Scores killed in Syria violence

06/11/2012
Scores of Syrian soldiers have been killed by a suicide car bomb in
the central province of Hama and at least 20 rebel fighters were
killed in an air strike in the northwest province of Idlib, activists
have said .
Monday's clashes came as the main Syrian opposition, the Syrian
National Council (SNC), in makeover talks in Qatar, agreed to expand
its structure to accommodate 13 other groups, a spokesman said .
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing
in the village ofZiyara in Hama province was carried out by Jabhat
al-Nusra, anarmed group that has claimed several attacks on regime
targets .
The bombing killed more than 50 people, according to the Observatory,
a claim which cannot be independently verified .
In Damascus, a car bomb exploded in the western district of Mezzeh.
The part of the neighborhood where the bombing struck, Mezzeh 86 is
mainly inhabited by Alawites, belonging to the same sect as President
Bashar al-Assad .
State-run news agency SANA said 11 people were wounded in the blast.
Television footage showed bloodied people in the street andgaping
holes in residential buildings as firefighters worked to put out the
blaze .
Residents said senior security andmilitary officers of Assad's
regimelive in the area targeted late on Monday .
The Observatory also said at least 20 rebel fighters were killed when
Syrian air force jets bombarded the town of Haram inthe northern
province of Idlib, while fighting raged on between rebels and
government soldiers in Damascus and Aleppo .
The latest developments came as the rebels sought to keep momentum
after seizing a major oilfield and shooting down a fighter jet in the
eastern provinceof Deir Ezzor the day before .
Aleppo clashes
In Aleppo, fighting broke out at aroundabout at the northwest entrance
to the city in the Zahraa district and on the airport road to the
southeast, the Observatoryand residents said .
One resident of a district near Zahraa said Monday's fighting in the
area was the heaviest in recent days .
" It's been almost one week that we are living in terror at night. We
hear everything - gun battles, tank shelling, explosions ... The
clashes before dawn today were the worst all week," Samir, a
37-year-old pharmacist, told the AFP news agency .
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, meanwhile, said on Monday
that its main warehouse in Aleppo had burned down amidrecent fighting,
with the loss of crucial supplies including medicine, food and winter
relief items like blankets .
The rebels have scored significantgains in recent weeks and now hold
swathes of territory in the country's north, but have struggled to
gain ground in and around Damascus and in the commercial hub Aleppo
amid heavy bombardment from government air power .
Strikes from regime warplanes and helicopter gunships have reached a
new level of intensity in recent days as government forces try to
reverse rebel gains on the ground .
The escalating conflict has added urgency to a meeting of the Syrian
National Council in Qatar, where the United States is reportedly
pressing for a new umbrella organization to unite the country's
fractured opposition .
Doha meeting
Syria's main opposition bloc agreed on Monday to broaden its structure
to accommodate 13 other groups, a spokesman said .
The decision by the Syrian National Council (SNC) came on the second
day of a four-day meeting of opposition groups in the Qatari capital,
Doha, aimed at forging a more united front against Assad's regime .
Participants "have agreed a restructuring plan and to reduce the
number of [current] members of the general secretariat to accommodate
200 new members representing 13 political groups and independents,"
said SNC spokesman Ahmad Kamel .
Kamel said the existing membership would be reduced from 313 to 220 to
pave the way for the additional 200 members. The general secretariat
will convene in its revamped form on Tuesday, he added .
The meeting is also expected to discuss an initiative by leading
dissident Riad Seif, which appeared to enjoy US support buthas
encountered reservations from some SNC members, to unite all Syrian
groups opposed to Assad .
" We will form a political leadership that will in turn form a
government of technocrats," Seif said on Sunday, insisting his
proposal was "not to replace the SNC which should be an important
component ."
The initiative will top the agenda of a broader meeting on Thursday
called by host Qatar andthe Arab League .
According to the reports, which emerged after US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said the SNC was not a representative body, long-time
dissident Seif is touted as the potential head of a new
government-in-exile dubbed the Syrian National Initiative .
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad dismissed the
conference, accusing the opposition of following a foreign agenda .
"When the opposition parties follow the desires of Israel, the United
States and the Western countries, who stand against the interest of
the Syrian people, this then achieves the main goals of such
conferences which do nothing but help escalate the situation in
Syria," he said.
PHOTO CAPTION
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA,
showsSyrians standing at the scene after a blast occurred according to
footage and reports shown onState-run Al-Ikhbariya television in the
Mazzeh al-Jabal district of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria,
Monday, Nov. 5, 2012.

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