Introduction to the evening news 21-07-2012

After the Free Syrian Army declared the launch of “liberation of Damascus” war last Tuesday, the regime announced that it took control of al-Midan in Central Damascus. Meanwhile, clashes continue in Aleppo for the second day in a row, coinciding with the war on the border’s crossing points. In this context, after the opposition took control of two main points on the Syrian-Iraqi borders, as well as al-Hawa crossing point on the border with Turkey, it failed to control the Nasib crossing point on the border between Syria and Jordan.         

On the international level, France has declared, through its Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, that the time has come for the opposition to unite in order to take power in the country. In turn, the United States said it is closely monitoring Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.           

The Syrian developments put the Lebanese government under a humanitarian test, regarding the sheltering of the Syrian displaced on the Lebanese territory and providing them with life standards.             

This test came after the cabinet has registered many political failures, such as reaching consensus over the dialogue session expected to be held on Tuesday and finding a  solution for Sheikh Ahmad Assir’s sit-in in Sidon, where two disputes almost escalated to strife during the night. The cabinet also failed to reach an agreement concerning ranks and salaries scale to prevent syndicate sit-ins and strikes next week.