REPORT: Friends of Syria to meet Saturday in Doha

Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah fighters clashed Wednesday with rebel forces south of a Damascus suburb that is home to a major Shiite Muslim shrine, in an attempt to secure the area surrounding the revered site, activists said.                      

State TV said government forces were able to clear rebels out of one neighborhood, al-Bahdaliya, outside the suburb of Sayida Zeinab, home to the ornate, gold-domed shrine of Sayida Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.                                

Meanwhile, rebel forces claimed they took control of a hospital in a village south of the shrine neighborhood, from which they were battling regime forces and allied militias.                                                            

Opposition fighters control several suburbs of the capital, trying to threaten the heart of the city, seat of President Bashar Assad's power. But the regime has largely been able to keep them at bay.                                           

The area surrounding the Sayida Zeinab suburb, about 16 kilometers south of Damascus, has seen fighting before. But the regime forces and Hezbollah launched an intensified assault there on Monday, according to Rami Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.                          

The assault appears aimed at decisively pushing rebels back and securing the suburb of the shrine, said Abdul-Rahman.                                             

Buoyed by that victory, regime forces have been on an offensive to dislodge rebel fighters from areas they hold in Damascus, as well as the country's heartland in Homs province. That would enable Assad's regime to secure a corridor leading to the coastal Alawite enclave that is home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus.                                                      

Also on Wednesday, state TV said an explosion at a military depot outside Syria's coastal city of Latakia left six people lightly injured.                                        

State TV said a "technical error" caused the explosion at a base used by the army corps of engineers. The Britain-based Observatory said it did not know the cause of the explosion in what it described as an ammunition warehouse. It said 13 people were injured, including some in critical condition.                                      

The difference in the casualty figures could not be immediately reconciled. The Observatory said smoke was rising from the depot, on the southern edge of the city. Latakia activists on Facebook also reported the arrival of ambulances and helicopters after the explosion.                                                

Syria's northwestern Latakia province bordering Turkey is predominantly Alawite and a regime stronghold. Its coastal capital, the city of Latakia, is fully under regime control, but some northern parts of the province are in rebel hands.                                         

In villages to the north of the city, government troops on Tuesday destroyed an ammunition dump and several tunnels operated by al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra Front, Syria's state news agency said on Wednesday. It quoted a military source as saying five Libyan fighters were killed in the operation.                                           


Obama silent on US arms to Syria:                

On another note, US President Barack Obama is refusing to describe the type of military support the U.S. will give to Syrian rebels even as he praises a decision by world leaders at a just-completed summit to seek a negotiated peace.                                               

Obama says even though leaders could not agree on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad must go, he has decided it is not possible for Assad to regain legitimacy.                             
Obama spoke at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.                                  


Friends of Syria:                      

The core group of nations making up the Friends of Syria will meet on Saturday in Doha to discuss concrete help for the Free Syrian Army after recent successes by government forces, a French foreign ministry official said.                 

The meeting will be attended by foreign ministers from the 11 countries making up the core group, including France, the United States, Britain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity. 


REUTERS/AP/LBCI

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