The spread of Syria’s civil war has made it increasingly difficult for civilians to escape the conflict, and many are afraid to seek medical care, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

“Through the spreading of the fighting people lose … escape routes out of the fights,” Peter Maurer told reporters in Stockholm after a meeting with Sweden’s Development Aid Minister Gunilla Carlsson.

“In summer, when fighting was going on in Aleppo and Homs, you could still move to Idlib or to some other places. Those places are increasingly rare because fighting is covering more parts of Syria.”

The latest toll brought the number of people killed in 20 months of violence in the country to more than 40,000, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Maurer also warned that “a much deeper humanitarian crisis” would unfold if attacks on medical workers and ambulances continued.

“The general population of Syria is afraid to see medical doctors and go to hospital because hospitals have become” military targets, he said.

Although the aid agency has managed to double the amount of aid brought into the country over the past three months, it was sometimes difficult to negotiate access for “neutral, impartial” deliveries in the highly polarised country, he added.

The Syrian uprising began as peaceful reform protests last year, inspired by the Arab Spring. It has since been transformed into an armed insurgency after the government began crushing demonstrations.

Most rebels, like the population, are Sunni Muslims in a country dominated by a minority regime of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

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

04/09/12

A deadly car bomb tore through a mainly Christian Damascus suburb Monday while Syrian warplanes pounded Aleppo province, killing dozens of people, as the opposition pleaded for arms and intervention.

The violence came as the head of the Red Cross travelled to Damascus on a humanitarian mission and CIA chief David Petraeus visited Turkey for talks expected to focus on the Syrian crisis.

Among those killed in the latest bloodshed 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.

The bodies of the children were laid out under fly-ridden blankets in the back of a yellow pick-up truck outside a hospital before a hurried funeral, the correspondent reported.

“This is all one family,” said tailor Hassan Dalati, who survived the raid on Al-Sultan Street in the city of 2.7 million people.

A fighter jet also struck in nearby Al-Bab, killing at least 18 people, with more unaccounted for beneath the rubble of flattened homes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Doctors said nine people died.

The dawn raid on a building being used as a shelter followed repeated over flights by military aircraft during the night, residents said.

“We were sleeping at home when the first bomb struck. I made a run for the door when a second blast buried me,” said a barely conscious survivor, peppered with shrapnel from head to foot.

The army also pounded Aleppo city, the Observatory said, more than five weeks after the start of what President Bashar al-Assad’s regime warned would be “the mother of all battles” for the commercial hub.

A senior commander in charge of the regime offensive on Aleppo told AFP that the army would recapture the northern 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.

The Observatory gave an updated toll of at least 138 people killed across Syria on Monday—78 of them civilians—after 132 people died in violence the previous day.

The watchdog, which has a network of activists on the ground, also reported that a car bomb ripped through the mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Jaramana on Monday, killing at least five people.

Another 27 people were wounded in the blast, it said, adding that the attack struck the area of Al-Wehdeh on the edges of Jaramana.

The southeastern suburb was previously hit by a car bomb on August 28, when at least 27 people attending a funeral for two supporters of the Damascus regime were killed.

“There is an increase of the use of car bombs in Syria,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

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 armor 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.

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.

The plight of refugees is expected to be among the top priorities of Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross who travelled to Damascus on Monday for a three-day visit.

Maurer would “discuss pressing humanitarian issues” during meetings on Tuesday with President Assad, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and other ministers, the ICRC said.

“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,” said Maurer.

Damascus said late Sunday that new UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi would soon travel to Damascus, without providing a date, while expressing confidence “he will listen to us.”

But Brahimi gave a deeply pessimistic view of the task ahead of him, in an interview with the BBC.

“I know how difficult it is — how nearly impossible. I can’t say impossible—[it is] nearly impossible,” he said.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said Brahimi’s success depended on states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

“The success of Lakhdar Brahimi does not depend on Syria,” said Zohbi.

“Brahimi’s success depends on certain states—such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey—respecting his mission, by closing their borders to armed men, and by ceasing to provide weapons,” he added.

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.

Meanwhile, The leader of the powerful Lebanese Shiite Muslim party Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Monday denied that his group possessed chemical weapons.

“We don’t have chemical weapons and we cannot use them for reasons linked to the Sharia and for humanitarian reasons,” Nasrallah said in an interview with Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen channel, which champions Hezbollah’s cause.

At the end of July, a number of Israeli officials warned against a possible transfer of Syrian chemical weapons to Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus.

The Syrian regime, gripped by an unprecedented revolt for 18 months, admitted in July for the first time that it possessed chemical weapons and threatened to use them in the event of foreign military intervention.

Nasrallah, who rarely grants interviews, said that in the case of “enemy attacks” against Lebanon, Hezbollah would not be content to “defend itself” but would “enter Galilee.”

In February 2011, the armed movement threatened to invade this region of northern Israel in the event of an Israeli attack.

-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.

03/09/12

(Reuters) - 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 neighboring 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.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Pravin Char)

31/08/12

#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.

07/08/12

Editor’s note: Amitai Etzioni is professor of international relations at George Washington University and author of “Hot Spots: American Foreign Policy in a Post-Human-Rights World,” to be published this fall by Transaction.

(CNN) — The Syrian Army assaulted the city of Houla on May 25, murdering 90 people, 30 of them children younger than 10. Amateur video reveals rows of bodies, adults and children, riddled with bullet holes and filling makeshift morgues. Earlier, reports from Homs described people tortured, doused in gasoline and set on fire, with the death toll including men, women and children.

The Red Cross announced it is withdrawing its workers in Damascus, leaving only 50 core workers, and the Arab Red Crescent has suspended its first aid efforts in Aleppo after repeated attacks on its vehicles and facilities by the Syrian army.

Civilian residences are shelled with artillery and tanks and bombed from planes, day after day. What else would it take for the civilized world to conclude that the line has been crossed and decent people can no longer stand by?

True, the atrocities in Syria do not compare in scope to those of the Holocaust; however, they have one major common element: They are not the work of some gangs, like those in Mexico; terrorists, like al Qaeda in Iraq; or foreign intruders, like the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan. They are the acts of a national government, a government that is systematically using its military to hammer its own people. Here, there are no difficulties in determining who is involved, and above all, who is in charge.

The media sticks punctiliously to professional standards and keeps reminding us that this or that report about the last outrage is “unconfirmed.” The New York Times notes that reports on summary executions by Syrian security forces in Baba Amr remain “unconfirmed.” Although this or that detail may not be verifiable, the Syrian authorities do not deny that most of the reported barbaric acts have taken place. They merely claim that they are dealing with foreign terrorists and are entitled to a free hand.

Q&A: What options are left in Syria?

The United States and other democracies claim that they are stymied by the U.N. Security Council’s refusal to authorize the use “of all means necessary” to stop the carnage, leaving the blood of Syrian civilians on the hands of Russia and China, who threaten to veto the kind of resolution that legalized the intervention in Libya.

But when the West faced atrocities on a smaller scale in Kosovo and could not gain the U.N.’s blessing, it acted decisively and effectively. The bloodshed was stopped.

If the West were to proceed in Syria, countries could point to a unanimous U.N. General Assembly resolution known as R2P, which states that all governments have a responsibility to protect their own people. The resolution warns governments that if they do not discharge this responsibility, they forfeit their right to sovereignty and the international community has not only a right to interfere, but a duty.

We are told that the rebels include extreme Islamists, even al Qaeda elements, who are hostile to the West and may commit atrocities of their own. Indeed, the rebels lined up against the wall and shot dead several Bashar al-Assad loyalists in Aleppo on August 1. There is also the fear that rebels might incite a civil war among Syria’s various ethnic groups, a result that would cost many additional lives.

Our goal should be limited: Pressure al-Assad’s regime to negotiate with the rebels on major reforms but not to hand them victory. We surely do not want to repeat the mistake we made in Iraq, in which the army and most civil servants were fired and the country plunged into anarchy and lawlessness. Above all, we must warn the rebels that we shall cease all support for them if they commit atrocities, a step we did not undertake in Libya, resulting in some very distressing consequences.

Finally, we are cautioned that the Syrian military is mightier, better equipped and more able to fight than the Libyan one was. Well, it is a year and half since the Syrian conflict began, and the army so far has been unable to gain an upper hand against disorganized, poorly equipped, untrained rebels. It seems obvious that al-Assad’s troops are hardly a match for the American military machine.

No one in his right mind suggests that the U.S. should invade Syria. But the U.S. could bomb the command and control centers of the Syrian army and, above all, the compound of those who are responsible for the brutal slaughtering of civilians — al-Assad and his inner circle.

The goal would be to punish the leaders of this campaign, to stop the slaughtering of civilians, to force those in charge to negotiate a settlement with the rebels and to warn other tyrants who watch Syria from the sidelines that they should not believe that they could act with impunity if they were to follow a similar course.

Frankly, it may be too late.

The rebels might not be ready to deal with the Syrian regime, even if those who head it are replaced. And the regime might collapse and the country plunge into chaos and increased bloodshed at any moment. However, if America and its allies act, it will be clear that there is a limit to our tolerance — that we will not hide behind the veto of Russia and China and refuse to move when large-scale crimes are committed by a government against its own people.

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

Violence in Syria has escalated into what the Red Cross calls a civil war. Activists say at least 17,000 people have died since the uprising began in March last year. The government of Bashar al-Assad, increasingly losing territory to rebel fighters, blames “terrorists” and “armed gangs” for the unrest, while the opposition and other nations have accused Assad’s forces of crimes against humanity.

Syria 24 minutes ago

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.”

* Team of six to deploy on Monday, Annan spokesman says

* To be followed by about two dozen observers

* New U.N. resolution expected to seek deployment of 250

* Need to start political dialogue, spokesman says

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, April 15 (Reuters) - An initial team of U.N. ceasefire monitors is due to arrive in Syria on Sunday evening and will be deployed on Monday in an effort to keep the peace plan on track, the spokesman for international mediator Kofi Annan said.

The six-person advance team will be joined by two dozen more observers in coming days in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday authorising the deployment of up to 30, Ahmad Fawzi said.

However, the Syrian government said on Sunday it had a right to refuse monitors depending on their nationalities. Government spokeswoman and presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban also said the government could not be responsible for the safety of the monitors unless it was involved in “all steps on the ground”. ID:nL6E8FF0SW]

Four days after a ceasefire was meant to come into effect, Syrian government forces shelled the city of Homs on Sunday, resident opposition activists and a rights activist said.

“Of course we are hoping that the process holds together until the observers get on the ground,” Fawzi told Reuters in Geneva.

Annan, joint special envoy of the United Nations and Arab League, brokered a six-point peace plan that was accepted in late March by the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian armed opposition to end 13 months of violence.

However, Syrian troops and their heavy weaponry did not withdraw from towns as required under the plan before the fragile ceasefire took effect last Thursday at dawn, and there have been some reports of violence and shelling since.

The idea is for the unarmed monitors to deploy as soon as possible - provided their security is guaranteed - to start supervising truce compliance while Annan presses ahead with other steps including the start of political dialogue.

IN BLUE HELMETS ON MONDAY

“The first batch of six U.N. observers arrives tonight, they will be on the ground in blue helmets tomorrow (Monday),” Fawzi said.

The six, to be led by a Moroccan colonel, will arrive from New York, he said.

“They will be quickly augmented by up to 25 to 30 from the region and elsewhere,” Fawzi said. He expected the whole advance team to be in Syria “as soon as possible and within a few days at most”.

He declined to identify the Moroccan colonel or name the countries contributing observers from peacekeeping operations already deployed in the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Geneva on Saturday night after private talks with Annan, said that he would make proposals by next Wednesday regarding the full observer mission, expected to number about 250. Their deployment requires a second Security Council resolution.

The plan by Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize winner, calls for delivery of humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners including those involved in peaceful protests, and freedom of movement for journalists to work throughout Syria.

The U.N. estimates Assad’s forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the uprising. Syrian authorities say foreign-backed militants have killed more than 2,500 soldiers and police.

U.N. aid agencies have been largely shut out from Syria - where the International Committee of the Red Cross is the only international agency to deploy aid workers - and the government currently restricts access for most foreign reporters.

“We hope to move forward on the other five points,” Fawzi said. “We need to start the political dialogue. We are continuing to reach out to the opposition forces to get organised so they can form one negotiating party.”

Days before the April 10 deadline for Syria to abide by a United Nations-backed peace plan, 54 people were reported killed across the country.

Taftanaz reportedly was bombarded by government warplanes, which have increasingly been used in recent weeks, according to activists and rebel fighters. At least 20 people were killed Tuesday and the attacks continued Wednesday, they said.

This image made from amateur video and released by the Syria media center Friday, March 23, 2012, purports to show Syrians pulling out the body of a man under the rubble of a building that was bombed in Homs, Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad says he will spare no effort to make the mission of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan a success but he demands that armed opponents commit to halting violence. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT Photo: Anonymous / Syria Media Center

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross is pressing Syrian authorities to allow aid workers greater access to detainees and civilians endangered by the country’s conflict.

Jakob Kellenberger is to meet Syria’s foreign, interior and health ministers on Tuesday as well as the head of the local Red Cross branch.

He says he is pushing for greater access to the sick, wounded and displaced, as well as for a two-hour daily halt to the fighting to allow aid access.

The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria’s year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Diplomacy has failed to stop the violence.

On Monday, international envoy Kofi Annan said Syria has agreed to comply with his peace plan and observe a cease-fire by April 10.