REPORT: UN to move some staff out of Syria

The Syrian Observatory for human rights said on Monday that the Free Syrian Army Commander Riad al-Asaad was injured in in the city of al-Mayadin, south of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria.                 
                                               
One of Asaad's legs was severed as a result of the blast but his injuries were not life threatening, an official source told Reuters adding that he was transported to Turkey for treatment.                        
                                                                      
This as, Agence France Presse quoted an Arab official as saying that the Syrian seat at the Arab League had been granted to the opposition.  
                                                                                                
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition figure Moaz Al Khatib said he would address an Arab League meeting in Qatar this week, a day after he announced his resignation as head of the Syrian National Coalition.          

The Arab summit takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Arab foreign ministers met in Doha on Sunday to prepare for the meeting. Al Khatib did not say when he would speak. 

"I have decided to give a speech in the name of the Syrian people at the Doha conference," he wrote on his Twitter account.                                    

"This is a matter that has nothing to do with the resignation, which will be discussed later," he said.                  

Al Khatib was picked as head of the coalition after it was formed in November. He was seen as a moderate bulwark against the rising influence of al Qaeda-linked forces fighting in the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.                            

Al Khatib did not give a full explanation for his decision to quit. In a statement on Sunday, he said he was resigning so he could work more freely.    
                            
He resigned after the coalition berated him for offering Assad a negotiated deal and after the group went ahead, despite his objections, with steps to form a provisional government that would have further diminished his authority.                                                           

On another note, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that a number of people were injured by mortar shells that targeted the vicinity of the Opera House in Damascus. Syrian rebels fired dozens of mortar bombs into central Damascus on Monday, hitting a high-security area within a kilometer (less than a mile) of President Bashar al-Assad's residence, residents and a security source said.                             
                           
The military retaliated with artillery fire from Mount Qasioun, overlooking the Syrian capital. "I've heard dozens of regime shells so far, pounding rebels," one resident said.     

It was some of the heaviest fighting in the heart of the city since an uprising against Assad erupted two years ago.                             

The security source, who asked not to be identified, said mortar rounds had landed in Ummayad Square, a major intersection where military headquarters and state television are located.                      

However, Jordan closed its main border crossing with Syria on Monday after two days of fighting there between Syrian rebel fighters and Syrian troops, Jordan's information minister said.    

"The border post is effectively closed because there have been clashes since yesterday and they are continuing," Samih Maaytah told Reuters.

On Sunday, mortar bombs hit the car park of the state television building, residents said.          
                            
At least 70,000 people have been killed since a peaceful protest movement led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority broke out two years ago against four decades of family rule by Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite sect, and his father, the late Hafez al-Assad.             
                                                               
The demonstrations were met by bullets, eventually sparking a Sunni backlash and a mostly Islamist armed insurgency increasingly spearheaded by the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, creating a political dilemma for regional and Western powers and deepening the Shi'ite-Sunni split in the Middle East.                             

Positions:          

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called on the Syrian opposition to be united, and added that the rumor that was spread about the killing of Syrian President Bachar Assad is so far unconfirmed.       

On another note, diplomats pointed out that the UN will move some staff out of Syria after mortar shells hit near a staff hotel, adding that the UN will remain active in Syria.        

In parallel, the office of the UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will be closed, noting that the office's employees will be transported to Cairo or Lebanon.       

  
REUTERS/AP/LBCI


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