Defector: 'The battle for Damascus is coming'

(CNN) -- Increasing violence in the Syrian capital is pointing toward a major fight ahead, a rebel spokesman told CNN Monday.

"The battle for Damascus is coming," said Abdulhameed Zakaria, a Syrian army colonel and doctor who defected and joined the opposition Free Syrian Army in Istanbul.

Video from the capital on Monday showed regime tanks in some streets and clashes with members of the opposition.

Video from activists in the central Damascus neighborhood of Medan showed people running and screaming amid loud sounds. It was unclear whether the blasts were gunshots or mortar fire.

Another video shows rebel fighters facing off against what appears to be a tank in the southern Damascus neighborhood of Tadamon, firing rifles, a heavy machine gun and a rocket-propelled grenade. They shoot at it repeatedly from behind a barricade down a rubble-strewn street, only to have a man tell them to stop wasting ammunition.

'CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the videos. Meanwhile, state-run TV showed a woman driving a car in Medan saying there was "nothing going on right now."

Asked about reports that there was shelling in Medan, she responded, "No, nothing is happening, thank God." But apparent gunfire could be heard in the background as she spoke.

With violence spreading throughout the country, the Red Cross announced that the conflict is a civil war throughout the country.

The declaration officially applies the Geneva Conventions to violence throughout the country. International humanitarian law now applies "wherever hostilities take place," the organization said Monday.

The Red Cross does not use the general term "civil war," and instead declares a "noninternational armed conflict." In April, the organization declared such a conflict in Homs, Hama and Idlib, but hostilities have spread enough that the conflict exists throughout the country, ICRC spokesman Sean Maguire said.

"Part of its legal mandate is to determine when international humanitarian law applies," Maguire told CNN. "We make a determination as to whether a conflict exists."

"In theory," he said, the Red Cross announcement could affect prosecutions by the International Criminal Court in the future. If a prosecuting authority is established for Syria, it could point to the announcement that the Geneva Conventions applied and to ways that they were violated. However, for the court to look at the situation in Syria, a referral from the U.N. Security Council would be required, Maguire noted.

At least 97 people were killed Monday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC). There were 30 deaths in Hama, 21 in Homs, 13 in Aleppo, 11 in Damascus, eight in Daraa, seven in Deir Ezzor, four in the Damascus suburbs and three in Idlib, the LCC said.

Monday's fighting in Damascus follows what opposition activists called a massacre of more than 200 people in the town of Tremseh, near Hama, last week. But a top Syrian official disputed the death toll and the massacre allegation, telling reporters over the weekend that government troops were fighting armed opposition.

U.N. monitors reported Sunday that the attack appeared to target "army defectors and activists," citing accounts by more than two dozen villagers.

The monitors said Syrian forces began shelling the town on Thursday morning. Soldiers entered after the bombardment, conducting house-to-house searches and demanding identification from the men they found. "Numerous" people were then killed after their identification was checked, and some other men were taken from the village, the monitors said.

The monitors found more than 50 homes that had been burned or destroyed, with "pools of blood and brain matter" seen in several homes. The dead included a Free Syrian Army leader who was shot and doctor and his children who died when their home was struck by a mortar shell, the monitors said in a statement issued Sunday. However, the monitors said the number of dead and wounded in Tremseh remained unclear.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told reporters Sunday that opposition fighters had used the village as a base for attacks on government forces. He said only 37 "gunmen" and two civilians were killed in the operation in Tremseh and that no heavy weapons or aircraft were used, according to comments carried by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

'Massacres in Syria send terror message'

Syria's chemical weapons

U.N. sets deadline for Syria

CNN cannot confirm details of reported violence because Syria has restricted access to the country by international journalists.

Amid the ongoing fighting, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan headed to Moscow for talks with the Syrian government's leading ally. Annan met Monday with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and is set to hold talks on Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin, Annan spokesman Ahmed Fawzi told CNN.

No details of the talks were immediately available. But Lavrov complained Monday that Western diplomats are trying to "blackmail" Russia into signing onto a tough new U.N. Security Council resolution targeting Damascus. Britain has proposed new steps to press Syria's government to end the conflict under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which carries the threat of additional sanctions or even military force.

"Unfortunately, we have seen some elements of blackmail," Lavrov said. He said Moscow has been told that unless it signs onto a Chapter 7 resolution, "They will not agree to extend the U.N. observers' mandate. I consider it a totally counterproductive and a dangerous approach, because it is unacceptable to use the observers as the bargaining chip."

He slammed Western countries that are trying to change Russia's stance.

"The track record of those who try to make us step aside from this position has a lot of deplorable instances of unilateral military actions, and the results are well remembered by everybody," Lavrov said.

Russia and China, which have commercial deals with Syria, have used their veto power to block some of the toughest draft resolutions against the Syrian regime in the Security Council.

During a visit to the Middle East on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States is trying to get other countries to lobby Beijing and Moscow to support tougher steps against embattled Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

"We are trying to intervene in a way that brings about an end to the violence and a transition to a democratic future that doesn't require adding to the violence further militarizing the conflict, perhaps killing more people and pushing them across the borders," Clinton said.

As long as al-Assad has the support of its longtime ally Iran and has Russia "uncertain about whether to side in any more dramatic way that it already has, he feels that he can keep going," Clinton said.
"That's the message we want to reverse."

Numerous countries, including the United States, have criticized Russia, saying its actions in the Security Council have helped the Syrian regime continue a brutal crackdown on the opposition.

Meanwhile, many nations have expelled Syrian ambassadors, with Morocco becoming the latest to do so Monday. Syria responded by declaring Morocco's ambassador persona non grata.

Since the crisis began in March 2011, the United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed in the violence; opposition activists say more than 15,000 have died.

Throughout the conflict, al-Assad's government has consistently blamed violence on "armed terrorist groups," and reported on its security forces "martyred" in attacks.

Police shooting, protests rock Los Angeles suburb

(CNN) -- Authorities in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California, have asked for a federal investigation into a pair of weekend police shootings that have sparked days of protests, the city's mayor said Wednesday.

Police Chief John Welter said officers made 24 arrests after a protest that began at a City Council meeting Tuesday night turned violent, with demonstrators breaking windows and throwing rocks and bottles at police. Police responded with batons and nonlethal "bean-bag" and pepper spray projectiles, he said.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait told reporters Wednesday that he asked the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles to investigate the fatal shootings of two men by police, but said violent protests "will simply not be tolerated in our city."

"When the investigations are concluded, we will have a clear and complete understanding of these incidents," Tait said. "At that time, we will have additional public dialogue about any actions that need to be taken. ... We will not, however, accept any violent protests, vandalism or arson perpetrated under the guise of public protest."

The family of the first man killed, 25-year-old Manuel Diaz, filed a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Police Department Tuesday seeking $50 million in damages.

The suit, filed in state court, says police shot the unarmed Diaz in the back and that when he fell, they shot him in the head and killed him.

Welter said there were more than 1,000 protesters Tuesday night, about two-thirds of whom were not from Anaheim -- but 20 of the 24 people arrested were local.

"Our job is to protect property and life. Our job isn't to stand back in the back and let anarchists or rioters damage property and injure people," he said. "And if we don't do that, you'll be the first one criticizing me for where were the police, how come they weren't out there protecting property and people."

Those arrested face charges ranging from failure to disperse to assault with a deadly weapon. One man was found with a handgun, Welter said.

Tuesday night's demonstration began with protests outside the City Council's meeting at the Anaheim City Hall, less than a mile and a half north of Disneyland, the city's most famous tourist attraction.

Demonstrators disrupted the meeting and blocked access to the building, forcing a delay in the session as police moved to clear emergency exits, Welter said.

The protest moved to downtown streets, where demonstrators blocked a major intersection and refused to move, Welter said.

"After allowing the crowd to protest for a couple of hours, the violence escalated to the point where an unlawful assembly was declared and the streets were then cleared of protesters," he said.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn told CNN's "Newsroom" that once the protest was broken up, "the crowds kind of moved around, sometimes fighting between each other, breaking windows and lighting fires and trash cans."

It was Saturday afternoon's fatal shooting of Diaz, whom police described as a gang member, that sparked the protests, CNN affiliate KCAL reported. Cell phone video taken at the scene and posted to YouTube showed residents confronting police officers as they ordered bystanders to back away from the man lying face down on a lawn before they cordoned off the area with yellow police tape.

Dozens of people surrounded the police officers; some threw objects at them and rolled a burning trash bin in their direction, according to CNN affiliate KTLA. Police responded with rubber bullets and pepper spray. One demonstrator showed the television news station bruises she said she got from rubber bullets fired at the crowd.

At one point, police lost control of a dog that attacked and bit at least one person. Welter apologized for the dog attack and said the city will cover the cost of treatment.

Sunday, protesters jammed the Anaheim Police Department to complain about shootings involving police officers. But later the same night -- in a separate incident -- police shot and killed a second man, whom they also considered a gang member, when he allegedly fired at police, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

Monday, hundreds held a vigil for Diaz, chanting in Spanish, according to KTLA.

The family cites witnesses who say Diaz was talking with two friends around 4 p.m. when a police car drove up with lights on "and an intent to confront the young men." Diaz responded "instinctively when he saw people chasing him and began to run," they say in the suit.

"There is a racial and economic component to this shooting," said Dana Douglas, an attorney for the family. "Police don't roust white kids in affluent neighborhoods who are just having a conversation. And those kids have no reason to fear police. But young men with brown skin in poor neighborhoods do. They are targeted by police, and something as simple as a friendly conversation is deemed 'suspicious activity' by police."

Dunn said Wednesday the Diaz shooting took place when officers in the "high-crime gang neighborhood" attempted to stop three men, who ran off.

"It was during that foot pursuit that the officer-involved shooting occurred," he said. "The circumstances surrounding that shooting are under investigation by the district's attorney."

Police say Diaz was unarmed but throwing unknown objects while running from police, KABC and KCAL reported, but the family called those comments "flat-out fabrications."

The suit says Diaz committed no crime and was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he was shot.

Police in Anaheim were involved in six shootings in 2012, all but one of which were fatal, according to KTLA.

Bomb kills Iraq policeman’s wife, children

Iraqi residents stand next to a damaged vehicle at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad. — Photo by AFP/File

BAGHDAD: A car bomb killed the wife and four children of a policeman in central Iraq late Tuesday, a day after 113 people died in the country’s deadliest day in two and half years, police and medics said.
“Around 10 pm, a car bomb blew up in the garage of the home of a police captain,” said a police officer in Salaheddin province.
“While the police captain had gone out with one of his sons, a terrorist parked the booby-trapped vehicle in the garage, the door of which had been left open.
“Four of his children and his wife were killed, and four neighbours wounded,” the officer said, adding that all the children were less than 10 years old.
A hospital official in the provincial capital Tikrit confirmed receiving the bodies of the dead.
The bombing struck in Ad-Dawr, just outside Tikrit, where US forces captured now executed dictator Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
It came as al Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for Monday’s wave of 29 separate attacks in 19 cities, which shattered the relative calm that had held in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan.

Bangladesh arrests four in killing of Saudi diplomat

A coffin carrying the body of of Khalaf Al Ali. — Reuters Photo

DHAKA: Bangladesh police announced Wednesday that they have arrested four suspects accused of killing a Saudi diplomat in Dhaka earlier this year and it appears the incident was a street crime gone wrong.  
Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, a 45-year-old official in the Saudi Embassy’s consular section, was shot and killed 30 meters from his home shortly after midnight on March 6. Days after the killing, Saudi Arabia sent a team of investigators to consult with Bangladeshi detectives.
Initial speculation about the death focused on Iran, which has been accused of other international attacks or attempted attacks against diplomats, including Saudis. Iran denies the accusations.
Police official Mollah Nazrul Islam said Wednesday that the four Bangladeshi men arrested this week told investigators they tried to rob the diplomat as he was going for a walk on the deserted street and shot him accidentally during a scuffle.
He said the men were detained after a revolver and a car used in the killing were found in their possession.
Islam said a Dhaka court is allowing investigators to question the suspects further.
Bangladesh enjoys good relations with Saudi Arabia, which is a top destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Relations between the two countries were tested last October, when Saudi Arabia beheaded eight Bangladeshi workers who were found guilty of robbing and killing an Egyptian

Half UN observer mission has quit Syria: observers

A member of the UN observer team gets ready to leave their hotel in Damascus on June 16. — Photo AFP

DAMASCUS: Half of the members of the United Nations observer mission in Syria have left the country, two mission members told AFP on Wednesday.
“One hundred and fifty observers left Syria on Tuesday evening and Wednesday and they will not come back,” one observer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They left after a decision was taken to reduce the mission by half,” a second observer said, without specifying who had taken the decision.
The UN Supervision Mission in Syria, as the force is officially known, consists of 300 unarmed military observers accompanied by around 100 civilian support staff.
It was deployed in April to oversee a ceasefire that went largely unrespected and in mid-June stopped carrying out patrols as fighting intensified.
On July 20, the UN Security Council voted to extend the mission’s mandate for a “final” 30 days, with Western nations warning that the continued violence meant it was unlikely the observers would be able to remain in country.
US ambassador Susan Rice said the resolution would allow the observers “to withdraw safely” from Syria, while British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the resolution gave President Bashar al-Assad’s government “the final chance” to keep its commitment to end violence.
But Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted that the phrase “final period of 30 days” in the text was not the death knell for UNSMIS and that its work should continue.
“This is not a resolution about withdrawal, it is a resolution about continuation of the activity of the mission,” he said.

Gunmen kill TTP commander in South Waziristan

Taliban — File Photo

PESHAWAR: Gunmen shot dead a Pakistan Taliban commander linked to an attack on a volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan in 2010 that killed almost 100 people, officials said on Wednesday.
Maulana Ashraf Marwat was killed in Pakistan’s Shaktoi area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border on Tuesday, said mourners at his funeral.
The identity of the gunmen was unclear.
Police blamed Marwat for helping organise the deadly 2010 attack on the Shah Hasankhel village in the northwestern Lakki Marwat district in which a truck packed with explosives was detonated at a volley ball tournament.
Marwat was linked to the Pakistani Taliban, said a leader of a local pro-government militia.
The police also say Marwat killed another Taliban commander, Maulana Iftikhar Marwat, reportedly because of his association with the Afghan Taliban.
The dispute between the two men highlighted tensions within the insurgency.
Iftikhar Marwat had apparently urged militants from his native Lakki Marwat district to focus their fight on foreign forces in Afghanistan instead of against Pakistani security forces.
That angered Ashraf Maulana, who wanted to continue attacks in Pakistan.