Syria Direct: News Update 10-29-2013

* The Moadamiyet Media Center reports on Tuesday that the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Damascus suburb has begun. The planned evacuation is to be supervised by the Red Crescent with the help of pro-Assad Lebanese nun Sister Agnes Mariam. Under siege for over 300 days, Moadamiyet al-Sham is known as the “starvation suburb” due to the scores of infants wand elderly reported dead because of malnutrition as a result of the regime’s blockade of the town.

“We are worried that evacuated civilians will face interrogation and detention, as other Moadamiyet al-Sham civilians did during a previous evacuation,” an opposition spokeswoman in Istanbul told Syria Direct. The Red Crescent is the only international humanitarian organization with permission from the Assad regime to operate inside Syria. 

Besieged Moadamiyet al-Sham lies southwest of Damascus.

*  Hassan Abdel Azim, a leader in the regime-tolerated Syrian opposition, urged United Nations envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi to “work on the completion of a ceasefire in East and West Ghouta after the tightening of the regime’s blockade,” reported Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai Monday. The request coincides with the beginning of Brahimi’s five-day visit to Damascus in preparation for the Geneva II conference. 

* The pro-regime Syrian Electronic Army hacked Barack Obama’s Twitter account Monday, briefly directing users to a YouTube video entitled “Syria Really,” depicting violent scenes from inside Syria. “Obama does not find any ethical problem with spying on the world, so we took it upon ourselves to return the favor,” the digital warriors posted from their Twitter account.

* Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of attempting to derail the Geneva II conference. “The world is beginning to realize that there can be no military solution to the Syrian crisis. The solution must be political, through a dialogue without preconditions. But the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is still unsatisfied with a political solution to the conflict,” Nasrallah said Monday at a Hezbollah event aired on Al Manar.

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