Syrian jets blast rebels in Damascus suburb

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes bombed aDamascus suburb on Wednesday in a push to dislodge rebels from a stronghold that threatens President Bashar al-Assad's hold on the capital, opposition activists said.

Heavy fighting also raged in other outskirts of the city in the most serious challenge to Assad's seat of power in months.

In Brussels, NATO envoys were considering a request by Turkey to deploy Patriot missiles its territory to defend itself against any Syrian attacks.

Even though the measure is aimed at preventing a spill-over of the 20-month-old conflict into Syria's neighbors, it signaled a creeping internationalization of the conflict.

After months of slow progress, the rebels have in the last few weeks captured several army positions on the outskirts of Damascus and outlying regions, including a special forces base near Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, and an air defense position near Damascus's southern gate.

Assad's opponents are also gaining support internationally with a new coalition of opposition and rebel groups seeking recognition as the legitimate voice of the Syrian people.

Shashank Joshi of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London said the developments of the last few weeks were shifting the balance in favor of the rebels.

"The use of the world 'stalemate' to describe the conflict may no longer be appropriate," he told Reuters by phone. "The rebels have moved up the ladder of warfare."

On Wednesday, MiG fighter jets launched a second day of raids on the opposition-held suburb ofDaraya, set in farmland near the main southern highway, where rebels have been battling elite Republican Guard units.

Live footage broadcast by the opposition on the Internet showed heavy smoke rising from a built-up area in Daraya and carried the sound of automatic gun fire.

The pro-government al-Ekhbariya television said the army had begun a campaign to "cleanse" Daraya of what it described as terrorists, and showed troops on the edge of the town. Activists reported 23 people killed in two days.

But rebels and activists suggested Assad's forces were finding it harder to dislodge the rebels than when they last entered the suburb in August.

A government offensive to oust Free Syrian Army fighters from Daraya then killed 1,000 people after rebels took over the town, established a local administration and began attacking loyalist targets in Damascus, according to opposition sources.

"The military picture seems to have changed since August. The regime is sending troops under tank and air cover but they have not really advanced into Daraya," activist Abu Kinan said by phone from the town.

"Last time the rebels made a decision to withdraw after the army's bombing killed a large number of civilians. There are civilians left in Daraya but the bulk had fled and the fighters are holding their ground," he said.

The official SANA news agency said that "terrorists" - a term it uses for rebels - had attacked shops and homes in Daraya, as well as a mosque.

REBELS GAIN EDGE

Fawaz Tello, a veteran opposition campaigner, said the fact that the rebels have recaptured Daraya and are fending off Assad's best forces indicates a change on the ground.

"The rebels' military position is still difficult, but it is improving."

Fighting was also reported in Damascus's eastern suburb of Irbin, where rebels said they had destroyed one tank and killed two Republican Guards. Irbin is one of many Sunni Muslim suburbs in the farmland around Damascus known as al-Ghouta.

"The whole eastern Ghouta is basically a liberated area. Assad's army still has superior firepower, but is being eroded. It can no longer push forward with a lot of troops," said Abu Ghazi, an activist-turned-fighter in Irbin.

Severe restrictions on non-state media make it impossible to verify such reports independently.

So far Assad's core military units, composed mainly of members of his Alawite minority sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, have prevented a rebel push into the capital itself.

But Tello said the rebels were gaining strength in Damascus, partly because they were being joined by fighters from outlying regions. He pointed to guerrilla attacks in the last few days near Damascus Airport and expanding rebel control of the mixed urban and farmland regions around Damascus, although Assad's forces controlled the main road junctions.

RUSI's Joshi said anti-aircraft weapons looted from military bases would blunt what is the government's most important weapon - air power.

These advances, he said, "are all a symptom of tactical improvements. The more they fight, the better they get".

NATO ambassadors meanwhile were considering a Turkish request to deploy Patriot missiles on its territory.

The move followed talks between Ankara and NATO allies about how to shore up security on the 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria after mortar rounds landed on Turkish territory.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, whose country is one of three to have the system, said he approved Turkey's request. The Dutch government said it was considering it.

In Dubai, members of the new opposition coalition appealed to foreign governments and private investors to raise the $60 billion that they said would be needed to rebuild Syria from the ruins of the war.

The funds will mainly be used to support the Syrian currency, rebuild destroyed housing projects and pay public sector wages, Osama al-Qadi, a member of the Syrian Economic Task Force, told Reuters at an investment conference in Dubai.

An estimated 38,000 people have been killed in Syria since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising against Assad began in March last year.

Turkey, Gulf Arab states and Western powers have all called for Assad - whose family has ruled Sunni Muslim-majority Syria for four decades - to relinquish power. Assad counts on the support of long-time ally Russia and Shi'ite Iran.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Article: Syria Kurdish leader rejects new opposition coalition

This November 2012 photo provided by the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies of Gulfport Miss., shows a fatally wounded dolphin. A gunshot wound can be seen at lower left. Authorities are investigating several attacks on dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico after some were found with gunshot wounds, cuts and missing jaws. (AP Photo/Institute for Marine Mammal Studies)

ALONG THE GULF COAST (AP) — Over the past several months, dolphins have washed ashore along the northern Gulf Coast with bullet wounds, missing jaws and hacked off fins, and federal officials said they are looking into the mysterious deaths.

The most recent case was of a dolphin found dead off the coast ofMississippi, its lower jaw missing.

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday they're asking everyone from beachgoers to fishermen to wildlife agents to be on the lookout for injured or dead dolphins — and any unusual interaction between the mammals and people.

"It's very sad to think that anyone could do that to any animal," said Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal scientist for NOAA's southeast office in St. Petersburg, Fla. "There have been some obviously intentional cases."

Fougeres said five dolphins have been found shot. In Louisiana, two were shot in 2011 and one in 2012. And in Mississippi, three were found shot this year, the most recent one last week, which was first reported by the Sun-Herald newspaper.

Besides the shootings, a dolphin in Alabama was found with a screwdriver stuck in its head over the summer. Another in Alabama had its tail cut off, and that animal survived. Still others were missing fins or had cuts to their bodies.

"I think it is outrageous," said Moby Solangi, the executive director of Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss. "These animals are very docile, very friendly and they're very curious. They come close to the boats, so if you're out there, you'll see them riding the bows. And their curiosity and friendship brings them so close that they become targets and that's the unfortunate thing."

Dolphins are among the species protected by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Violators can be fined up to $10,000 per violation and sent to prison for a year.

The California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund said it is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever harmed the dolphins.

The gruesome discoveries are heartbreaking for Gulf Coast scientists, who follow the population.Fougeres said that two months before the 2010 oil spill disaster off the coast of Louisiana, dolphins began stranding themselves and that there were unusually high mortality rates — possibly due to a cold winter that year.

Since then, the spill and another cold winter in 2011 have contributed to several deaths within the Gulf's dolphin population, experts say. Investigators have also found discolored teeth and lung infections within some of the dead dolphins.

Since Feb. 2010, experts have tallied more than 700 recorded dolphin deaths.

Experts have also found increased "human interaction" cases, which include dolphins tangled in fishing lines — and the more violent incidents.

Fougeres cautions that some of the dolphin mutilations might have happened after the animal died from natural causes and washed ashore. She said that in the case of the dolphin with the lower jaw missing, someone could have cut off the jaw for a souvenir after the animal died.

"We have to do a necropsy on the animal and collect tissue samples to try to determine whether or not the injury was pre-or post-mortem" she said.

She also said that the increase in cases might be due to NOAA's dolphin stranding network becoming better trained to notice cruelty cases or unusual deaths.

Some have suggested that the deaths are the work of a few angry fishermen who are upset about bait-stealing dolphins. Yet the majority of fishermen say that while dolphins can be annoying, they wouldn't harm the creatures.

"I don't know who to suspect ... I was really sickened when I read about it," said Tom Becker, of T&D Charters out of Biloxi, Miss., and head of the Mississippi Charter Boat Captains Association, said he's never had a problem with dolphins.

The mammals tend to swim behind his boat until a fish too small to keep is tossed over the side.

"You'll see him under your boat," Becker said, about the dolphin. "He'll get it before it can reach the bottom. I usually leave the area if they're doing that."

Fougeres said she doesn't think the dolphins are being targeted by a gang of people or even by a lone, sick individual.

"The cases are fairly spread apart," she said. "I don't think there is one dolphin murderer out there."

She added that anyone who sees a dead or stranded dolphin, or spots people harassing a marine animal can call the NOAA Enforcement hotline at 800-853-1964.

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AP writer Janet McConnaughey contributed from New Orleans.

Activists: Syrian rebels seize key government artillery base in the east
By Zeina Karam, The Associated Press | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago

BEIRUT - Activists say Syrian rebels have seized a key military base with artillery stockpiles in the country's east.

The capture of the base in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province near the border with Iraq follows the seizure of a military airport in the same area last week.

The rebels have been making advances in the strategic province for weeks.

Activist groups and a local fighter told The Associated Press the Mayadeen base fell on Thursday morning after a three-week siege.

The fighter spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group says the base was considered the last stronghold for regime forces in the eastern Deir el-Zour area.

Iran's president welcomes Hamas-Israel ceasefire: report

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Iran's president welcomed the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel but expressed reservations about its effectiveness, a Pakistani television station, which interviewed him on Thursday, reported.

"President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad said the cruelty in Gaza should unite Muslims. He said he welcomes the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but he seems to not be very optimistic about the ceasefire," a TV anchor for the station said.

A ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers took hold on Thursday after eight days of conflict, although deep mistrust on both sides cast doubt on how long the Egyptian-sponsored deal can last.

Iran, which has an alliance with Hamas, has regarded Israeli strikes as "organized terrorism". The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, on Wednesday thanked Shi'ite Iran for what he described as arms and funding.

"(Israel) has been occupying Palestine for decades under false pretensions. Today, the oppressed people of Gaza have become the victims of these expansionist policies and atrocities," Ahmadinejad said at a summit of developing countries in Islamabad.

(Reporting by Aisha Chowdhry; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

Egypt's Islamist leader opposes peace with Israel

CAIRO (AP) — The top cleric from Egypt's fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood has denouncedpeace efforts with Israel, urging holy war to liberate Palestinian territories.

Thursday's call by Mohammed Badei came just a day after Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who also hails from the Brotherhood, succeeded in brokering a truce to end eight days of Israel-Hamas fighting.

Under the deal, Gaza's ruling Hamas is to stop rocket fire into Israel while Israel is to cease airstrikes and allow the opening of the strip's long-blockaded borders.

Badei says "jihad is obligatory" for Muslims and that peace deals with Israel are a "game of grand deception." He says there's been enough negotiations, the "enemy knows nothing but language of force."

The Brotherhood and its members don't recognize Israel and refuse to hold direct talks with Israelis.