Iran warns against Patriot deployment on Syria frontier

Syrian Foreign Minister called on UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos who is currently in Damascus to intervene to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria.       

Meanwhile, the Iranian Army Commander announced that the deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey will lead to a “World War”, according to an Iranian news agency.        

This as EU officials gave instructions to their foreign ministers to assess all the possibilities to increase pressure on the Syrian President Bashar Assad, in the strongest statement they issued to support the Syrian opposition since the beginning of the Syrian crisis.            

On the sidelines of the European summit, EU officials stressed that all options are on the table to support the Syrian opposition, “which increases the possibility of providing the opposition with military equipment.”    

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was more cautious and stressed that it was still too soon to change the arms embargo.              

In turn, NATO welcomed the decision of Washington to deploy two Patriot missile batteries on the Turkish-Syrian border as well as the decision of both Germany and the Netherlands to deploy two batteries each along the same border.     


On the field     

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Free Syrian Army gained control over the Military Infantry College in northern Aleppo following hours-long fierce clashes.          

This as Syrian rebels wrote on their Facebook page that the square of the court in Kfar Batna was heavily shelled, killing several people, adding that the regime troops also shelled the international bridge in Rastan.         

As for Daraya and Daraa, they have been under heavy shelling since the early morning hours, which killed several civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.          
In turn, the Syrian state TV denied the explosion reported to have rocked the state security building in Damascus. It announced that many infiltration attempts at the Armouta and Ridani crossings were foiled adding that terrorist sieges housing weapons and ammunition in Rastan have been destroyed.      

In a related context, a Saudi convoy carrying humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees arrived in Lebanon, upon the directives of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and under the supervision of Prince Ahmad bin Abdul Aziz.