Eight Dead of Malnutrition in Aleppo Prison

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that eight people have died of malnutrition in the last two days in Aleppo’s central prison, as fear of starvation sets in across Syria.

“Control of Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial capital, has been contested by loyalists and rebels for nearly 18 months. The prison, which houses more than 3,000 detainees, has been under rebel siege since April,” the AFP reports.

“The government had said earlier it would release 360 prisoners, but there has been no confirmation that any more than the 15 have been let go. Elsewhere, three people died from malnutrition in Yarmouk in southern Damascus, among them a pregnant woman, and a fourth died in the central city of Homs, the Observatory said.”

Hezbollah Moving Long-Range Missiles From Syria to Lebanon

Anne Barnard and Eric Schmitt report in the New York Times that Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group that controls Lebanon, is in the process of “moving long-range missiles to Lebanon from bases where it had stored them inside Syria, including long-range Scud D missiles that can strike deep into Israel.”

The paper says that Israeli national security analyst Ronen Bergman, who has close contacts with Israeli intelligence officials, “saidThursday that despite Israel’s undeclared campaign of airstrikes in Syria to stop new deliveries, most of the long-range surface-to-surface missiles given to Hezbollah by its allies Iran and Syria have been disassembled and moved to Lebanon.

“American intelligence analysts have also concluded that members of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, are smuggling components of advanced Russian-made antiship missile systems piecemeal into Lebanon from war-stricken Syria to avoid an Israeli air campaign, a United States official said Thursday.”

Ships in New Bid to Collect Chemical Arms

With the Dec. 31 deadline to destroy the first batch of Syrian chemical weapons missed, Norwegian and Danish ships – which are to collect the weapons from the port of Latakia and transfer them to a U.S. ship in the Mediterranean for destruction – will make a second attempt at pickup.

“Their first attempt was aborted after Syrian officials failed to deliver the toxic chemicals to the collection point in the Syrian port of Latakia. Bad weather, shifting battle lines, and road closures were blamed for the missed deadline,” reports the BBC.

“The Scandinavian fleet will sail from the Cypriot port of Limassol on Friday,” reports the BBC’s Anna Holligan, who is traveling on board the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad. “The frigate will not enter Syrian waters until it receives the command from the UN teams in Syria.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:

Bloomberg: Syria’s Small Factories Struggling to Survive

LA Times: Lebanon Blasts Reflect Spillover From Iran-Saudi Proxi War in Syria

Daily Star: Lebanon Army Deploys as Rebels Advance Near Syria Border

Al Monitor: Silence Continues Over Abduction of Syria Human Rights Lawyer

Telegraph: Al Qaeda Leader Held in Lebanon Raised Funds for Anti-Assad Militants