- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah dismissed accusations by the Syrian National Council that the Syrian regime transferred chemical weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. He said Hezbollah is against the use of such weapons for religious reasons.by AJE Staff 2:07 AM
Pakistani activist challenges world leaders to educate Syrian refugeesMalala Yousafzai and other youth activists challenged world leaders on Monday to come up with $175m to educate 400,000 Syrian children who fled to neighbouring Lebanon to escape the civil war in their homeland.As leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, 16-year old Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year for demanding education for girls, and UN education envoy Gordon Brown received $1m from campaign group Avaaz to kick off the push for money to send Syrian refugees to school.UN children's agency UNICEF said 257,000 Syrian children were seeking education in Lebanon in 2013 and that was set to rise to 400,000 next year, swamping the Lebanese public school system that already educates 300,000 children."I can feel what's happening in Syria because it's what happened to us in Pakistan," Yousafzai said of being displaced by violence as she spoke with Syrian student Farah Haddad in New York.Brown announced on Monday a plan by the Overseas Development Institute to educate those 400,000 Syrian children by employing Syrian refugees who were teachers, opening Lebanese schools 24 hours a day to teach children in double or triple shifts and providing school meals.[Reuters]by AJE Staff 1:23 AM- A Syrian internally displaced mother comforts her baby at an abandoned piece of land where she and her family have taken shelter after fleeing their village that turned into a battlefield between government forces and Free Syrian Army fighters in Idlib province, northern Syria. [AP]
by AJE Staffby AJE Staff 11:39 PM yesterday - Russia's president warns of violence spreading from SyriaRussian President Vladimir Putin warned ex-Soviet allies that fighters from Islamic groups in Syria could eventually spread to their countries, some of which have Muslim majorities."The militant groups [in Syria] did not come out of nowhere, and they will not vanish into thin air," Putin told the six-nation Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). "The problem of terrorism spilling from one country to another is absolutely real and could directly affect the interests of any one of our countries," he added, citing the deadly attack on ashopping mall in Nairobi as an example.
"We are now witnessing a terrible tragedy unfold in Kenya. The militants came from another country, as far as we can judge, and are committing horrendous bloody crimes," Putin said at the CSTO summit in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi.[Reuters]
by AJE Staffby AJE Staff 10:18 PM yesterday
AhmadThe biggest terrorist speaking about terrorists :)10:35 PM yesterday
saying.Damascus says $250 million needed for reconstruction
Syrian villagers remove debris as they find the dead body of a man [AP]by Amna.Bagadi
Smoke rises after an airstrike hit Habit village, in the central province of Hama [AP]by Amna.BagadiPreviousNext1of 2
"The government has increased its budget spending for emergency aid and reconstruction for 2014 to 50 billion Syrian pounds," Wael al-Halqi said in remarks published by Al-Watan newspaper.In 2013, the government budget for aid and reconstruction was 30 billion pounds, he said.Halqi also called for an increased budget allocation for agriculture, Al-Watan said."Food, energy and drug security are a priority," he said.The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme last week warned they are alarmed by the drop in Syria's food security index.In 30 months, Syria's war has killed more than 110,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.[Source: AFP]- Assad says gunmen could hinder UN team workSyrian President Bashar al-Assad has told Chinese state TV that gunmen could hinder access of inspectors to sites where chemical weapons are stored and made."We know that these terrorists are obeying the orders of other countries and these countries do drive these terrorists to commit acts that could get the Syrian government blamed for hindering this agreement," Assad said in the interview.Assad also criticised the US for threatening to attack Syria over its chemical weapons programme, saying it was finding "excuses for war”.
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by Amna.Bagadiby Amna.Bagadi 5:55 PM yesterday - Al Qaeda-linked fighters killed in clash with Syria rebelsA Libyan commander and a dozen other fighters from al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have been killed in clashes with rival rebel forces in northern Syria, a monitoring group said, in the latest spate of internecine rebel violence.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six local fighters were also killed in Sunday's battle with ISIL in Hazano, west of the city of Aleppo and close to the border with Turkey.Clashes pitting the al Qaeda-linked ISIL and Nusra Front brigades against less effective but more moderate rebel forces have been intensifying recently, especially in opposition-held territory along Syria's northern and eastern borders.The infighting has undermined the rebel military campaign against President Bashar al-Assad. Their uprising began as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rulebut degenerated into a war that has killed more than 100,000 people.Western powers have said the disarray of rebel forces and growing influence of radical armed groups have made them wary of intervening directly in the civil war.[Source: Reuters]by Amna.Bagadi 4:31 PM yesterday
- Syria to dominate UN General Assembly meeting
UNGA as seen from across the East River in Queens, New York [AP]by Amna.Bagadi
"Syria is the biggest peace, security and humanitarian challenge we face." [AP]by Amna.Bagadi
Two electronic boards show the results of a Syria vote in the UNGA last May [AP]by Amna.BagadiPreviousNext1of 3
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the top agenda item at the UNGA will be Syria's two and a half year civil war.
No one expects a breakthrough in the crisis this week, though there may be approval of a UN resolution backing a US-Russian plan to rid Syria of chemical arms."Syria is the biggest peace, security and humanitarian challenge we face," Ban told reporters last week. "Let us be clear - the use of chemical weapons in Syria is only the tip of theiceberg.""The suffering in Syria must end," he said.The resolution to be considered by the UN Security Council would back the US-Russian planto remove Syria's chemical weapons by June 2014 to avoid US air strikes.That plan was agreed to as UN inspectors confirmed sarin nerve gas was used in an August 21 attack near Damascus that killed over 1,400 people, many of them children, according to US estimates.Syria's ally Russia and the US continue to disagree sharply on how to end the war, withMoscow blaming the rebels for chemical attacks and blocking peace talks, and Western powers blaming Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Washington is still struggling to persuade Moscow not to veto another Syria resolution amid Russian objections to any threat of force against Assad's government.[Source: Reuters]by Amna.Bagadi 3:38 PM yesterday 
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he was "not concerned" about a draft resolution that the US, the UK and France have submitted to the UN Security Council to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control, China's state broadcaster said on Monday.
Assad was quoted as saying to state television CCTV in an interview that by submitting the draft, "the US, France, and Britain are just trying to make themselves winners in a war against a Syria which is their imaginary enemy".
Assad also said China and Russia "are playing a positive role in the UN Security Council to ensure any excuse for military action against Syria will not stand".by AJE Staff 10:19 AM yesterday
Nonso UmehRussia and china are just trying to help assad buy more time.they are not really true and straight as they pretend to be.The western powers should increase more pressure on the use of fforce.That will be the only possible way to end this mess5:47 PM yesterday
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he has given new evidence to Russia on the rebels' use of chemical weapons.
In an interview with China's state-owned CCTV channel, Assad said the rebels were working under foreign directives.
The Syrian president said they could try and prevent inspectors from reaching chemical weapons sites.
He also said that Syria stopped producing chemical weapons in the 1990s.by AJE Staff 9:54 AM yesterday 
Free Syrian Army fighters joke around with a Guy Fawkes mask in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus on Sunday. [Reuters]by AJE Staff 8:59 AM yesterday- Turkey's air force on Sunday paid tribute to the crew who shot down a Syrian military helicopter which it said had violated Turkish airspace.
Air Force Commander General Akin Ozturk has "honoured the personnel who applied rules of engagement toward a Syrian helicopter which refused to leave the airspace last week despite warnings," the air force command said in a statement.
Turkish warplanes on Monday downed the Syrian helicopter which Ankara said was detected two kilometres inside Turkish airspace.
Turkey changed its rules of engagement after the downing of one of its fighter jets by the Syrian air force in June 2012.
The government had warned that any military approach from Syria on the Turkish border would be considered a threat.
Relations between once close allies Damascus and Ankara have deteriorated since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in March 2011.
[AFP]by AJE Staff 8:56 AM yesterday - A local leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was killed in clashes with other rebels in the Syrian province of Idlib on Sunday, a monitoring group said.
Abu Abdullah al-Libi, a local chief of the group, was killed along with 12 other fighters from the jihadist organisation, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"He was killed in clashes with a group of rebel fighters near the town of Hazano," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency.
He said six people from Hazano were also reported killed on Sunday, but it was unclear if they were civilians or fighters participating in the clashes.
The town lies in northwestern Idlib province, large parts of which lie under control of the Syrian opposition.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Al-Qaeda's Iraqi branch which has expanded into Syria, has clashed with other rebel groups elsewhere in the country in recent days.
Violence between the group and rebels affiliated with the mainstream Free Syrian Army broke out this week in the town of Azaz in northern Aleppo province close to the Turkish border. [AFP]by AJE Staff 8:53 AM yesterday - Syrian opposition group at UN for General AssemblyA delegation from the Syrian National Coalition has arrived in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly, the group said.Delegates include the Coalition's president Ahmad Jarba, as well as prominent members Michel Kilo and Burhan Ghalioun.A spokeswoman for the Coalition declined to give details of the schedule for the trip, which lasts until October 1, but said it would include meetings with international representatives.[AFP]by AJE Staff 2:22 AM yesterday