Breaking News of Syrian clashes

√. UK says Syria now obliged to comply with peace plan
√. Free Syrian Army withdraws from Damascus district
√. Thousands of Iraqis evacuated from Syria
√. Assassinated ministers buried and a fourth confirmed dead

In a video posted online Sunday, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army in Aleppo announced an operation "to liberate the city of Aleppo from the rule of the Assad thugs whose hands were blood stained by heinous crimes against our people.

Brig. Gen. Abdel Jabbar Al-Obeidi urged regime soldiers to defect or step aside and not fight against his men, with the promise that no one would be harmed.

He vowed to secure Aleppo and protect all minorities and sects, including the members of Alawite sect that the president belongs to.

Aleppo and the capital city of Damascus have been al-Assad strongholds. But heavy clashes in Damascus over the past week, along with recent bombing that killed four members of al-Assad's inner circle and government, suggest cracks in the regime's armor.

Fierce clashes broke out Sunday morning between regime and rebel forces in Aleppo, opposition activists said.

An entire building collapsed in Seif al-Dawla neighborhood after a regime tank ... targeted it with four shells,  the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

If rebels gain control of Aleppo, the commercial hub of Syria, it would mark a pivotal point in the Syrian crisis and deal a heavy blow to al-Assad's financial ties.

In May, a violent crackdown on a peaceful demonstration at Aleppo University was one of the turning points of the uprising, with anti-regime students and civilians shot in the streets.

After 16 months of daily bloodshed, the Syrian crisis now zeroes in on Aleppo, the country's most populated city and a critical one for both President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebels.

EU imposes new sanctions on Syrian regime

LUXEMBOURG, The European Union on Monday banned the sale of luxury goods and products to Syria that can have military as well as civilian uses as the U.N. political chief demanded that the Syrian government stop using heavy weapons and comply with a cease-fire.

B. Lynn Pascoe told the U.N. Security Council in New York that the cease-fire, which went into effect on April 12, remains "incomplete" and "human rights violations are still perpetrated with impunity." He said Syria has also failed to fully implement international envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan, saying the government's compliance with requirements to release detainees and allow peaceful demonstrations "are clearly insufficient."

The EU ban on luxury items appears to take direct aim at some of Syrian President Bashar Assad's most loyal supporters: the business community and prosperous merchant classes that are key to propping up the regime. An influential bloc, the business leaders have long traded political freedoms for economic privileges in Syria.

So far, the wealthy classes have stuck to the sidelines, but if the economic squeeze reaches them, it could be a game changer, analysts say.

Assad, who inherited power in 2000, spent years shifting the country away from the socialism espoused by his father. In the process, he helped boost a new and vibrant merchant class that transformed Syria's economic landscape even as the regime's political trappings remained unchanged.

Emails purportedly from Assad and his wife Asma, published in February by London's Guardian newspaper, indicated that the Syrian first lady has a taste for the finer things in life. The emails, whose authenticity has been questioned, revealed the first lady shopping online for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin stilettos, expensive jewelry, custom-made furniture and other luxury goods as violence swept the country.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said the EU's 27 foreign ministers approved the new set of sanctions — the 14th in the past year — "because of deep concern about the situation and continuing violence in spite of the cease-fire."

"We expect the government to withdraw all troops and heavy weapons from towns and cities (and) we want to make sure that the regime gives full access to humanitarian organizations."

The U.N. estimates that more than 9,000 people have been killed since an uprising against the government of Assad began 13 months ago.

Pascoe, the U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs, told the Security Council "we are at a pivotal moment in Syria."

He said the U.N. hopes the deployment of 300 unarmed U.N. military observers, which the Security Council authorized on Saturday, "will help to stop the killing and consolidate the calm" with the aim of creating the conditions "for a serious and credible political process."

To create these conditions, Pascoe said, "it is essential that the government of Syria fully and immediately implement its obligations to stop using heavy weapons and to pull back military forces from population centers."

He said it is also essential that Syria implement other aspects of the Annan plan, noting "little progress" on its requirement to allow unimpeded access for aid workers to an estimated 1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

He said Annan, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, will brief the Security Council on Tuesday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters late Monday that it is "absolutely important" that Syria protect the monitors and ensure their freedom of access and freedom of movement. There must be "no such obstacles," he stressed.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, again urged the Syrian government "to seize this chance for a peaceful political solution to the crisis — before it's too late."

The U.S. welcomes "the positive statements from various Syrian opposition figures and groups" about the expanded U.N. observer mission, she said, "but we are all sober in our expectations."

"The Syrian regime should make no mistake: we will be watching its actions day and night," Rice said. "We will work to ensure there will be consequences should the Syrian regime continue to ignore this Council's decisions, press ahead with its murderous rampage, and flout the will of the international community."

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari strongly criticized Qatar, saying its leader didn't believe that the Annan mission would succeed. Ja'afari accused Qatar and Saudi Arabia of financing "terrorist groups," which the Syrian government blame for the violence.

Previous rounds of U.S. and EU sanctions have done little to stop the bloodshed, although there are signs the Syrian economy is suffering. International measures against Assad's regime have depleted its foreign currency reserves by half, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said last week.

EU experts will work out later precisely which goods will be included in the new embargo. One of the diplomats said so-called "dual-use" goods can include anything from vehicles to fertilizers and other chemicals.

Assad vows to crush 'terrorism' with iron fist conspiracy'

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad blamed foreign plotters Tuesday for the deadly 10-month-old protests against his regime and vowed to crush their "terrorism" with an iron fist.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed the unabated violence in his country on "external conspiracies," criticized the Arab League as toothless and said that the international call for reform wasn't taking into account what the country was really facing: terrorism.

The Syrian National Council (SNC), the largest opposition umbrella group, branded Assad's rare speech an "incitement to violence" that pushes the country closer to a civil war.

In the speech just hours before the UN Security Council was to discuss Syria, Assad denied security forces had orders to fire on civilian protesters, even as activists reported regime gunmen killed 13 more civilians.

Thousands have been reported killed by security forces throughout the uprising. Death estimates range from more than 5,000 to more than 6,000. The Syrian government has consistently blamed the violence on "terrorists" and al-Assad denied that he commanded forces to open fire on protesters.

"I would like to confirm that there were no orders by any departments of the state to fire on people," he said.

Assad said the unrest, which the United Nations estimated last month has cost more than 5,000 lives since March, would only come to an end "when the flow of funds and weapons coming from abroad stops."

While he did not explicitly point the finger at a particular country, al-Assad blamed the unrest on both Western and Arab elements as world pressure mounted on his embattled government for its 10-month-long crackdown against protesters.

The address repeated what has become a familiar refrain as Mr. Assad, as he faces his greatest challenge in more than 11 years of authoritarian rule. He pledged to crush what he has cast as terrorism and sabotage, while offering somewhat vague promises of reform. The tenor of his remarks, and his seeming show of confidence, underscored the irreconcilable nature of Syria’s crisis, which pits a protest movement demanding that Mr. Assad leave office against a government that rarely acknowledges their grievances.

Meanwhile, bombing attacks in Damascus, the capital, have killed scores of people over the past month. The government has said that foreign-backed terrorists were responsible; the opposition claims the government carried out the bombings itself in a cynical effort to sully the protesters’ image.