Points of Random Shelling: 302 points, 16 points were shelled by warplanes, 3 points by Cluster Bombs, 1 point by Thermobaric Bombs and 1 point by barrel bombs. Artillery shelling was reported in 161 points, mortar shelling in 74 points and missile shelling in 67 points (LCCs).

Clashes: 135 locations. Successful operations include the liberation of Al-Jarah Military Airport, taking over the Tabqa Dam in Raqqa, the Musiqiya Barracks in Jobar in Damascus City and a Republican Guard center in the town of Adra in Damascus Suburbs (LCCs).

News

Syria rebels seize dam, blast on Turkish border Rebels have captured Syria’s biggest hydro-electric dam and battled army tank units near the center of Damascus, activists said as the opposition renewed an offer on Monday to negotiate the departure of President Bashar al-Assad. On the Turkish border, nine people were killed when a car arriving from rebel-held territory in northwestern Syria blew up at the Reyhanli frontier crossing; Turkish officials said it was unclear whether the blast was a suicide attack or an accident.

Syrian minister offers to meet opposition leader overseas “I am willing to meet Mr Khatib in any foreign city where I can go in order to discuss preparations for a national dialogue”, Ali Haidar, the minister for national reconciliation, told the Guardian. His remarks were the most positive response the Syrian government has yet given to the opposition leader’s surprise change of line… In explaining the purpose of the national dialogue, Haidar raised the prospect of a genuine contest for a multiparty parliament and for the presidency when Assad’s mandate runs out next year.

Syria’s Assad meets new Greek Orthodox leader “President Bashar al-Assad welcomed Patriarch Yuhanna X Yazigi,” said state news agency SANA. “Assad congratulated the patriarch for the key role played by the Orthodox Church in maintaining national unity, in the face of the attacks suffered by Syria,” the agency added.

Special Reports

Syria’s Palestinians Seek Refuge in Lebanon
Amidst a brutal war, Syria’s Palestinian community finds itself seeking refuge yet again—this time, in Lebanon’s famous Sabra and Shatila camps.

Fuel, food aid draw Iraq, Syria Kurds closer
The lifeline thrown by Iraqi Kurdistan to its neighbor extends the influence of Masoud Barzani, the autonomous region’s President, over Kurds in Syria as civil war threatens to dismember the country. For Syrian Kurds the conflict presents an opportunity to win the kind of rights enjoyed by their ethnic kin in Iraq, who live autonomously from Baghdad with their own administration, armed forces and an increasingly independent foreign policy.

Human Rights Watch – Syria: Authorize Cross-Border Humanitarian Aid
Russia, Others Should Support Efforts to Ensure Assistance Reaches All

CNN exclusive: Fragile cease-fire holds in besieged town
Tal Kalakh, near Syria’s border with Lebanon was one of the first cities to rebel against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It has seen heavy fighting since the uprising began. Many civilians were forced to flee as government and rebel fighters battled in the streets. Houses, pockmarked with signs of artillery fire, bear witness to the fierce clashes that raged here.

Syria’s Battle Royale
The stakes for the two warring sides couldn’t be higher. For Assad, holding the capital at any cost is vital. Its loss would amount to an enormous symbolic, military, and political blow. His self-portrayal as the head of a still-functioning state would be decisively shattered. Regardless of urbanites’ skepticism toward the rebels, the loss of Damascus would mean that they could no longer cling to the president as their defender. The same holds true for those who still support him out of hostility to the rebels’ presumed ideological and political beliefs, but who lack an organic link to the regime. Without Damascus, which Assad would never be able to retake, he will probably lose command-and-control over loyal units across the country — except in the northwest, where his most loyal supporters reside.

Where is Syria now?
Where is Syria now? Syria is a country where random killing has become an everyday occurrence for some of its citizens, and an interesting sideshow for others. The State’s sites of torture, misery and death are no longer confined to detention centers belonging to the repressive security apparatus; even universities are now playgrounds for murderers and thugs. Away from politics which I don’t really understand, away from your theories, debates and analysis, my people are being killed systematically and all of your well-meaning words seem helpless in all of this. The situation In Syria is no more political, it is a wholesale purposive destruction of a society. Whatever the result of this conflict will be, spilled blood will not dry; and millions of refugees will never forget the humiliation of waiting aid cars for hours under the falling snow. If anything has to be made, if anything has to be discussed it should be how to stop this breakdown of society and this legitimization of criminality. This will help us to collect our breath. Then we can tackle politics.

Obama’s Gift to Iran
U.S. military action other than drone warfare isn’t in favor these days, but Syria is showing how doing nothing has costs of its own. In overruling his advisers, Mr. Obama has prolonged Syria’s civil war, increased regional instability, and delivered a strategic gift to Iran, the main enemy of Israel and the U.S.

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.”