SYRIA NEWS ROUND-UP

DARAMSUQ (DAMASCUS) – According to pro-Syrian regime’s al-Khabar TV, an explosion took place in the al-Assad residential area of Daramsuq (Damascus) in an assassination attempt on leader of Syrian Arab Army auxiliary National Defense Forces Iyas Saker. Saker told al-Khabar that the assassination attempt happened at dawn on Sunday when he returned home and got out of his car. The unknown assailants threw a bomb which ended up in the garden of the house and only caused material damage. Daramsuq (Damascus) and its countryside have witnessed several bombings and security assassinations in the past months amid a significant deterioration in living conditions and price increases.

RISH AYNO (Ras al-Ayn) – Several members of two Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militias were injured and one was killed after clashes broke out between the Sultan Murad Brigade and members of the 20th Division. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the clashes erupted after disagreements between the two SNA factions over the right to seize some houses in the city of Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn) and rights to proceeds of smuggling operations in the region. Tensions between the two militias continue in the city of Rish Ayno.

DARAMSUQ (DAMASCUS) – Sham Media Network and Voice of the Capital news website have reported that militias affiliated with the Syrian Baath regime have, in cooperation with the Syrian Red Crescent operating in the areas under regime  control, exploited humanitarian aid in the countryside of Daramsuq (Damascus) and deprived dozens of civilian families of detainees in regime prisons and widows of Syrian regime army soldiers of food aid. The media outlets pointed out that the Red Crescent issued a decision to reduce the number of detainee family and army widow aid beneficiaries in the village of Hosh Arab in western Qalamoun, in favor of families of active regime’s soldiers and local militias affiliated with it on the lists of beneficiaries. The Red Crescent cited lack of aid as reason for its decision.

Human Rights Watch has published a detailed report in which it revealed the Syrian regime’s corrupt and exploitative humanitarian aid and reconstruction policies, and several cases where it used aid an reconstruction projects to consolidate its repressive policies against the Syrian people. At the time, HRW stressed the need for international actors and  donors to change their practices in the field of aid to ensure that any funding provided to Syria promotes the rights of Syrians and not the ruling regime, as the regime uses aid to punish its adversaries or innocent Syrian people and reward supporters of the regime.