affect the whole region; rather than a fight between unarmed protesters and the government.
Pray: and call to God, for all those in distress, and may Jesus Christ reveal his truth and wisdom and change the hearts of those in authority. (Ps.55:18 & 139:20-21)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15752058