Syrian Interior Minister in Beirut for treatment -sources

Syria's Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for medical treatment, security sources said, a week after bombers attacked his ministry in central Damascus.   

They gave no details of his condition, but said it was not critical. Some Syrian rebels had said on Tuesday that Shaar was seriously wounded last Wednesday when a car bomb and two other explosives went off at the main gate of the Interior Ministry, killing a member of parliament.

In this context, it has been confirmed that Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar entered the intensive care unit at the AUBMC hospital.

This as, the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk remained subject to heavy shelling by the Syrian army at a time when negotiations led by neutral Palestinian organizations are ongoing to get fighters out of the camp in order to spare it from being dragged into the Syrian crisis.            

In this context, UN sources said that almost 100 thousand Palestinians fled from the Yarmouk camp in Damascus due to the recent clashes between supporters of the regime and armed opponents.
 
Earlier al-Watan Daily reported that the army continued with its military reinforcements on the outskirts of the camp as a prelude to entering it.                   

The camp’s Palestinian refugees had left it heading to other neighborhoods in Damascus and out and to Lebanon at a time when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Nations and the International Community to help Palestinian refugees who are fleeing the fighting in Syria to enter Palestinian territories.                         

The Palestinian news agency reported that Abbas reiterated Palestine’s stance not to intervene in the Arab countries’ internal affairs.                      

In turn, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported ongoing clashes in a number of regions in Damascus Reef while websites of the Syrian opposition posted a video showing the Syrian presidential palace.                     

The Observatory added that shelling continued on many regions, mainly al-Rastan which was shelled with heavy artillery and rocket launchers.                          

As for the Facebook page of the Syrian revolution, it posted a video showing the arrest of a group responsible for the bombing of the city of Aleppo.          

Separately, the United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $1.5 billion to provide life-saving aid to Syrians suffering from a "dramatically deteriorating" humanitarian situation.          

The twin appeals, $519.6 million for aid within Syria and $1 billion to meet the needs of up to 1 million Syrian refugees in five countries, comprise the "largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever", the world body said in a statement.                  

POSITIONS:

In international positions on the Syrian crisis and at a time when the U.N. is reviewing in Geneva the 2013 plan for humanitarian assistance in Syria, Iran is pursuing its movement to present its plan to solve the Syrian crisis.                   

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed from Moscow that Iran and Russia agree on the necessity of finding a peaceful solution by imposing a ceasefire, engaging in a comprehensive national dialogue and forming a government of national reconciliation.                                    

The Free Syrian Army immediately responded to the 6-point Iranian plan by issuing a press statement wondering about the timing of this plan which was presented 22 months after the beginning of the conflict. The army considered that Tehran’s movement came as a result of its fear on its status in the Middle East through its allies.     

The Free Syrian Army announced its rejection of the Iranian initiative, considering Tehran as a partner in the massacres committed against the Syrian people. “No political solution can be reached unless President Assad and his followers leave.”

As for Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared that the end of the Syrian regime "is only a matter of time".


REUTERS/ LBCI