The Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimates that at least 2.5 million people have been internally displaced by the conflict there, the UN said on Tuesday.

The figure is more than double the 1.2 million that the United Nations says have been displaced.

“The figure they [the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, or SARC] are using is 2.5 million. If anything, they believe it could be more,” said Melissa Fleming, chief spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Fleming said conditions on the ground had made it difficult to establish precise figures.

“Some people have been internally displaced several times, people are on the run, hiding,” she said, adding that around “95 percent” of internally displaced people in the country had sought shelter with families.

“It’s easier to count if people are living in refugee camps,” Fleming said.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, meanwhile acknowledged that its 1.2 million figure was “very, very conservative.”

The UN has meanwhile calculated that at least 2.5 million people inside Syria are in need of emergency aid—a number expected to soar to above four million by early next year.

It estimates that the number of Syrian refugees registered in neighboring countries will likely rise from just over 400,000 now to more than 700,000 by early 2013.

More than 37,000 people have been killed in Syria since the violence began in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

-AFP

Video below of the visit ot the beseiged part of Homs for the first time in over 6 months.  The  video seems to contradict the report that ICRC gave :-

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sends this update:

“The Wounded Kid with the eye patch is afraid to go with the Red Cross Workers as he knows they will turn him over to the Assad The people are yelling at the Red Cross and Red Crescent spies that they are Worthless as they have no supplies and cannot do surgery and should leave. ”  is a quote from the Youtube decription

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

The new head of the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, says he was deeply alarmed by the devastation and suffering he witnessed during his recent three-day visit to Syria.

“I was shocked by the immense destruction of infrastructure and homes in several areas I visited in Mu’dhamiya, Qaboun and Harasta [on the outskirts of Damascus]. And I was deeply moved by the stories of distraught children who lost their parents in the fighting,” said Maurer, the former Swiss diplomat who took over as ICRC president on July 1.
 
The ICRC says needs have grown “exponentially” in recent weeks due to the escalation of the fighting and says delivery of humanitarian aid needs to be urgently sped up.
 
“Medical stocks are running out, doctors are overstretched or insufficiently qualified to be treating certain cases,” Maurer told a news conference in Geneva on Friday.
 
Maurer also said he had had a “sober, to-the-point” 45-minute discussion with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus about the humanitarian needs.
 
“He showed his commitment to work on the many different points and facilitate the administrative hurdles,” said the new ICRC boss.
 
“I have the impression that Assad and his government realise that the crisis is getting worse…that people are in need and they have to do something to allow aid through to their suffering people.”
 
Maurer said Assad told him the ICRC could operate on the ground in the country as long as it remained “neutral and independent”.

ICRC President Maurer (centre) visited wounded fighters in Syria (ICRC / I. Malla)

Test commitments

During talks with Assad and top Syrian officials, the ICRC president also repeated the request to visit all persons detained in Syria in connection with the current events and underlined the need to respect international humanitarian law.
 
“President al-Assad expressed his readiness to address this issue,” said Maurer.
 
But he added that “the positive commitments I received during my meetings will obviously have to be followed up and tested in the coming weeks.”
 
An estimated 1.2 million people have been forced from their homes within Syria during the conflict, many of them staying in public buildings.
 
The ICRC has 50 foreign and Syrian aid workers in the country. Since the start of the year, the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed relief items to 800,000 people and ensured that over one million people have enough clean water. But heavy fighting over recent months means “we are confronted with a new situation”, said the ICRC president.

Swiss long-term support

Senior Swiss foreign ministry officials say the Syrian population will need humanitarian aid for several years as there is no end in sight for the 17-month conflict between the government and rebels.
 
Beat von Däniken, coordinator of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in the Jordanian capital Amman, said the Syrians could rely on Swiss help.
 
“We plan to stay in region for a while,” he told a news conference in Bern on Thursday.
 
The foreign ministry earlier this week announced it was increasing its aid budget to SFr13 million ($13.6 million). The money is going toward aid efforts by the ICRC and United Nations organisations.
 
The Swiss contribution also helps fund projects with families in Lebanon who take in Syrian refugees or for schools in Jordan to house the displaced people.
 
Von Däniken says about 2.5 million people in Syria depend on humanitarian assistance while aid organisations face increasing resistance from the parties involved in the conflict.
 
Switzerland is among the top ten donors for Syria according to Manuel Bessler, head of the Humanitarian Aid Unit in the foreign ministry.
 
Switzerland also supports a political programme by the Syrian opposition and it called on the UN Security Council to take suspected cases of war crimes to an international tribunal.
 
Neither of these efforts compromise Switzerland’s status as a neutral country in the Middle East, according to foreign ministry officials.

06/09/12

Newly-arrived Syrian refugee children are helped by Jordanian military soldiers after they crossed the border from Tal Shehab city in Syria, through the Al Yarmouk River valley, into Thnebeh town, in Ramtha, Jordan, Wednesday, Sept. 5.  Mohammad Hannon/AP

Syrian troops recaptured a rebel-held town along the Jordanian border today, cutting off a major crossing for Syrian refugees fleeing to Jordan and putting further stress on the humanitarian crisis resulting from the protracted civil war.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization, and local activist Mohammad Abu Houran, 20 Syrian tanks and scores of soldiers attacked Tel Chehab this morning.

Nearly 2,000 refugees were in Tel Chehab when the Syrian Army attacked, Mr. Houran told the Associated Press. The territorial loss is a setback for Syrian rebels who, according to the AP, claim to control more than half of the country but are facing increasing challenges, such as weapon shortages.

“Right now we have more people who want to fight than we have weapons,” Ahmad Ibrahim, a senior member of the Free Syrian Army in the town of Akhtrin, told The Christian Science Monitor’s reporter Tom A. Peter this week. (See his coverage on the rebels’ surplus of volunteers but shortage of weapons here.)

But the rebels aren’t the only ones losing ground: The Army’s recapturing of a refugee thoroughfare exacerbates an already difficult reality for Syrian refugees as well. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, has supplied food and water for an estimated 180,000 internally displaced people in Syria since mid-July. Aid agencies have been trying to boost their relief operations, Reuters reports.

Aid agencies are trying to beef up relief operations across Syria, where the ICRC says that needs have grown “exponentially” in the past few weeks due to the escalation of violence in the 17-month-old rebellion against Assad.

Clashes and continuous bombardment have cut off many civilians from basic services and life-saving supplies.

On Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Peter Maurer, the head of the ICRC, that he welcomes humanitarian operations carried out by the organization in Syria – as long as it works “independently and neutrally,” reports Syrian newspaper Day Press News.

Syrian official Ali Haidar said caution was called for in allowing in aid workers, as such organizations could be making an  ”impermissible request to open doors that violate Syrian sovereignty,” reports Reuters. A diplomatic source also said that “Syria has been very unwilling to grant access and independence to the ICRC once they get in.”

For those displaced by the conflict, finding safety, food, and water is increasingly precarious, according to a report by the BBC.

Every family has a story to tell – stories of fear and horror, of blood and loss.

One of the men, Abu Salem, says he fled the central town of Rastan with his wife and four children four months ago after a rocket hit their house.

They travelled to Damascus and ended up renting a 50 sq m (538 sq ft) flat in one of the capital’s suburbs. Then early last month, the area came under heavy bombardment from government forces.

Abu Salem says they yet again had to flee, but this time there was no place to go except a nearby public park. They spent 12 days there with many other families until some aid workers found them a place at the old house.

“The neighbours provided us with some food, but we spent 12 days without a shower,” he recalls.

Abu Salem used to work in construction but – like hundreds of thousands of other Syrian men – he has not earned anything since protests against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. Like hundreds of thousands of other Syrians, he and his family have also been displaced from their homes by the ensuing conflict.

The humanitarian crisis is not contained within Syria. Refugees, like those in the town of Tel Chehab, are fleeing into neighboring countries like Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan in the thousands. More than 25,000 Syrian refugees crossed into Jordan and registered with the United Nations humanitarian agency last month alone, and there are close to 100,000 Syrians in Turkish camps today. The total number of refugees is estimated at 235,000, according to an editorial in the Los Angeles TImes.

The war has an estimated death toll of more than 23,000 people, activists say, with nearly 5,000 people killed in August, the highest monthly total since the crisis began in March last year, according to the Associated Press.

Despite these numbers, few are arguing for international military intervention in Syria. According to an editorial by the Los Angeles Times, military intervention is too risky, and the international community’s focus should remain on helping refugees and the displaced:

Dismay over the continued violence in Syria is understandable and should impel the United States, other “friends of Syria” and the United Nations to support relief measures including, if necessary, the creation of safe havens for refugees. But the Obama administration is right to stop short of either arming Syrian rebels – who, according to U.S. intelligence officials, have been infiltrated by Islamic extremists from outside the country – or engaging in direct military intervention. Advocates of military involvement exaggerate the ease with which the U.S. could shape events in Syria and underestimate the dangers.

ICRC launches Syria mercy mission

ALEPPO (AFP/Reuters) - Red Cross chief Peter Maurer launched a mercy mission in Syria to seek greater protection for civilians on Tuesday, as opposition activists said rebel-held areas of second city Aleppo faced severe food shortages under a government offensive.Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, met President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country, ICRC spokesman Hisham Hassan said.In a 45-minute meeting, he urged respect for international humanitarian law, Hassan said in a statement, and stressed the need to ensure swift provision by the ICRC of humanitarian aid such as medical supplies and equipment to restore damaged water infrastructure. State television said Assad voiced support for the work of the ICRC in Syria so long as it remains “impartial and independent.” “President Assad assured (Maurer) that he welcomed the humanitarian operations carried out by the committee on the ground in Syria, as long as it remains impartial and independent,” the channel reported.Maurer’s visit comes amid a surge in violence in the past weeks across Syria, where according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights more than 5,000 people were killed in the month of August alone.Also in August, more than 100,000 people fled the war-torn country to seek refuge in neighbouring states, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday, in the highest monthly figure since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011. The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on its information from a network of activists on the ground, said at least 40 people, half of them civilians, were killed in violence across Syria on Tuesday.It put Monday’s death toll at 153 - 81 civilians, including 19 children and 14 women, 42 soldiers and 30 rebels. An activist said rebel-held neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Aleppo were struggling with severe food shortages due to the government offensive.In sharp contrast, life returned to the streets of central Aleppo following advances by regime forces, an AFP reporter said. Shops were open for business and residents went about their errands in the city centre. On Monday, an entire family - including seven children - was killed when a government air raid hit their home in the heart of Aleppo, witnesses told an AFP correspondent in the city.A fighter jet also struck in nearby Al-Bab, killing at least nine people, according to doctors. Activists said that on Tuesday some outlying districts of the northern city were bombarded with artillery and mortars as was an area near Aleppo airport.In the capital Damascus, fighting broke out in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk early Tuesday between rebels and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Observatory said. Elsewhere in central Syria, a 15-year-old rebel was killed during clashes in Old Homs, in a city which has been devastated by shelling since the early days of the revolt. Monday’s air strikes came as the main opposition Syrian National Council appealed to the international community for weapons and urgent military intervention to defend civilians from such attacks.“We need a humanitarian intervention and we are asking for military intervention for the Syrian civilians,” SNC chairman Abdel Basset Sayda said. “I have the duty of asking for weapons that will allow us to defend against the Syrian armour and weapons.”Meanwhile, the partner of Mika Yamamoto, a veteran Japanese war reporter shot dead in Aleppo on August 20, urged Damascus on Tuesday to investigate her death, saying she had been ambushed by pro-government forces.“I suspect the government side is afraid to see Western journalists, including us, report facts,” Kazutaka Sato told a news conference in Tokyo.  Russia considered evacuating military personnel from Syria this summer but decided the situation was stable enough not to warrant the move, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a military source. The Interfax report indicated Moscow has no immediate plans to abandon a supply and maintenance base in the Mediterranean port of Tartous that is Russia’s only naval facility outside the former Soviet Union. “Plans for a long-distance mission by a detachment of Russian navy ships foresaw the possibility of evacuating Russian specialists from Syria,” Interfax quoted the unnamed source in Russia’s armed forces general staff as saying.China said on Tuesday the situation in Syria was worsening but that it still opposed any outside armed intervention in the country, ahead of a visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A political solution remained the only way out for Syria, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a daily news briefing.“We have always believed that the only correct path must be a political resolution to the crisis. Currently, the situation is worsening, but the worse the situation, the more unity is needed,” Hong said. He also repeated Chinese opposition to any the use of chemical weapons, while restating Chinese opposition to armed intervention in Syria. “China adamantly opposes any country developing, manufacturing or using chemical weapons,” Hong said. “China opposes armed intervention over the Syria issue.” According to the Observatory, more than 26,000 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt began 17 months ago - more than two-thirds of them civilians. The figures are impossible to verify.

04/09/12

Red Cross chief Peter Maurer was in Syria on a mercy mission Tuesday amid a surge of bombings and clashes in the capital and the second city Aleppo that left scores more dead, a spokeswoman said.

Maurer’s mission will “focus on increased humanitarian needs and to remind the belligerents of their obligation under international law related to the protection of civilians” in particular, said International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokeswoman in Damascus Rabab Rifai.

Making his first visit to violence-wracked Syria since being appointed as ICRC head on July 1, Maurer is slated to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and senior officials, including Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, Rifai said, but gave no timings.

The visit comes amid a surge in violence in the past weeks across Syria, where according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights more than 5,000 people were killed in the month of August alone.

The Britain-based watchdog, which relies on its information from a network of activists on the ground, said 153 people died countrywide on Monday — 72 civilians, including 19 children and 14 women, 42 soldiers and 30 rebels.

Among those killed was an entire family — including seven children — when a government air raid hit their home in the heart of Aleppo, witnesses told an AFP correspondent in Syria’s second city.

An activist said that on Tuesday, several districts of the northern city were bombarded with artillery and mortar fire as was an area near the Aleppo airport, bordering the Nayrab district in the southwest of the city.

A senior commander in charge of the regime offensive on Aleppo told AFP that the army would recapture the city from the rebel forces “within 10 days.”

Some 3,000 troops were involved in the fight against about 7,000 “terrorists,” said the general, adding that 2,000 of the insurgents had been killed since the assault on Aleppo was launched at the start of August.

In the capital Damascus, fighting broke out in the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp early Tuesday between members of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and rebel fighters, the Observatory said.

It also reported fighting between rebels and the army in the capital’s southern district of Tadamun, which is adjacent to the camp.

The Syrian Revolution General Council, a network of opposition activists, said that panicked residents were fleeing the Yarmuk camp in droves amid the fighting.

On Monday, a car bomb ripped through the mainly Christian and Druze Damascus suburb of Jaramana, killing at least five people, according to the Observatory.

In Madrid, the opposition Syrian National Council appealed to the international community for weapons and urgent military intervention to defend civilians from such attacks.

“We need a humanitarian intervention and we are asking for military intervention for the Syrian civilians,” SNC chairman Abdel Basset Sayda said. “I have the duty of asking for weapons that will allow us to defend against the Syrian armour and weapons.”

Sayda said the conflict had now killed 30,000 people and forced millions from their homes, including more than three million displaced inside the country and 250,000 who had fled abroad. Another 100,000 had been detained.

The plight of civilians was at the forefront of the ICRC mission to Syria, Maurer said in a statement issued on Monday in Geneva.

“At a time when more and more civilians are being exposed to extreme violence, it is of the utmost importance that we and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent succeed in significantly scaling up our humanitarian response,” the ICRC chief said.

His talks with Syrian officials would largely deal with the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria, as well as the difficulties the ICRC and the Red Crescent face as they try to reach people affected by the armed conflict, the statement said.

According to the Observatory, more than 26,000 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt began in March last year — more than two-thirds of them civilians.

In Ankara, a US official told AFP that CIA director Petraeus was in Turkey for regional meetings, without elaborating.

His visit comes less than two weeks after Turkish and US officials held their first operational planning meetings aimed at bringing an end to the Assad regime.

© ANP/AFP

Red Cross chief will request Assad’s

help with Syria’s humanitarian crisis

The Red Cross head is traveling to Syria to request that President Bashar al-Assad make it easier for humanitarian workers to reach civilians facing deteriorating living conditions.

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters / September 3, 2012

The new head of the Red Cross will urge Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to improve humanitarian access to civilians in the war-torn country during a visit to Syria that begins on Monday, the aid agency said.

Peter Maurer said he would also continue efforts to gain access for his agency to Syria’s detention centers – which rights groups say hold tens of thousands of people rounded up during the 17-month-old conflict, including teenagers.

“At a time when more and more civilians are being exposed to extreme violence, it is of the utmost importance that we and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent succeed in significantly scaling up our humanitarian response,” he said in a statement.

“An adequate humanitarian response is required to keep pace with needs, which have been growing exponentially,” added Maurer, who took over as president of the independent organization from Jakob Kellenberger on July 1.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has 50 foreign and Syrian aid workers in Syria, but all have been confined to Damascus since late July due to heavy fighting in what it has said has become an internal armed conflict, or civil war in layman’s terms.

The agency was not able to send out any aid convoys for more than two weeks, but did manage late last week to send some food rations and other relief supplies to rural Damascus and Homs for distribution by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the ICRC said.

Maurer, a former senior Swiss diplomat, will meet Assad and senior officials in Damascus during the three-day trip, the statement said.

“Talks will mainly tackle the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation and the difficulties faced by the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent as they attempt to reach people affected by the armed conflict,” it said.

Living conditions worsening

Syrian civilians’ living conditions are worsening dramatically, as it becomes harder to obtain food and escape fighting which caused a record death toll of 1,600 last week, aid agencies said on Friday.

Tens of thousands have been forced to flee fighting in recent weeks and increasing numbers of wounded are dying for lack of medical care or supplies, the ICRC said.

A car bomb exploded in a district on the edge of the capital Damascus on Monday, causing casualties including women and children, state media and opposition campaigners said.

About 1.2 million people have been displaced in Syria during the conflict and a further 230,000 refugees have fled to four neighbouring countries, the United Nations says.

The ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed relief items to more than 800,000 people this year, most of them displaced and staying in temporary shelters including schools, and ensured that more than one million people have enough clean water, the ICRC said.

Maurer, whose meetings are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, is also due to meet Foreign Minister Walid Moualem, Interior Minister General Mohamad Ibrahim Al Shaar, Health Minister Saad Abdel Salam Al-Nayef, and the Minister of State for National Reconciliation, Ali Haidar.

Syria opened its prisons for the first time almost exactly a year ago under a deal secured by Kellenberger on the first of his three trips there.

ICRC officials visited Damascus central prison last September but their access quickly stalled amid disagreement over the ICRC’s standard requirements, which include the right to interview prisoners in private and make follow-up visits.

After Kellenberger won fresh agreement from Syrian authorities in April, ICRC officials visited inmates at Aleppo central prison in May, but there has been no access since.

31/08/12

Syrian civilians are living in a constant state of fear, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday, warning of a fast deteriorating humanitarian situation across large parts of the country.

“People fear for their lives every minute of the day,” said Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC in Syria.

“Humanitarian needs have risen sharply as civilians face ever more difficulty obtaining basic necessities, either because the items are not available in some parts of the country, or because the violence prevents people from going to get them,” she added.

The ICRC warned that the situation in large swathes of the country “is currently edging towards irreversible deterioration.”

Many people have lost their jobs, and many families their breadwinner, the statement added. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by violence in Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo, where fighting broke out mid-summer.

The Syrian authorities have maintained severe restrictions on the operations of aid agencies despite the escalating crisis, and have rejected calls for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor.

More than 26,000 people have been killed in violence since an uprising erupted against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in March last year meeting with a fierce crackdown by the army, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

-AFP

26/08/12

Is #Syria in a state of civil war?

17/08/2012 #Syria: Attacks on Red Crescent volunteers leave thousands without aid 

09/08/2012

(ICRC)

Thousands of civilians, especially in the governorates of Damascus and Aleppo, are struggling to stay safe. Despite facing increasing challenges over the past three weeks, the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent assisted over 125,000 people affected by violence in several parts of Syria.

“Though the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are doing everything possible to assist civilians affected by the violence, it is also up to the parties to the conflict to take every feasible measure to spare the civilian population the effects of the fighting,” said Marianne Gasser, the head of the ICRC delegation in Syria.

“As the situation began to worsen in Damascus, it became very difficult for our staff to move about in and around the city to bring aid to the civilian population,” said Ms Gasser. “Needs have been growing very fast, so the ICRC has had to quickly adapt its way of working to be able to meet them in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.”

As fighting flared up in the governorate of Aleppo, in the north of Syria, thousands of people left their homes and began pouring into public buildings, now used as temporary shelters. Over 80 schools in several parts of the governorate are currently hosting civilians who have fled the fighting. “Aleppo is of particular concern to the ICRC, not only because of its distant geographical location, but because the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had to suspend most of its activities owing to extreme danger on the ground,” said Ms Gasser. “Still, dozens of volunteers have continued to work under extremely difficult conditions to meet the growing needs of the civilian population.”

To help the Red Crescent cope with the mounting need for humanitarian aid, the ICRC managed to deliver enough food and other essentials to Aleppo governorate today to cover the needs of at least 12,500 people.

Many health-care facilities are also finding it ever more challenging to treat the injured because their services have been disrupted by the violence, and medical items are scarce. The ICRC has sent enough medical supplies to treat between 250 and 1,000 casualties, depending on the seriousness of their injuries. Over the past two weeks, the ICRC arranged repeatedly for water and sanitation technicians to ensure that schools had enough clean water to cover the needs of the displaced people taking shelter in them and to preserve sanitary conditions despite frequent overcrowding.

Though humanitarian efforts over the past few weeks have focused on Damascus and Aleppo, needs in other parts of the country remain high. In Homs city, thousands of people have taken shelter in schoolhouses and other public buildings, some for several weeks already. The ICRC has delivered a one-month supply of food for over 20,000 people in the city. For several months, access to water has also been a serious concern for the majority of the people in Homs. To help the city cope with water shortages, the ICRC has installed a 1,000 kilowatt-amp generator to boost the capacity of the Ain Al-Tanour pumping stations, which supply 80 per cent of the drinking water for the city’s combined resident and displaced population of 800,000. To help the Syrian Arab Red Crescent deal with the persisting humanitarian needs in Hama, Idlib, Lattakia, Raqqa and Hassakeh governorates, the ICRC has delivered a one-month supply of food for more than 43,000 civilians.

The ICRC currently has 50 staff members working in Syria. Together with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, ICRC staff have been assisting tens of thousands of people in all parts of the country who have so far been affected by the violence.

Over the past three weeks, in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the ICRC has:

• delivered enough supplies to treat between 250 and 1,000 casualties to Aleppo, and wound-dressing and other materials to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Damascus;

• equipped the Red Crescent’s four mobile health units, which have been providing primary health care and medicines in schools hosting displaced people in Damascus;

• provided more than 125,000 mainly displaced people in and around Damascus city and in Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Idlib, Lattakia, Hassakeh and Raqqa with over 25,000 food parcels, together with one-kilogram packs of dates and dried apricot to mark the holy month of Ramadan, to help them cope for one month;

• helped the Red Crescent’s Aleppo branch improve access to safe drinking water in 10 schools hosting an estimated 2,000 people, and also helped improve access to safe drinking water and improve sanitary conditions in Damascus and Rural Damascus for over 68,000 people who recently fled the fighting and are staying in 27 schools and residential areas;

• continued to ensure that more than 300,000 people accommodated in over 100 schoolhouses in Homs have an ample supply of clean water;

• delivered nearly 10,000 mattresses to schoolhouses and other public buildings hosting displaced people in and around Damascus city and in Aleppo and Homs, and 2,000 sets of hygiene items to Aleppo.

For further information, please contact:

Rabab Al-Rifaï, ICRC Damascus, tel: +963 993 700 847 or +963 11 331 0476
Cecilia Goin, ICRC Beirut, tel: +961 353 1694
Hicham Hassan, ICRC Geneva: tel: +41 22 730 25 41 or +41 79 536 92 57

#Syria rebels forced from key Aleppo district

Rebels admit tactical retreat from southern Salaheddin neighbourhood, as UK announces $7.8m aid boost for opposition.

10/08/2012

Syrian rebels have been pushed out of a strategic district in the commercial capital of Aleppo, but fighting has continued in other parts of the city.

Hossam Abu Mohammed, a rebel commander, said that his men were still fighting in parts of Salaheddin district on Friday, after most fled under heavy bombing and advancing troops.

“We will not let Salaheddin go,” the Free Syrian Army’s Abu Mohammed told AFP  news agency by telephone as the third day of a government offensive to take the city raged.

Rebels said clashes continued in the district and that, while the government had at least 80 tanks stationed in various parts of Aleppo, the military appeared reluctant to engage in close combat, preferring to use helicopters and fighter jets.

Sheikh Tawfiq, commander of the Nur al-Din Zinky brigade based on 15th street in Salaheddin, said the army’s formidable weaponry was offset by apparently faltering morale.

“At the 10th street front line we are face-to-face with the army and can hear them make orders on their radios. We hear their commanders give orders to soldiers to advance and they keep urging them to, but the soldiers don’t and are hesitant.”

State television said: “Our special forces have cleansed Salaheddin district of terrorists.”
  
State media reported that the government offensive in Aleppo had taken place on several fronts, including a neighbourhood near the airport in southeast Aleppo, several eastern districts, and a town on Aleppo’s northwestern outskirts, state media said.

Despite the violence, the Red Cross delivered food and medical supplies to Aleppo, the first time one of its aid convoys managed to enter the city in several weeks.

Kassem Saadeddine, a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army, said that the rebel withdrawal “does not mean we are leaving Aleppo. We have military plans to fight in the city, but we cannot reveal them”.

‘New Syria envoy’

Diplomats at the United Nations, meanwhile, indicated on Thursday that Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, could be named next week to replace Kofi Annan as the joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria.

Also on Thursday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appointed Wael al-Halki, the country’s health minister, as Syria’s new prime minister. Halki replaces Riad Hijab, who fled to Jordan and defected to the opposition earlier his week.

As the battle for Aleppo raged, Iran called on Thursday for “serious and inclusive” negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition. Iran made the appeal after a gathering of diplomats from like-minded states in Tehran for talks on the conflict.

“There will be no winner in Syria,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement read by a UN representative to the conference in Tehran.

“Now, we face the grim possibility of long-term civil war destroying Syria’s rich tapestry of interwoven communities.”

On Friday, the United Nations said that the number of registered Syrian refugees had topped 150,000 since the conflict began in March 2011. The total includes 50,227 in Turkey, where more than 6,000 Syrians arrived this week alone.

There are also 45,869 refuguees registered in Jordan, with 36,841 more in Lebanon and 13,587 in Iraq. The number of refugees in Iraq does not include the return of 23,228 Iraqis, who had fled the US invasion in 2003, from Syria.

Smaller numbers of refugees have also fled o Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Greece, the UN says. 

UK increases opposition support

William Hague, the British foreign minister, on Friday announced that his country was offering $7.8 million in aid to the Syrian rebels. He said that none of the money would be used for weapons.

The UK will also be intensifying its contacts with Syrian opposition political figures as well as with the Free Syrian Army, he said.

The aid was likely to include mobile phones, satellite phones and radios to warn civilians of governmen assaults and 
“overcome the regime’s communications blockade and ensure their message gets to the outside world”, Hague said.

“I have also agreed in principle that our assistance should include lifesaving protective equipment for civilians to help those carrying out vital work in the crossfire, and this could for instance include body armour,” he said.

Britain would also supply medical equipment including paramedic trauma kits, surgical equipment, field dressings, antibiotics, painkillers and water purification kits, the foreign minister said.

Diplomats at the UN, meanwhile, indicated on Thursday that the official announcement regarding the appointment of Brahimi as the UN-Arab League envoy would be made early next week.

Brahimi was the UN envoy in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Kofi Annan, a former UN secretary-general, said he was leaving the post because of the lack of international support for his efforts to end the 17-month Syria conflict, in which rebels say more than 20,000 people have been killed.

Annan is staying in his post until August 31.

04/08/12

Geneva/Damascus (ICRC) – As the armed conflict in Syria escalates and takes a heavy toll on civilians, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is more determined than ever to carry on with its work in order to meet growing humanitarian needs. The organization is appealing to all parties to the conflict to fully respect the rules and principles of international humanitarian law, which is commonly known as the laws of war.

“We urge all parties involved in the fighting to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law,” said Robert Mardini, the ICRC’s head of operations for the Near and Middle East. ”We have already shared our concerns bilaterally with the Syrian authorities and some opposition armed groups. We are now making this urgent public appeal so that it will reach the warring sides on the ground without delay and at the very time that events are occurring. The objective is to prevent further loss of life and further suffering among civilians caught up in the fighting.”

The hostilities are subject to rules imposing limits on how the fighting can be conducted, with the aim of protecting the civilian population and persons not, or no longer, participating in the hostilities, such as detainees and the wounded.

“Under international humanitarian law, the parties to the conflict must at all times distinguish between civilians and persons directly participating in hostilities. Attacks may be directed only against military objectives – never against civilians, or against civilian structures such as homes, schools or places of worship,” said Mr Mardini. “Especially where fighting is taking place in densely populated urban areas, such as Aleppo, Homs or Damascus, the parties must constantly take care in their choice of means and methods of warfare so as to spare, as far as possible, civilians and civilian infrastructure,” he added. “Civilians must be allowed to move freely to safer areas.”

It is particularly important that medical services be protected. “In emergency situations such as this, the availability of timely and appropriate medical care is often a matter of life and death,” said Mr Mardini. “The wounded and the sick must be able to obtain medical care without delay. All possible measures must be taken by the parties to provide people with the medical care they need or to facilitate their evacuation, without taking any account of what side they may or may not support.” People’s access to medical care also depends on medical personnel, ambulances, hospitals and clinics, and humanitarian relief personnel, being respected and protected from attack. In addition, the red cross and red crescent emblems must be respected in all circumstances. “The Syrian Arab Red Crescent has already lost five of its staff members,” pointed out Mr Mardini. “Several ambulances have been shot at or stolen. This lack of respect has made the job of the Red Crescent even more dangerous at the very time when it is most needed.”

”Persons detained, or otherwise in the power of a party to the conflict, must be treated humanely in all circumstances,” added Mr Mardini. Murder, torture and other cruel treatment are prohibited at all times.

Finally, the ICRC official insisted that ”all possible measures must be taken by the parties to the conflict to ensure that people who have fled their homes because of the fighting are safe and receive adequate shelter and health care.”

Since the beginning of the year, the ICRC, in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, has provided aid in several parts of the country for over half a million displaced people and others affected by the violence. Despite the difficult and dangerous conditions, the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are committed to doing their utmost to meet the most urgent needs.

For further information, please contact:
Hicham Hassan, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 41 or +41 79 536 92 57
Rabab Al-Rifaï, ICRC Damascus, tel: +963 993 700 847 or +963 11 331 0476

Russian president Vladimir Putin (left) greets UN envoy Kofi Annan at the start of a meeting concerning a peace plan for Syria at the Kremlin in Moscow yesterday. Clashes in Damascus between rebels and state forces raged for a third day, in the fiercest fighting to hit Syria’s seat of power since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began 17 months ago.Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin

MICHAEL JANSEN

UN HUMANITARIAN chief Valerie Amos yesterday warned combatants involved in the Syrian conflict to avoid loss of civilian life or face prosecution for war crimes as fierce fighting continued for the third day in Damascus.

Baroness Amos observed: “As the International Committee of the Red Cross has now described the situation as an armed conflict, international humanitarian law applies across Syria in areas where there is fighting.”

Shooting was reported in the capital near the central bank in Seven Springs Square, often the site of pro-regime demonstrations, and at the headquarters of the ruling Baath party in the al-Mazra’ah area. Firing erupted on Baghdad Avenue, and rebels claim to have shot down one of the helicopters overhead.

The army was said to have deployed artillery against rebel strongholds in the capital’s outskirts where dissidents established a presence many months ago. The escalation followed the declaration on Monday night by the rebel Free Syrian Army of “Damascus Volcano”, an all-out offensive against government troops. Rebel spokesman Col Qassim Saadeddine announced, “The battle for Damascus has begun.” A diplomat in Damascus said this operation has started ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when anti-regime protesters can be expected to take to the streets.

This battle commenced on the southern edge of the capital and has spread to the northeast and centre. A main focus has been the Midan district, where troops have surrounded rebels and refuse to allow them to retreat to less densely populated areas. Shooting has been heard in Palestinian camps where rebels retreating from the besieged Tadamon quarter have sought refuge.

The rebels also announced they launched attacks on government troops in traditional hot spots Homs, Hama and Idlib, and threatened to block main internal and international routes. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, an influential component of the ex-patriate Syrian National Council, urged Syrians to seize “this historic moment” by giving support to the rebels. “Prepare to become soldiers in this decisive battle. You will secure victory with your own two hands,” stated the movement, outlawed in Syria since 1963.

The opening of the offensive has been timed to coincide with the UN Security Council’s consideration of a draft resolution, proposed by Britain, the US, France and Germany. It would extend the deployment of the UN monitoring mission in Syria for 45 days and place implementation of the peace plan proposed by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan under chapter seven of the UN charter which authorises military action as well as sanctions if threats are posed to international peace and security.

Although the US says it favours sanctions not military action, Moscow distrusts Washington which used a similar resolution to lead Nato intervention in the Libyan conflict. During talks in Moscow with Mr Annan, Russian president Vladimir Putin pledged to “do everything” to support the Annan peace plan but would not back the western draft. Mr Annan, who warned the “crisis is in a key turning point”, said he hoped discussions would continue and send a message to Syria. Ahead of this encounter, Moscow declared its intention to veto the resolution. Russia has circulated its own draft extending the mandate of the monitors.

In spite of a last-minute appeal from UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, China is likely to support Russia in the vote, scheduled for today. China’s People’s Daily editorialised, “The life of Syria’s current political leadership can only be determined by the Syrian people.”