Syria Direct: News update 11-20-2013

* Rebels and government forces traded fire in the A-Raqqa Wednesday, with clashes near Division 17 and the Tabaqa military airbase, reported the pro-opposition A-Raqqa Media Center. The government has airlifted supplies into Division 17 and the Tabaqa Military Airbase, two of its sole remaining military installations in A-Raqqa province. Simultaneously, the website Kurd Watch has reported ongoing clashes between Kurdish PYG militias and extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham in a-Raqqa.  

* The town of Qara on Mount Qalamoun has come under government control Wednesday, official regime website SANA reported, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes continue on the town. Clashes also continued Wednesday in eastern Aleppo around the Brigade 80 military base near Aleppo International Airport, where the armed opposition targeted a transportation building and granaries, said pro-regime website Syria News.

* The United Nations General Assembly condemned Syria’s human rights record Tuesday, decrying “the continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and all violations of international humanitarian law by the Syrian authorities and the government affiliated shabiha militias.” Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari insisted Tuesday that his government is combating Qatari- and Saudi-funded takfiri terrorist groups on behalf of the whole world. Meanwhile, Syrian National Coalition President Ahmed Jarba met Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Naser bin Khalifa II in Doha.

Bashar al-Jaafari rebutted the United Nations General Assembly’s criticism of Syria’s human rights record Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the United Nations.

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