#Syrian troops blast Homs, residents plead for help

10/10/12

Syrian forces on Wednesday hammered rebel belts in the central city of Homs, where besieged residents desperately pleaded for humanitarian assistance, and in the northern city of Aleppo, a watchdog said.

Shells rained down from early morning on parts of Homs and on the nearby town of Qusayr, near the Lebanon border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The army has intensified operations against Homs and Qusayr, which have been besieged by regime forces for months, vowing to overrun them by the end of the week to free up troops for battle zones in the north, such as Aleppo.

The onslaught has sent a new flood of refugees across the border into Lebanon, a Lebanese security official said, who noted on Tuesday that up to 400 people had crossed the frontier in a 24-hour period.

An activist in the Homs Old City, reached via Skype on Wednesday, said the district was “totally surrounded.”

“There is no way out. Our situation is so bad it makes anyone cry,” said the activist, who identified himself as Abu Bilal.

“The field hospitals are full of injured people needing operations and who need to be evacuated. There is no way out at all, at all.”

The Old City neighborhood of Homs has been under total siege by the army for more than four months. According to the Observatory, thousands of civilians remain trapped in the Old City and other besieged, rebel-held districts of the city rebels refer to as “the capital of the revolution.”

“We call on the International Committee of the Red Cross, and on the Red Crescent, to come to our assistance,” said Abu Bilal.

The ICRC made several failed attempts in the early summer to enter into Homs. The army and rebels exchanged blame for a failed ceasefire, a prerequisite for the mission’s entry to evacuate wounded and civilians.

In Qusayr, the situation was “terrible” overnight, activist Hadi al-Abdallah told AFP via Skype on Wednesday.

“People are afraid of what might happen if the army enters into the rebel-held areas of Qusayr. They say they would prefer to die in the shelling than be executed by the army,” said Abdallah.

Qusayr has been in rebel hands – and under siege – since September last year. The Observatory says thousands of people are trapped in the town, and that the only way out is via secret tunnels.

“There is no way out for anyone here,” said Abdallah.

The Observatory also reported heavy shelling on Wednesday against a string of rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo, which has been the theatre since mid-July of an increasingly bloody battle between rebels and the army.

The Britain-based watchdog, which collates information from a network of activists and medics on the ground, added that on Tuesday alone 22 civilians died in a shelling blitz against Aleppo.

The Observatory added that 180 people died across the country on Tuesday – 84 civilians, 45 rebels and 51 soldiers.

According to the watchdog, more than 32,000 people have died since a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime erupted in March last year.

The revolt began as pro-reform protests but morphed into an armed insurgency when demonstrations were brutally crushed. Most rebels, like the population, are Sunni in a country dominated by a minority Alawite regime. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

-AFP

Source: nowlebanon.com

15/08/2012 Washing away the blood in #Syria

With the acrid stench of disinfectant in the air, a woman, expressionless and intent on finishing this daily task as quickly as possible, sluices the last puddle of diluted blood off the hospital steps and onto the sidewalk.

For her this is routine. The pale faces of medical staff who for the past hour had been grimacing with intense concentration and inner frustration were close behind her.

“You cannot show our faces on television - you can’t reveal what we are doing here,” one doctor told me.

Two children under five years of age were dead and another - barely alive - had been sent to Turkey in a battered old car. Seven adults were seriously wounded. The hysteria of wailing relatives and children was now gone. The uncomfortable silence was deafening.

The stark reality echoing now in my mind as I write this a week later is that it was nothing unusual - it just happened to be caught on our camera.

Daily trauma

For months we have known about the medics wanting their work to be kept secret for fear they will be targeted in the same way that a rebel fighter could expect.

It had been one snapshot in the chain of daily trauma, the aftermath of what we all hear referred to as “indiscriminate shelling”. The shells from long-range artillery had landed on a village near al-Atarib this time.

A two-year-old boy was lying lifeless on one of two beds in the tiny, ill-equipped emergency room.

The doctors had moved on to another patient after at least ten minutes of CPR, the hand pumped respirator now at work elsewhere.

The toddler’s mother was being restrained in the other bed as a nurse applied bandages to her face. On the floor were injured men and women being checked over in some sort of triage process. And outside this claustrophobic mayhem on the reception room floor, another young child took his final breath.

I have no doubt that no one crammed into those 60 minutes of excruciating attempts to save lives could be described as a revolutionary. They were all civilians. And nobody wanted to talk about freedom or human rights.

There was just a question barked in my direction: “Where is the help that the outside world keeps promising?” Or words to that effect.

‘Guns, not medicine’

Earlier that day, the same question was put to me by a brigadier-general who defected five months ago from his post as head of intelligence for a region that included Aleppo city.

But the question was aimed in a different direction. He wanted more guns, bigger ones. And much more ammunition.

No mention of humanitarian assistance.

Was he a true revolutionary? Well, he says he is now. But a year ago, he was actively at work trying to crush the uprising.

Where do the civilians stand in all of this?

Certainly the majority of the masses who have fled Aleppo and many of those who remain there would not candidly have numbered themselves as actively supporting the uprising months ago.

Top of wish list

Guns, heavier weaponry, bullets, shells and rockets are at the top of the wish list for those fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Second comes medical personnel, field hospitals, medicine and equipment.

Some of the latter we know have been getting into Syria, mostly through the smuggling routes on Syria’s borders.

Primarily, those routes run through Turkey. It’s a trickle of support, not a surge, though.

My line of thought fast forwards to Istanbul, and coverage of Hillary Clinton’s Saturday visit that packed in separate talks with the Turkish foreign minister, the prime minister, the president, a selection of refugees, activists, prominent opposition members in exile and the Syrian National Council.

One headline to emerge from those meetings was that Turkey and the US had “agreed to accelerate preparations for the fall of the Syrian president”.

Meaning?

The setting up of a bilateral team to help the opposition while trying to work out which part of a splintered political spread of people could be onside. Or, better still, have some semblance of unity.

Also, providing aid to fleeing refugees and planning contingencies for worst-case scenarios that include a chemical weapons attack.

No-fly zone

Questions put at the obligatory joint news conference raised the idea of a no-fly zone - not for the first time.

It wasn’t ruled out by Clinton, who more than made up for any perceived differences with her NATO ally by repeated gushing thanks for Turkey’s costly operation to provide an undeclared safe haven for more than 55,000 registered refugees and the Free Syrian Army.

Plus an assurance that the US would stand by Turkey in its fight with the PKK, the Kurdish Workers’ Party, to ensure it would get no foothold in Northern Syria.

And there was, of course, the announcement of another $5.5 million in humanitarian aid.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, also said a no-fly zone was still on the table, despite the knowledge that Russia and China would be likely to veto any such move.

Clinton said it was going to require more in-depth analysis by the joint working group. It being an election year in the United States, it is unlikely that any unilateral action will be taken. ”Contingency”, “operational planning” and “co-ordination” were the buzz words on  Sunday.

Before leaving Istanbul to the surreal feeling of London in Olympic euphoria, my mind went back to the hospital. Political reality is hard to describe to those bereaved or maimed by a war for which initially they had no vested interest.

Daily trauma

I called it a snapshot in a chain of daily trauma. It’s probably more aptly described as a perpetual horror story that, for now, has no end. And it’s playing out every day all over Syria, much of it unseen by media.

The images of the doctors’ pale faces and the children who died take an indelible place in a collage of memory from war zones I have worked in over the past three decades.

Usually, that recurring universal question, where is the help from outside, is eventually answered by meaningful humanitarian aid, with or without military intervention.

For Syria, it’s much more complicated.

And I’m pretty sure that when I return there again soon, I will still stumble to placate or calm the next questioner even more than the last time.

The UN is unable to make a move as long as Russian and Chinese objections continue to exist, and the states that want Assad out of power are engaged in talk of an endgame that doesn’t appear to have been worked out.

And the cleaner in the hospital will still be going through her daily routine of washing away the bloodshed.

Follow Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmon’s on Twitter @SimmJazeera.

Assad running out of time, warn leaders at #Syria crisis summit

Sam Jones 01/04/12

Hillary Clinton and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul 1/4/12
Hillary Clinton greets Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Friends of the Syrian People conference in Istanbul. Photograph: Reuters

Britain, the US and Turkey have warned Bashar al-Assad that he is running out of time and that the international community is rapidly losing patience with his regime’s failure to end the violence in Syria.

Dozens of countries are meeting in Istanbul on Sunday to push for tighter sanctions and increased diplomatic pressure to further isolate Assad – and to urge the opposition to offer a democratic alternative to his rule.

However, the show of solidarity at the Friends of the Syrian People conference has been undermined by the absence of China, Russia and Iran, who disagree with western and Arab allies over how to stop the bloodshed. A peace plan by the UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has so far failed to take hold amid fresh reports of deadly violence.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the Syrian regime should not be allowed to “manipulate” the plan to win time, indicating that military options might have to be considered if Damascus does not co-operate with Annan’s plan and the UN security council fails to unite in opposition to Assad. Russia and China vetoed a UN censure of Assad, fearing the measures could lead to foreign military intervention.

“If the UN security council fails once again to bring about its historic responsibility, there will be no other choice than to support the Syrian people’s right to self-defence,” Erdogan said.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, also expressed scepticism that the Syrian government would observe Annan’s plans, which call for an immediate ceasefire and a Syrian-led negotiation process.

“Nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises,” she said. “The world must judge Assad by what he does, not by what he says. And we cannot sit back and wait any longer.”

Clinton urged unity behind a plan that includes more sanctions, humanitarian aid, support for the opposition and the promise of justice one day for regime figures involved in atrocities. She said the US is providing communications equipment to help opposition members inSyria organise, remain in contact with the outside world and evade regime attacks.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, said the issue could return to the security council if current efforts to resolve the crisis fail. “There isn’t an unlimited period of time for this, for the Kofi Annan process to work before many of the nations here want us to go back to the UN security council – some of them will call for arming the opposition if there isn’t progress made,” he told BBC1’s Andrew Marr show.

“What is now being put to them is a plan from Kofi Annan supported by the whole United Nations security council, and this is an important point, it’s supported by Russia and by China as well.”

Burhan Ghalioun, leader of the opposition Syrian National Council, called for additional measures, including the strengthening of Syrian rebel forces as well as “security corridors” inside Syria, an apparent reference to the foreign military intervention that the nations meeting in Istanbul have so far been reluctant to support.

“No one should allow this regime to feel at ease or to feel stronger by giving them a longer manoeuvring area,” he said. “It’s enough that the international community has flirted with the regime in Syria. Something has to change.”

The Syrian government launched a pre-emptive attack on the conference, with a front-page editorial in the official al-Baath newspaper calling it a “regional and international scramble to search for ways to kill more Syrians, sabotage their society and state and move toward the broad objective of weakening Syria”. The regime has consistently dismissed the country’s year-long uprising as a foreign-engineered conspiracy.

The one-day Istanbul meeting follows an inaugural forum in Tunisia in February. Since then, Syrian opposition figures have tried to convince international sponsors that they can overcome their differences.

Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan – leading Turkey to float the idea of a buffer zone inside Syria should the flow of displaced people into its territory become overwhelming. There are concerns that foreign intervention – even if it has a humanitarian goal – could widen the conflict by dragging in other countries and triggering a surge in sectarian tensions.

Some Gulf countries want to arm the Syrian rebels, though there is uncertainty about the composition of rebel groups and their lack of cohesion. The US says military force against the Syrian government is a last resort.

Source: Guardian

‘Friends of #Syria’ to Back Post-Assad UN Force, Diplomats Say

24/02/12

By Nicole Gaouette

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. and allies from the “Friends of Syria,” meeting today in Tunisia, will ratchet up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad by announcing plans to deploy United Nations peacekeepers after his ouster, diplomats at the talks said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who’s in Tunis for the meeting attended by officials from more than 70 countries, earlier said there are signs that Syrian officials are beginning to desert Assad’s government, and she’s “betting against” his survival.

“There is growing evidence that some of the officials in the Syrian government are beginning to hedge their bets — moving assets, moving family members,” Clinton said in London before departing for Tunisia. “If I were a betting person for the medium term and certainly the long term, I would be betting against Assad.”

The “Friends” will challenge Assad to stop his assault on cities by declaring their immediate readiness to deliver aid as soon as he does. They’ll announce creation of an international aid structure, led by the UN, and the existence of operational hubs in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to deliver aid, the diplomats said.

Today’s meeting is meant to peel away the Syrian leader’s business and military support within the country, and highlight the isolation of Russia and China which have protected Assad with two UN vetoes, a diplomat said.

‘Assad’s Shelf Life Over’

“We know the time of the regime is ending,” Volker Perthes, head of the Berlin-based Institute for International and Security Affairs and author of several books on Syria and the Arab world, said in an interview. “Most of Assad’s shelf life is over but he could still hold on for months.”

On the eve of the talks, the UN and Arab League appointed former UN chief Kofi Annan to be special envoy on the Syrian crisis.

The death toll in the Syrian government’s crackdown on protests has risen to about 8,500, according to the Arab Organization for Human Rights. Russia and China have blocked UN Security Council resolutions calling for Assad to step down.

“Nobody now wants to use military force against Syria, and that means the only thing is to ratchet up political pressure and maybe get the Russians on board, given that they can still talk to Assad, so as to maybe get a situation like in Yemen,” said Perthes. Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to cede power to his deputy in return for immunity from prosecution.

‘Golden Bridges’

At the same time, “building golden bridges for people high in the regime who may want to leave is a way to speed Assad’s end,” he said. “It needs to be made clear to these people that they won’t starve if they leave for Lebanon, Europe or elsewhere.”

Assad’s government says “armed terrorist groups” with foreign support are responsible for the violence.

Syrian troops today continued their three-week bombardment of Homs, the country’s third-largest city, where two western journalists were among the fatalities this week. Al-Jazeera television today showed footage of another three reporters who said they are stranded in Syria.

French journalist Edith Bouvier, whose leg was broken in the attack that killed the Sunday Times’s Marie Colvin and photographer Remi Ochlik, pleaded in the video for a cease-fire so she can be evacuated and receive appropriate medical care. “The doctors here treated us very well, as much as they can, but they are not able to undertake surgeries,” she said.

Homs Skype Link

Opposition leaders in Homs will make statements to the Tunis meeting by Skype, the diplomats said. Leaders of the Syrian National Council, a leading umbrella group for anti-Assad groups, will attend in person to present their vision for transition.

Clinton said pressure will build on Syria and its allies Russia and China.

She said U.S. has disagreed with allies such as Qatar about arming the opposition, reflecting U.S. concern about further militarizing the conflict. There is evidence that within the fragmented opposition, democratic elements may be out-muscled by radical Sunni Muslims, including some allied with al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate, two U.S. officials said yesterday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Assad’s government will probably last into 2013, according to Joshua Landis, director of the Middle East Studies program at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

“Despite his regime’s rapid loss of legitimacy, its growing isolation and tanking economy, no countervailing force has yet emerged that can take it down,” Landis wrote on the Middle East Policy Council website.

—With assistance from Leon Mangasarian in Berlin, Massoud Derhally in Beirut and Ladane Nasseri in Dubai and Eddie Buckle in London. Editors: Leon Mangasarian, Ben Holland.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net

Source: businessweek.com

Russia proposes UN send special envoy to #Syria to coordinate humanitarian assistance

By Associated Press, Published: February 21  

MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday urged the United Nations to send a special envoy to Syria to help coordinate security issues and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Twitter Tuesday that it’s proposing that the U.N. Security Council ask the U.N. Secretary General to send the envoy.

On Monday Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the world body should help solve humanitarian issues in Syria, after Damascus allowed the Red Cross to bring humanitarian aid to some regions.

Russia and China have vetoed two Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protests that killed 5,400 in 2011 alone, according to the U.N. Hundreds more have been killed since, activist groups say.

Syria is Russia’s last remaining ally in the Middle East. Moscow has maintained close ties with Damascus since the Cold War, when Syria was led by the current leader’s father, Hafez Assad.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Tuesday that Moscow will not attend the planned “friends of Syria” meeting at the end of this week, because its organizers had failed to invite representatives of the Syrian government.

Lukashevich said the meeting in Tunisia wouldn’t help a dialogue, saying that the global community should act as friends of the entire Syrian people, and not just one part.

“It looks like an attempt to forge some kind of international coalition like it was with the setting-up of a ‘contact group’ for Libya,” Lukashevich said.

Russia has said it will block any U.N. resolution that could pave the way for a replay of what happened in Libya. In that case, Russia abstained from a vote, which cleared the way for months of NATO air force attacks that helped Libyans end Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.

Source: Washington Post