In a phone call with Abu Haneen from the heart of Baba Amr, he informed us of the following:
Baba Amr has faced multiple attempts of being stormed by the Syrian National Army. Activists worked hard to save the neighborhood and protect the civilians. In the meanwhile, Baba Amr was still being shelled. Clashes continued until the evening. The Free Syrian Army succeeded in affecting loss in the Syrian National Army, both people & supplies. Some of the leaders of the Farooq Division left the site of the clashes to securely transport women and children to safer regions. Activists are still defending the neighborhood against the army that was essentially defeated at its attempts. The activists have seized control of Baba Amr and the Assad army is positioned at the outskirts of the region.
While we can't verify the specific details of the report, there are two key points that continue to be repeated by all the trusted sources EA has made contact with - the FSA has been clashing with Assad soldiers, especially in the northeast of Baba Amr, and the troops have not fully occupied the neighborhood...
Yet. The third detail that is in nearly every report - Assad's military is capable of taking Baba Amr. It is possible that they are holding out to lessen the media attention, or because they want to avoid heavy losses, but the entire city is surrounded by extremely large amounts of pro-Assad military forces, and tonight they are closer to Baba Arm than they have been since the siege started.
2118 GMT:An activist in Syria reports, "5 p.m. until now: electricity has been cut off in a great deal of Homs, especially Western regions. Meanwhile, intense shelling continues."
2118 GMT:The Egyptians judges presiding over the trial of 43 people, including 16 American citizens, whose NGOs are charged with manipulating the political and electoral process have refused to hear the case. The trial started on Sunday, but now that the judges has recused themselves, the appeals court will likely pick new judges, potentially delaying the trial further.
This may give room for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to negotiate the release of the Americans.
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 19:02 |