Syria Live Coverage: The Opposition Opens an Embassy

Opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib (centre) at the opening of the opposition's first embassy, located in Qatar (Photo: Reuters)

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1607 GMT: Rebels Attack Base in Daraa. The rebels have continued their assault against the home of the regime's Battalion 49 just west of Alma, in Daraa province (map). As you can see from the map below, made by @stApexf of Twitter, the base is north of a group of recently captured bases and is in an area of disputed territory:

View Map of Daraa in a larger map

This area is extremely important. Just months ago, the amount of blue or green territory here was almost non-existent. In fact, the regime was so strong that it would have been hard to call any of the area "yellow" or disputed. An influx of new fighters from other areas of Syria, new defectors from Daraa province, and new rebel recruits have helped change this dynamic. Perhaps more important, rebel fighters have also returned to this area after receiving training in both Jordan, and possibly Idlib province. Not only that, but the rebels have been unified and organized under the leadership of the Revolutionary Military Council of Daraa under a new alliance of moderate and Islamist brigades.

The rebels are not only better organized, but also better armed. Below is a video of today's fighting west of Alma, where the rebels use a SPG-9 recoilless rifle, part of a weapons shipment procured from Croatia, to hammer Assad's base west of the town.

If the rebels can take this base, it brings them closer to controlling all of the territory east of Daraa city. Once that happens, the rebels will gain a decisive military advantage in Daraa province.

1511 GMT: Turkey Denies Deporting Refugees. In a tremendous tragedy, a young child was killed in a tent fire this week in a refugee camp in southern Turkey. After the incident, protests sprang up in the camp. Police used water cannons and teargas to restore peace. Now, residents of the camp claim that between 600 and 700 people were forcibly deported back to Syria after the incident. Turkey has denied the claim, but the UN has expressed deep concerns over the incident. The Daily Star reports:

The Turkish foreign ministry denied any Syrians had been forcibly expelled, saying around 50-60 people had returned to Syria overnight and that some of them may have been involved in the unrest, but that they left voluntarily.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR voiced deep concern at reports of deportations and said it had taken up the issue with Turkey. Such deportations would be against U.N. conventions governing the treatment of refugees.

"There has been a big deportation operation here, they got rid of lots of people. They kicked out two of my boys and three of my brother's sons. They came for my boys last night and told them to get their bags," one refugee at the camp told Reuters by telephone, giving her name as Saher.

1434 GMT: Rebels Press Southwest of Aleppo. Last week, Khan al Asal, southwest of Aleppo (map), made international news when a possible chemical weapons attack took place there. However, for most of the people in Khan al Asal the headlines were not as important as the continual clashes between the rebels and the regime. A large and well-armed contingent of rebels continues to press the attack here, pushing from the south with weapons captured from nearby regime bases. The goal is to hit the regime's largest bases in all of Aleppo from this direction, effectively surrounding them. First, however, they have to take the suburb.

Over the last two days, rebels have used heavy machineguns, snipers, and makeshift mortars to attack regime positions there. Below is a playlist of some of their attacks.

1356 GMT: Mortars Hit Damascus University. The first images from State TV show pools of blood among classroom desks and chairs:

Syrian TV footage of the mortar shelling on Damascus University which has killed over 10 so far. youtu.be/c7SnkVbKHoA

— Omar (@omarsyria) March 28, 2013

And now a word of caution. Clearly, the area near the university was hit by mortars. However, the last video we posted suggests that the mortars fell 100-150 meters north of the Architecture facility, so we're not sure what building we're looking at in the State TV video. However, there are reports of additional mortar strikes which may not have been show in that last video, and there are other buildings north of the main faculty building, but we're not sure what they are used for.

1349 GMT: Mortars Hit Damascus University. The first picture of the mortar impact area. The white buildings in the foreground, just behind the minaret, are the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Civil Engineering buildings, we believe (map):

On the other side of the city, in Qaboun (map), the roar of a jet plane can be heard after bombs explode:

1327 GMT: UN Scales Back Operation in Golan. The Guardian reports that the United Nations will be scaling back its operations in the Golan in response to growing violence and border incursions by both pro and anti-Assad forces:

On Tuesday the UN announced its peacekeeping operation in the area is being scaled back after 21 peacekeepers were kidnapped by a rebel group earlier this month. The Undof team is to withdraw from two positions in response to the presence of armed groups in the area, peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous announced.

On Sunday Israel fired a Tammuz missiles over the border after what it claimed was deliberate gunfire aimed at Israel by the Syrian army.

In an EA analysis posted on March 11, the week after the peacekeepers were captured, we provided evidence that the "Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade" was crossing into or operating on the border of the Demilitarized Zone. Working alongside the Dawn of Islam Brigade, a group directly tied to an US and Saudi backed effort to arm Syrian rebels, the YMB helped capture several regime checkpoints, executing prisoners and detaining the UN personnel in the process.

1317 GMT: Damascus University Hit by Mortars. All week we've been reporting on the rebel mortar attacks against western Damascus. Earlier in the week, shelling near Umayyad Square forced the UN to remove half its staff from Syria and injured and killed many, including several State Media workers (see my analysis of the rebel attacks against western Damascus).

Today, mortars landed near the University of Damascus in the Al Baramkeh district (map), injuring and killing many. State Media reported that 12 students were killed and dozens injured. Reuters reports:

Al-Ikhbariya showed images of doctors pumping the chests of at least two young men and blood splattered on the floor of what appeared to be an outdoor canteen. One young women was shown walking in a hospital and bleeding heavily from her face...

The university is surrounded by government buildings, including the Ministry of Defence, the headquarters for state media and the president's official residence.

James Miller takes over today's live coverage. Thanks to Scott Lucas for getting us started today.

0645 GMT: Casualties. The Local Coordination Committees claim that 104 people were killed on Wednesday, including 43 in Damascus and its suburbs, 18 in Daraa Province, and 12 each in Aleppo and Idlib Provinces.

The Violations Documentation Center records 54,445 deaths since the start of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 175 from Wednesday. Of the dead, 43,560 were civilians, an increase of 111 from yesterday.

0620 GMT: The Opposition Embassy. After several days of political turmoil, the opposition bounced back with another victory on Wednesday.

A day after Moaz al-Khatib, despite his recent resignation as head of the Syrian National Coalition, gave a rousing speech to the Arab League, the opposition followed up its recognition by the League with the opening of its first embassy in Qatar.

Al-Khatib, cutting the ceremonial ribbon for embassy, used the occasion to criticise world powers for not acting quickly and widely enough to support the insurgency: "There is an international willingness for the revolution not to triumph."

The Coalition has named envoys in several countries, including Britain, France, Libya, Turkey, and the US, but has yet to open diplomatic missions in those countries.