The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights announced that 63 people were killed in Syria on Saturday as the
Syrian army began its counterattack to recover the areas controlled by armed
opposition groups in Aleppo.
The head of the Observatory Rami Abdul Rahman said that
Aleppo’s neighborhoods witnessed the fiercest clashes since the beginning of
the Syrian uprising, adding that the Syrian army will intensify its military
deployment in the Salah-Eddine neighborhood.
Abdul Rahman added that the Salah-Eddine neighborhood is
being shelled and fierce clashes erupted at its entrances between opposition
fighters and regime troops that are trying to storm into the neighborhood
controlled by rebels.
In a similar context, Abdul Rahman said that violence has killed
over 20,000 people in Syria since the beginning of the Syrian uprising.
On another note, the press officer of the Free Syrian Army's joint command Fahad al-Masri
told LBCI on Saturday that rebels are fighting against the Syrian army in
Aleppo, adding that dozens of pro-Assad forces have been captured.
Al-Masri confirmed reports that the Syrian regime has
sent part of its chemical weapons to certain border airports, as it has
also transferred strategic weapons to Tadmor and the Syrian coast,
particularly to the Alawite
mountains.
Separately, the two
Italian engineers kidnapped in Damascus on 17 July have been released.
International positions:
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that Russia has made no agreement to grant Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asylum and is "not even thinking about" doing so.
The remarks fell short of a statement that Russia would not consider taking in Assad but were among Moscow's strongest indications yet that it is not planning to do so.
Also on Saturday, French
President Francois Hollande called on the Security Council on Saturday to intervene
“immediately” to prevent new massacres in Syria.
On another note, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that Russia will not give its consent for searches of Russian-flagged ships under new European Union sanctions requiring EU governments to search vessels suspected of carrying weapons into Syria, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
"We ... will not consider appeals and give consent to searches of vessels sailing under the Russian flag, nor to the application of other restrictive measures to them," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Saturday that international support for Syrian rebels would lead to "more blood" and the government could not be expected to willingly give in to its opponents.
Lavrov, whose country has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions intended to increase pressure on Syria's government to end 16 months of violence, said Western and Arab nations should exert more influence on rebels to stop fighting.
He said "tragedy" could be imminent in the Syrian city of Aleppo, but indicated rebels would be at least partly to blame.
REUTERS/LBCI/AP