Death Toll: 119 martyrs, including 6 women, 5 children and 10 martyrs under torture: 47 in Damascus and suburbs; 21 in Aleppo; 16 in Homs; 12 in Daraa; 9 in Raqqa; 9 in Hama; and 5 in Idlib (LCC).

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West claims ‘hard evidence’ of Syria chemical weapons “There are several examples where we are quite sure that shells with chemicals have been used in a very sporadic way,” added the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity and without giving details of the evidence. A diplomat from a U.N. Security Council nation also said that “quite convincing” evidence had been sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to back accusations against Assad’s forces.

Syrian Rebels Break With Group Over Qaeda Wing Alliance “The relentless pursuit of power should not be one of our goals,” said a statement by the coalition, the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, referring to the alliance between Syria’s Nusra Front and the Qaeda branch. “This is not the right time to declare states, or to unify a state with another state.” Expressing “surprise and dismay” at the development, the coalition statement said, “We don’t need imported charters or a new understanding of the nation’s religion.” And in a further criticism of Nusra’s loyalty to outsiders, the statement said, “We won’t be doing our population, and our nation, any service if we pledge our allegiance to those who don’t know a thing about our reality.”

Syrian Troops Battle Rebels near Lebanon Border The province of Homs and its capital of the same name were the scenes of some of the heaviest fighting during the first year of Syrian conflict. The violence has escalated there in recent weeks, with Syrian war planes hitting the city daily. On Friday, troops clashed with rebels on the edges of the province along the Lebanese border. The border area is strategically important to both sides fighting in Syria‘s civil war and battles there have been frequent in past weeks, particularly in and around the town of Qusair in Homs province. The area is considered vital to the Syrian regime because of its location along a road linking Damascus with the city of Homs, a strategic supply route for the military. The rebels also have been using the road to transport supplies and weapons from Sunni supporters in Lebanon.

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Syrian rebel courts restore order to life in Aleppo Marriages, inheritances, commercial contracts … they are now all passing through courts manned by lawyers and judges who have abandoned the regime of President Bashar Assad and joined the rebellion against it. There are some 20 rebel brigades operating in Aleppo, and the court is run by the most important among them: two jihadi groups – the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham – and Liwa al-Tawhid, which is linked to the broad-based opposition National Coalition. And while the commanders of these groups are primarily concerned with waging war against Assad’s troops, their presence is also felt behind the lines.

Syria: Proxy war heats up as endgame inches closer Over the past few months the Americans – without being obliged to announce any policy changes involving military commitments – have apparently tipped the wink to their regional allies, mainly Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, to step up the quantity and quality of arms supplies to the rebels. At the same time, the Americans are reported to be involved in helping train supposedly moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) elements in Jordan and sending them across the border into southern Syria, where the rebels, enjoying better anti-air and anti-armour weapons than before, have begun to make gains that are being compared to their advances in the far north. With western support being made contingent on loyalty to the FSA and the opposition National Coalition, this has clearly put pressure on the Nusra Front and other jihadi groups.

The Revolution is Being Televised The story of six Syrian activists who risk their lives to capture the horrific daily realities of the conflict.

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.”

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G8 ministers fail to agree on Syria; condemn North Korea

Syrian Troops Launch Counterattack on South

Syria calls on UN to recognise rebels’ al-Qaeda links: Al-Nusra has been dubbed a terrorist organisation by the US

Syria TV confirms video of cleric’s killing is real In an unprecedented act, the broadcaster said it “apologised” for denying the authenticity of a video distributed online this week, showing the moment of an explosion in a Damascus mosque that killed Syria’s best-known Sunni cleric.

Rebel Victory in Syria Might Not Stop Conflict, U.S. Officials SayThe top American intelligence official, James R. Clapper Jr., said that even if Mr. Assad’s government fell, sectarian fighting would most likely engulf the country for a year or more. The American ambassador to Syria, Robert S. Ford, warned that without a negotiated political transition, supporters of the Assad government, “fearing death, would fight to the death.”

Ranking Democrat, Republican press Obama administration on Syria Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the committee’s chairman, prodded the White House during a hearing to begin providing arms to rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, a step the administration has so far refused to take because it fears the weapons could someday be used against the United States or its allies. “Unless we change the dynamic and put our finger on the scales to change the tipping point, Assad will continue to believe he can hold on to power,” Menendez said. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the ranking minority member, complained that “we’ve been in reaction mode, and the administration’s response that we’ve seen is ad hoc.” Corker asked three administration officials who testified to shed more light on the administration’s intentions in Syria. Yet Corker stopped short of calling for a deeper U.S. military commitment, saying, “We really have no good options available to us in Syria.”

U.S. updates military options for Syria The first public discussion of the updated options could come soon as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, are scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee next week. The military official emphasized the options are for planning and there is no indication President Barack Obama is about to order any military action. A senior administration official confirmed that the national security staff of the White House has been briefed on the updated planning, but emphasized that it does not differ from what already has been looked at by the administration. “We’ve been saying for quite some time now, we are constantly reviewing every possible option that could help end the violence and accelerate a political transition,” the administration official told CNN. Officials have declined to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Main rebel groups in Syria’s Aleppo The most important rebel groups in the city are the jihadist Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, as well as Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Liwa al-Tawhid, which includes army deserters and anti-regime civilians.

Rights group accuses Syrian military of targeting civilians “These illegal airstrikes killed and injured many civilians and sowed a path of destruction, fear and displacement.” Human Rights Watch said bakeries and hospitals have been targeted, in violation of the laws of war.

Military in Syria Is Accused of Massacre The reported massacre, which could not be independently verified, took place in the town of Sanamayn, about halfway between Damascus and the southern city of Dara’a. The town sits astride a vital highway that rebel forces have been fighting to control in recent weeks. Brigades affiliated with the Free Syrian Army had seized a number of towns south of Sanamayn, and this month took control of a military base near Dara’a, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began more than two years ago.

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Dennis Ross, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: U.S. Policy Toward Syria It is rare that idealists and realists find common ground and agree on threats. Ironically, Syria is a place where the idealists and realists should come together. There is a moral imperative to try to find a way to affect what is happening on the ground, but there is also a strong national security imperative at least to contain the conflict in Syria, ensure that its CW do not disappear, and prevent the neighborhood from being destabilized.

Northern Syria’s Kurds struggle to deal with influx Since the beginning of Syria’s uprising, the Kurds, who make up about 15 percent of the population, have tried to stay out of the fighting, stopping both rebel and regime forces from entering their neighborhoods. Last summer, Assad’s troops pulled out of majority-Kurdish areas and the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG), the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), took over. The PYD is considered as the Syrian branch of Turkey’s PKK… In Sheikh Maqsoud, rebels and Kurdish groups have joined together to fight forces loyal to Bashar Assad.

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.”