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Executive Summary for February 7th

To give you an overview of the latest news, we’ve organized the latest Syrian developments in a curated summary.

Published on Feb. 7, 2014 Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Homs City to Receive Aid, Officials Say

The New York Times reports that the Syrian government has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to besieged areas of Homs city. It will include what the State Department called a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting.

“Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the United Nations secretary-general, said that food, medicine and other aid supplies were on hand at the outskirts of Homs and ready to be moved ‘as soon as the green light was given by the parties for safe passage.’

“Yet even as the State Department welcomed reports by Syria’s state media that a deal had been reached, American officials expressed concern that President Bashar al-Assad might not follow through or might abuse the terms of the agreement. About 2,500 Syrians are believed to be trapped in the old city of Homs, and about 500 to 700 of them want to be evacuated, including 80 who are said to be injured, Western diplomats said.

“The Assad government has not said how much food, medicine or other assistance from the United Nations and other international relief organizations can be delivered or for how long. Nor has the government offered assurances it would not apprehend some of the people who are evacuated. The Syrian opposition had asked that injured people who were evacuated be exempt from detention and be allowed to travel to hospitals in other Middle Eastern nations, diplomats said, adding that the government rejected that request.”

Rebels Break Hundreds of Detainees Out of Aleppo Prison

Ruth Sherlock reports in the Telegraph that rebels broke more than 300 inmates out of Aleppo’s central prison, following a bloody fight with government forces.

“The prison, which the rebels have been laying siege to for almost a year, has become a military base for the Syrian army but still has up to 4,000 prisoners languishing in their cells, disease-riven and surviving on pitiful amounts of food,” she writes.

“The rebels were then forced to fall back when government troops launched a blistering counterattack, dropping barrels filled with TNT from helicopters, activists in Aleppo told the Telegraph. The counterattack reportedly killed the Nusra commander that led the onslaught, who went by the name Saif Allah. Photos of his body laid on a stretcher circulated on Twitter. Ahrar [al-Sham] and [Jabhat al] Nusra have been laying siege to the prison since April of last year, periodically ramming suicide car bombs through its outer gates, and lobbing shells into the compound.”

U.S. Accuses Iran of  Enabling al-Qaida in Syria

The Wall Street Journal details the Obama administration’s accusations that Iran “has allowed senior al-Qaida members operating from Iranian soil to facilitate the movement of Sunni fighters into Syria.”

Jay Solomon writes that “the allegation by the Treasury Department on Thursday would suggest that elements of Iran’s government or military were at least tacitly supporting the opposing sides of Syria’s civil war. Iranian officials denied the accusations, saying Washington was harming diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the international standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“The Iranian government is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s closest military and diplomatic ally. U.S., European and Arab governments have repeatedly charged Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, of deploying soldiers to Syria to bolster Mr. Assad’s regime, an accusation Iran has denied.

U.S. officials, however, have intermittently accused Tehran and the IRGC of colluding with Sunni militant groups, who historically are enemies of Tehran’s Shiite government, but also are fighting the U.S. and its allies. On Thursday, the Treasury Department sanctioned three IRGC officers for allegedly providing support for Afghanistan’s Taliban, a hard-line Sunni group.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:

Guardian: Syria to Attend Geneva as Aid Agreed for Besieged Homs

Reuters: Russia Says 3 Day Homs Ceasefire Agreed

AFP: Syria Conflict Spurs Growing Jihadist Threat in Lebanon

Washington Post: Assad’s Low Tech WMD: Starvation

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