Today’s Death Toll: 129 martyrs (including 6 women and 16 children)

33 in Damascus and Suburbs, 28 in Aleppo, 24 in Idlib (most in Ariha), 19 in Hama (most in Hawejah), 11 in Homs, 8 in Daraa, and 6 in Deir Ezzor  (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 286 points

including 12 by war planes, 1 by cluster bombs, 2 by vacuum bombs and 1 by explosive barrels mortar shelling hit 129 locations, Artillery Shelling hit 102 and rocket shelling hit 40 locations allover Syria  (LCCs).

Clashes: 119

including rebel operations that targeted Manag Airport in Aleppo and the Damascus International Airport. FSA rebels also targeted Shabeeha headquarters in the Sumariyeh suburb of Damascus, and the town of Al-Yaakoubia in Idlib. In Hama, rebels targeted a military convoy heading to storm the town of Karnaz killing more than 50 Shabeeha. In Hassakeh, rebels blew up the civil defense center used as headquarters for loyalist militias in town (LCCs).

News

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad says his wife is pregnant Bashar al-Assad let the news slip in a recent talk with mysteriously anonymous “visitors,” who relayed his comments to the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper, an aggressive outlet often described as aligned with such anti-Western movements as Hezbollah.

France Warns Extremists Could Prevail In Syria The warning from French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reflects growing concern over the rising power of Islamic militant groups that have joined the rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime… “Chaos is not tomorrow, it is today, and we need to end it. We need to end it in a peaceful way and that means increased and concrete support to the Syrian National Coalition,” an umbrella group for the opposition.

Armenia: Syrian Refugees Resettling in Occupied Azerbaijani Territory Since early 2012, Armenia has been accepting diaspora members seeking to escape Syria’s civil strife. In recent months, 29 refugee families, roughly 90 people overall, have found new homes in what Armenians call the Kashatagh district. The territory is known as Lachin internationally and in Azerbaijan, and it serves as a land bridge between the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The area was overrun by Armenian forces during the hot phase of the Karabakh conflict in the early 1990s, and remains in Armenian possession today.

Special Reports

Syria crisis: Solidarity amid suffering in Homs
The city of Homs has seen some of the worst fighting in Syria. More than a third of the estimated 60,000 deaths in the 23-month conflict have happened in the strategically important city of Homs. As the fighting continues, thousands have been forced to abandon their homes and are struggling to survive.

Newlyweds fight together on Syria frontline
A couple fighting against government forces discover love and tie the knot amid death and destruction.

Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis: A Moral and Strategic Issue
Syria has already fractured into parts with various types of political and military control — a situation that will probably persist for years to come. Aid provision will therefore remain a major problem going forward, in both logistical and legal terms. Failure to address this moral imperative will not only lead to more human suffering, but also allow the regime to use aid as a soft-power weapon against the opposition. Only by finding creative legal solutions — that is, opening credible and accountable avenues outside regime-dominated aid channels — will the United States achieve its objectives of easing human suffering, getting Assad to “step aside,” and creating a more peaceful and democratic post-Assad Syria.

Inside the war for Syria’s mountains
Rebels are occupying Alawite houses in a region known for its tradition of sectarian coexistence in an offensive that looks likely to determine the fate of the country’s cosmopolitan heart. Locals forced to chop nearby forests for wood:

Syrians turn to forests as fuel shortages bite.