Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare

The opposition Local Co-ordination Committees corroborated the report. [172] In Qusayr in Homs Governorate, eleven people were
reported killed as the army stormed the town. Two more residents of Hama were killed, according to Avaaz. The town of al-
Mousaifara was the site of military operations at dawn. The army also shelled at least two neighbourhoods in Deir ez-Zour, Avaaz
reported. [176] More mass Friday protests are planned by the Syrian opposition, this time under the title "Friday of 'We will not bow
except for God'". [177]
12 August – "Friday of 'We Won't Kneel Except to God'" Mass protests continued as twenty-three [178] people were reportedly
killed by Syrian forces across the country, including five in Saqba and Douma, suburbs of Damascus, when security forces fired on
protesters shortly before Friday prayers. Troops killed protesters in Daraa, Deir ez-Zour, Idlib, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and elsewhere,
according to activists. They also allegedly fired on demonstrators in the Midan district of Damascus. [179] The Local Coordination
Committees reported from Aleppo that shabiha, or plainclothes pro-government militiamen, beat and stabbed dozens of people at a
hundreds-strong protest in Syria's largest city. [180] A similar scene played out in Zabadani, residents claimed, where shooting at a local
mosque was also reported. [181] Despite a security clampdown on the city of Homs, close to 20,000 people reportedly protested there
after prayers. [182]
13 August The Syrian army entered Latakia with more than 20 tanks and APCs and killed at least two civilians, according to activists.
Activists in Deir ez-Zour also said a child was killed by a sniper. [183] The Hürriyet Daily News, a Turkish daily, reported that a senior
Turkish government official speaking on the condition of anonymity said a military intervention in Syria led by Turkey was an option.
The report suggested Ankara is nervous over sectarian tension in Syria inflaming an already unstable situation in neighboring Iraq,
which also experienced protests as part of the Arab Spring revolutionary wave. [184] The LCC also reported a death in Qusayr, a death
in Daraya, and a death in Hama. [185]
14 August The LCC said that even as the army's artillery assault continued, the Syrian Navy was firing on Latakia with gunboats off
the Mediterranean coast, killing at least 28, according to the Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union. [186] Eight more civilians were
killed elsewhere in the country, bringing the day's death toll to a minimum of 36, human rights activists and pro-democracy
campaigners said. Syrian state news claimed two police and six armed criminals were killed in Latakia. [159]
15 August Four to six more civilians were reportedly killed in Latakia as the siege dragged on. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoğlu demanded that the Syrian government's violent crackdown end "immediately and without conditions or excuses ... [or]
there would be nothing more to discuss about steps that would be taken". In Houleh, an elderly man was shot dead by a sniper as the
army began operations in the town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed. Germany called on the European Union to
take stronger action against the Assad administration by strengthening sanctions. [186] A Palestinian refugee camp was among the
targets of the shelling, residents, activists, and the UNRWA reported, drawing sharp condemnation from the Palestinian Liberation
Organization, among other groups. [187] Twelve people were killed in Homs after post-iftar protests, Al Jazeera reported citing
unnamed sources. [188]
16 August Avaaz said it could confirm nine people in Latakia were killed during the day, Al Jazeera reported. [189] Residents reported
looting by shabiha in the al-Ramel neighborhood, where the Palestinian refugee camp is situated, as well as clearing of dead bodies,
bullet casings, and other signs of shooting, and said thousands of people were trying to flee but many were being detained or forced to
remain in the city. One resident said he feared his neighborhood would be razed to the ground. The Turkish government denied it had
plans to create a border buffer zone, but said it was drafting plans for its next course of action if the crackdown continued. [190]
Nighttime protests were held in Homs, Albu Kamal, and several suburbs of Damascus, among other places in Syria, in defiance of the
security operations. [191]
17 August The Syrian government claimed it withdrew from Latakia and Deir ez-Zor, but Davutoğlu disputed this, saying Syrian
troops remained in Deir ez-Zor and other centres of protest. [192] He again reiterated Turkey's stance that "the bloodshed has to stop"
and warned that "Turkey can naturally not remain indifferent" if the crackdown continued. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan compared the situation to the civil war in Libya and vented his frustration with the Syrian regime, saying, "I've sent my
foreign minister, and personally got in touch many times, the last of them three days ago on the phone. In spite of all this, civilians are
still getting killed." [193] The post-revolutionary interim government of Tunisia withdrew its ambassador from Damascus for
"consultations". [194] The United Nations reported that in a phone conversation with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Assad claimed
that all police and military operations against protesters had stopped. [195] Despite Assad's assertion, activists reported between 9 and
16 deaths of protesters in Homs and said most of the shooting took place after evening prayers. [196] Al Arabiya reported that
"thousands" protested in a central square (Saadallah al-Jabiri square) of Aleppo, the city's largest demonstration to date, as well as
various neighbourhoods of the city, [197] before security forces attacked the people gathered there. [198]
18 August The governments of Canada, [199] France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States all called for Assad to
resign for the first time. Switzerland, despite its policy of neutrality, recalled its ambassador and condemned the violence. Avaaz
reported afternoon raids of the al-Ramel neighbourhood, as well as shelling, including of at least one mosque, in Latakia despite
Assad's claims that security operations had ended the previous day. The LCC reported continuing arrests and army activities in Deir
ez-Zor, but did not report shooting. [200] In a report documenting the uprising up until 14 July, the United Nations found that the Syrian
government may have committed crimes against humanity and had practiced such tactics as summary execution, torture, use of
indiscriminate force against civilians, and arbitrary arrests. [201][202] New massive protests are planned for Friday, this time under the
title Friday of Beginnings of Victory. [203]
19 August – "Friday of Beginnings of Victory" At least 23 people were allegedly killed across Syria, with 15 killed in Daraa
Governorate, two killed in Douma and Harasta, and six killed in Homs. Six of the dead were killed when security forces stormed a
village mosque in Inkhil, opposition activists claimed. [202] About 6,000 people in Qadam, a Damascus suburb, reportedly chanted for
President Assad to be tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Security forces attempted to use tear gas to disperse the
crowd, but when this failed, they opened fire with live ammunition, wounding at least five, activists and witnesses claimed. Lady
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's head of foreign affairs, said the EU was making preparations for an embargo on Syrian oil.
The Russian government dissented from the tougher stance adopted by the EU and many Western countries, with leading figures
saying Assad "needs more time" to deliver on promised reforms. [204]
20 August The death toll from the previous day rose to 34, and the Syrian army renewed a siege on Homs with army tanks, firing at
the local population to keep them from rallying. [205]