Syria Direct: News Update 10-22-2013

* The US has cut its aid for opposition groups in northern Syria, Turkish newspaper Al Hurriyet Daily News reports Tuesday. On October 2, the paper’s Washington correspondent reports, the Obama administration informed armed opposition groups in northern Syria that aid would resume after they successfully distance themselves from militant Islamist groups and regain control of the Turkish border town of Azaz which is currently under ISIS control.

*Experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have finished inspections of 17 facilities and destroyed materials used in the production of chemical weapons at 14 sites, the organization said in a statement Tuesday. The organization, which cooperates with the United Nations,will publish its first report on its findings early next month, and expect to complete their mission by the end of June 2013, according to a report in pro-regime website Syria News.

*President of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmed Jarba has requested $1,650,000 in emergency financial aid for recently damaged neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs. A total of $900,000 in aid has been delivered to East Ghouta, the blockaded rebel-held suburb that was the site of August’s alleged chemical attacks, the Coalition said in a statement on Monday.

*Yasser Aboud, a well-known Free Syrian Army leader in Daraa who headed the Fallujah Houran Brigade, was killed in fighting with the government forces in the battle for the town of Tafas close to the main highway in Daraa governorate Monday.

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