The Japanese journalist, Mika Yamamoto's, body arrived to Turkey before being transferred to Istanbul and then to Japan, where a farewell ceremony is expected to be held today. Yamamoto was a veteran war correspondent for the Japan Press. On Tuesday, she was shot dead in a gunfight
between Syrian rebels and government forces in Aleppo. She had been
traveling with the Free Syrian Army when a group of people in camouflage
fatigues approached and began shooting.
This as fighting continued in Damascus and the city of Aleppo between opposition
fighters and Syrian
forces.
In what is being described as the worst day of clashes by activists, government forces
fired mortars on opposition
areas, according to the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights.
Neighborhoods of Aldirij and Mount Kassioun in south west Damascus
were bombed with heavy artillery as tanks stormed
Darya Damascus suburb.
In an online video the bodies of five young men were
depicted being loaded into a pickup
truck.
The Syrian television reported
that the authorities
clashed with a terrorist
group in Hama
and confiscated their weapons.
Syrian forces backed by tanks stormed Daraya, on the outskirts of Damascus, on Thursday after 24 hours of artillery and helicopter bombardment to drive out rebels, opposition sources said.
The bombardment killed at least 15 people and wounded 150 in Daraya, situated on the southwest edge of Damascus, the sources said.
Troops were conducting house to house raids in the conservative Sunni Muslim town and making their way to the town's centre, meeting light resistance from rebels who appear to have largely withdrawn from the area, activists in Damascus said.
"They are using mortar bombs to clear each sector then they enter it, while moving towards the centre," said Abu Zeid, one of the activists. He was speaking by phone from an area adjacent to Daraya.
Other activists said the army was also shelling parts of the suburb from Qasioun, which overlooks Damascus, and from Republican Guard barracks situated near a hilltop presidential palace.
Wednesday’s violence in Syria resulted in the
killing of 162 Syrians.
Meanwhile,
a Syrian warplane bombarded al-Boukamal in the Iraqi airspace.
International Positions:
The Chinese
government will provide 30 million yuan ($4.76 million) worth of emergency
humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, the Chinese news
agency Xinhua reported.
The Chinese
foreign ministry said the aid was offered to "show Chinese people's
friendly sentiments toward Syrian people."
Britain discussed with France and the United States on Wednesday how to bolster the Syrian opposition, which is fighting government forces 17 months into a popular uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama also agreed that the use or threat of chemical weapons use by Syria was "was completely unacceptable" and would force them to "revisit their approach" to the conflict.
"As with (French President) Hollande, the prime minister and Obama discussed how to build on the support already given to the opposition to end the appalling violence in Syria and bring about stability," Cameron's office said in a statement.
For his part, Italian Foreign
Minister Giulio Terzi said that Italy will host international talks in the
coming day’s about the future of Syria in post Assad era.
This as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called on regional countries to participate in a ministerial meeting regarding Syria at the UN on August 30.
REUTERS/LBCI