A senior Russian official says that Moscow will not sign new weapons contracts with Syria until the situation there calms down.
Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy chief of the Russian military and technical cooperation agency, told Russian news agencies on the sidelines of the Farnborough airshow south-west of London that Russia will continue, however, with previously agreed exports.
He said that so far Russia has been providing Syria’s army with spare parts and assistance in repairs of the weapons supplied earlier.
To give yourself an idea of what the heavy weaponry in Syria looks like, watch this video. In related news, a Syrian opposition group now says the death toll in the region has reached 17,000 — up from an earlier count of 14,000.
» Possibly the deadliest day since the Syrian uprising began: Approximately 10,000 civilians have been killed since protests against the Assad regime began in March 2011, according to the U.N. — though these numbers are tough to verify independently because Assad’s government has made it difficult for journalists to report freely.
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» Speaking to members of his cabinet today, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the following: “We are in a state of real war, in every aspect of the words, and when we’re in a state of war, all of our politics has to be concentrated on winning this war.” His remarks coincided, whether deliberately or not, with a highly bloody day for Syria, according to opposition activists. Additionally, the UN Security Council met today for briefing on the monitor mission in Syria, which will continue to be suspended due to the dire state of security.
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» “Indiscriminant bombardment by tank and rocket fire”: Those were the words of the UN’s undersecretary general for political affairs, Lynn Pascoe. The killing in Syria has reached something of a fever pitch in past months, with the bombardment of Homs in particular leading to grim headlines, and truly ghastly footage. The UN currently estimates that over 100 people per day are being killed by Bashar al-Assad’s security forces. Said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on Assad as a war criminal: “I think that based on definitions of war criminal and crimes against humanity, there would be an argument to be made that he would fit into that category.”
Just like every day, the residents of Baba Amr woke up (Sunday) to the sounds of violent bombing, as al-Assad forces continue to use different types of weapons, bombs, and rockets in their attacks.Syrian Activist Omar Shakir • Discussing the situation in Syria — particularly the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, the heart of the rebel movement — as if the deadly bombings taking place there were simply a way of life. At least 20 people have been killed in the country on Sunday (including a senior Syrian state prosecutor and a judge), and pushing the number to nearly 9,000 total deaths since the start of the movement, according to some estimates. But here’s the really, truly disturbing part: At a point when Syrian doctors are already greatly overworked, there is word that as many as 295 physicians have been arrested by Syrian officials, according to the Local Coordination Committees. Despite all this, China and Russia say that peaceful resolution can still happen in the country, despite arguments otherwise.
» An accelerating rate: In the first five months of the conflict — between March and August — roughly 2,000 people died fighting the Assad regime. In the four months since, more than 3,000 more have died. Another 18 people died today, as a general strike continued in the country.
» Quashing dissent, Bashar style: The above number, shocking as it is, isn’t even the full story — in addition to the 1,400 civilians believed dead, human rights groups (according to the good people at Voice of America) estimate as many as 10,000 are in detention. The Syrian government has no compunction about torture, either, leaving the grim task of wondering how many of those 10,000 are going through brutality above and beyond being locked in a cell. Bashar al-Assad’s speech on Monday, full of vague talk of reform and accusations against foreign saboteurs (this is a common tactic for him) has already been broadly dismissed by the Syrian public.
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