Syrian rebels capture most of northern city, statue of Hafez Assad pulled to the ground

Syrian rebels pushed government troops from most of the northern city of Raqqa Monday, setting off celebrations in a central square where scores of cheering protesters tore down a bronze statue of President Bashar Assad's late father and predecessor, activists said.              

Activists declared Raqqa "liberated" on opposition social media websites Monday. A photo posted on several pro-rebel Facebook pages showed people tearing down a huge poster of Assad and hitting it with their shoes. The activists said the picture was taken inside the feared Air Force Intelligence headquarters in Raqqa.            

An amateur video posted online shows a large, bronze statue of Hafez Assad being torn to the ground by a rope tied around the statue's neck. The video shows people in the crowd taking photos and video on their cellphones as the statue crashes into the side of a fountain, while others fired guns into the air in celebration. People then rush to jump on the statue and hit it with their shoes.              

Earlier Monday, rebels launched an offensive to try to seize the military air base of Mannagh near the Turkish border and clashed with government forces at a historic mosque in the nation's largest city of Aleppo, activists said.         

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that Syrian Regime Forces launched an extensive campaign to restore neighborhoods controlled by opposition fighters in the city of Homs.                   

The Observatory added that fierce clashes are taking place between regime forces and opposition fighters in the neighborhoods of Jouret Shiyah, Khaldiyeh, and other neighborhoods in Homs.   

On the other hand, unidentified gunmen killed at least 40 Syrian soldiers and government employees who were being taken to the Syrian border by Iraqi authorities after fleeing into Iraq from a Syrian rebel attack, Iraqi officials said.    

The attack on the convoy carrying the Syrians occurred in Iraq's westerly Anbar province, they said.    

The Iraqi officials said some 65 Syrian soldiers and government officials had handed themselves over to Iraqi authorities on Friday after anti-government rebels seized the Syrian side of the Yaarabiya frontier crossing.

POSITIONS:              

King Abdullah II of Jordan is expected to visit on Tuesday Ankara to discuss with the Turkish President Abdallah Gul and PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan the Syrian crisis.          
            
A statement issued by the Royal Court on Monday said that the 2 day visit of King Abdullah II aims at discussing the Syrian situation with Turkish officials.              

The United States and Saudi Arabia on Monday presented a united front to Iran and Syria. They warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that they will boost support to rebels fighting to oust him unless he steps down and put Iran's leadership on notice that time is running out for a diplomatic resolution to concerns about its nuclear program.                      

After a series of meetings in the Riyadh, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal  told reporters at a joint news conference that Assad must understand that recent scud missile attacks on regime foes in the city of Aleppo would not be tolerated by the international community and that he had lost all claim to be Syria's legitimate leader.                   

Saud, whose country along with other Gulf States is widely believed to be supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels, said Saudi Arabia could not ignore the brutality Assad is inflicting on his people, even after two years of escalating violence that has claimed 70,000 lives. He said that history had never seen a government use strategic missiles against its own people. "This cannot go on," he said. "He has lost all authority."                     

In his discussions with Kerry, Saud said he had "stressed the importance of enabling the Syrian people to exercise its legitimate right to defend itself against the regime's killing machine." Saud also decried the fact that the Assad continued to get weapons from "third parties," a veiled reference to Russia and Iran, which have backed the regime through the conflict.                   

"Saudi Arabia will do everything within its capacity, and we do believe that what is happening in Syria is a slaughter, a slaughter of innocents" he said.  "We can't bring ourselves to remain quiet. Morally we have a duty."                           

Kerry is in Saudi Arabia on the seventh leg of a marathon nine-nation dash through Europe and the Middle East on his first overseas trip as secretary of state. During his trip, members of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany met in Kazakhstan with Iranian officials in the latest bid to get Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful and not a cover for atomic weapons development.                         


AP/REUTERS


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