Monday 12 March 2012
March 12, 2012 by sks
Filed under News, Support Kurds, Syrian Revolution
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: The Syrian security forces and Shabeeha have committed a new massacre in Homs on Sunday’s night. Following the bombardment of the neighbourhood of Kerm Al-Zeyton in Homs, the forces and Shabeeha have entered the area and slaughtered at least 25 children and 20 women.
More than one family from the neighbourhood of Kerm Al-Zeyton, in Homs, were slaughtered by white and fiery arms. There women and children among the causalities and there are indications that a group of Shabeeha has committed this massacre.
Due to the re-commitment of massacres in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is calling the UN to form an independent inquiry team urgently. The team should have judges known for their good characters and their task is to unravel the identities of the criminals who committed these massacres and to bring them to justice.
(last night) The Syrian security forces and Shabeeha have committed a new massacre in Homs on Sunday’s night. Following the bombardment of the neighbourhood of Kerm Al-Zeyton in Homs, the forces and Shabeeha have entered the area and slaughtered at least 25 children and 20 women.
11 3 2012 Wanton slaughter of families. How!!!
English Speakers to Help The Syrian Revolution:Activists in Syria said they found the body of about sixty people mostly women and children in the neighborhood of Adawiya, Karam Al Zeitoun in the city of Homs. This comes after the deaths of nearly 80 people mostly in Idleb, including 20 executed next to a mosque in the city.
About 140 people killed in Syria: www.aljazeera.net
This man escaped from the massacre in Karam Al Zeitoun and tells us what happened.
English Subtitles with thanks to WODHR
BAB DREIB UNDER CONTINUING SHELLING ATTACK BY REGIME FORCES THIS MORNING.
Bab Dreib
MA’ARRAT MISRIN: IDLEB: Under heavy shelling attack. IDLEB: DAILY SUMMARY: 46 MARTYRS that they were able to confirm yesterday, including 21 who cannot be reached because of the ongoing shelling
Idlib
There are landmines along all of the Borders to kill those who dare to flee … Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey … a bridge into Lebanon was destroyed last week to hold back the refugees, and yesterday Rastan Western Bridge
VIDEO: ‘DELIEVERANCE’ BRIDGE WEST OF RASTAN…… THE ONLY WAY TO FLEE FROM THAT SIDE OF THE CITY WAS DESTROYED YESTERDAY TO PREVENT PEOPLE FLEEING……
11/3/2012
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NOW! Lebanon
[local time]
22:21 Syrian police opened fire Monday on tens of thousands of Kurds who flooded the northeastern city of Qamishli on the eighth anniversary of deadly clashes with security forces, a watchdog said.
21:35 UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos called Monday for more “transparency” from the Syrian government but still hopes that a new joint aid assessment can start this week.
20:47 Scores of Syrians arrived on Monday in northern Lebanon, fleeing the central city of Homs following reports of women and children being massacred in the protest hub.
20:41 Protesters blocked three main roads in Damascus as a sign of protest against the Homs massacre, activists told Al-Jazeera.
19:49 Al-Jazeera broadcasted live footage of an anti-regime protest in Damascus’ Kafr Soussa.
18:41 International mediator Kofi Annan called Monday for an immediate halt to the killing of civilians in Syria as he arrived in Turkey for talks on the crisis.
18:30 Security forces killed 96 people in Syria on Monday, activists told Al-Jazeera.
18:29 Syrian civilians face a “desperate situation,” UN human rights investigator Paulo Pinheiro said Monday, calling for urgent action.
18:05 China on Monday insisted that there could be no military intervention in Syria and denied that “self-interests” had motivated its veto of two UN Security Council resolutions on the crisis.
17:42 UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on President Bashar al-Assad to act in “days” on proposals made by special envoy Kofi Annan to end the Syria conflict.
17:37 The opposition Syrian National Council called on Monday for an “urgent” foreign military intervention in Syria after reports that 47 women and children were killed in a Homs “massacre.”
17:20 Syrian security forces killed on Monday 73 people in Homs and in Edleb, activists told Al-Arabiya television station.
17:04 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday slammed attempts to change Syria and Libya by “misleading” international opinion and “manipulating” the UN Security Council.
16:49 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday implicitly called on Russia and China to back the Arab League approach to resolving the humanitarian and political crisis in Syria.
16:31 Britain’s Foreign Secretary Williams said Monday that most countries believe the UN Security Council has “failed” in its duties to the Syrian people by failing to pass a resolution condemning violence in the country.
16:26 The Syrian army launched a new assault on Monday in the restive northern province of Edleb and the city itself, where residents are suffering “indescribable” humanitarian conditions, activists said.
16:22 French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Monday demanded at the UN Security Council that Syrian leaders face international trials over the deadly crackdown on opposition protests.
15:56 Syrian forces have killed 51 people on Monday, Al-Arabiya television quoted the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution as saying.
15:28 Saudi Arabia and Qatar are backing ”armed terrorist gangs” operating in Syria and so are responsible for the bloodshed in the country, Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud told AFP on Monday.
13:00 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in remarks published on Monday that the “preferable solution” to the Syrian crisis is for the international community to take a “unified stance” toward the situation.
11:09 Rebels have killed two members of the Syrian Air Force intelligence in the city of Al-Tabaqa in Al-Raqa, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying on Monday.
11:01 Hundreds of families on Monday fled Syria’s restive city of Homs following reports of a “massacre” of women and children over the weekend, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
9:34 Syria’s main opposition group on Monday called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting following reports that some 50 women and children were massacred in the central city of Homs, AFP reported on Monday.
9:31 The bodies of 47 women and children have been found in Homs’ Karm Az-Zaytoun, where security forces have been fighting raging battles against armed rebels, activists and state television said on Monday.
9:25 Iran fully supports Syria and blames the United States and Arab nations for the bloody unrest shaking its ally, media on Monday quoted a deputy foreign minister as saying.
9:19 Syrian forces “slaughtered” 64 people in Homs’ Jawber neighborhood on Sunday, Al-Arabiya television quoted the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution as saying.
9:12 A number of young women have been abducted in the Al-Ashira neighborhood in the city of Homs, Al-Arabiya television quoted the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution as saying on Monday.
9:04 Syrian people on Monday blocked the Damascus-Amman highway as an act of protest against a “massacre” that has been committed in Homs, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.
8:20 Syrian citizens have closed the Al-Maydan neighborhood in Damascus on Monday as an act of protest against the “massacre” that has been committed in Homs, Al-Arabiya television reported.
8:14 45 Syrian civilians have been killed in Karm Az-Zaytoun in the city of Homs, Al-Arabiya television reported on Monday morning.
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AlJazeera:
Dozens of people have been killed in two major Syrian flashpoint cities, opposition activists say, hours after the United Nations special envoy to Syria met with the country’s president in an effort to reach a diplomatic solution to end the violence.
In the central city of Homs, the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) activist network said at least 45 women and children were killed on Monday morning in the neighbourhood of Karm al-Zaytoun.
In the northwestern province of Idlib, Syrian government troops shelled several areas as part of a campaign to crush the opposition in its stronghold along the border with Turkey.
Al Jazeera’s Jamal el-Shayyal reports:
Scores killed in Syrian flashpoint cities
Mon, 12 Mar 2012, 08:42 GMT+3 - Syria
The Syrian government crackdown on the dissenting northwestern city of Idlib continues for a third day.
Casualties from random shelling and sniper fire are mounting, and there is growing concerns for many citizens detained by government forces.
Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught was in and around Idlib with her team, and filmed this report as the assault on the city began: http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/syria-mar-12-2012-0842
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Reuters: Dozens of Syrian civilians killed in Homs
Dozens of civilians were killed in cold blood in the Syrian city of Homs, opposition activists and Syrian state media said on Monday, although they disputed responsibility for what both sides called a massacre.
The carnage in Homs, as well as a military assault on the northwestern city of Idlib, coincided with a weekend peace mission by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who left Damascus on Sunday without agreement on a truce or humanitarian access.
“The terrorist armed groups have kidnapped scores of civilians in the city of Homs, central Syria, killed, and mutilated their corpses and filmed them to be shown by media outlets,” state news agency SANA said on its website.
Footage posted by opposition activists on YouTube showed men, women and children lying dead in a blood-drenched room.
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists, said at least 45 women and children had been stabbed and burned in the Homs district of Karm al-Zeitoun.
It said another seven people were slain in the city’s Jobar district, which adjoins the former rebel bastion of Baba Amr.
Activists contacted in Homs accused Alawite militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of carrying out the killings under the protection of regular Syrian military forces.
Syrian government restrictions make it difficult to assess conflicting reports by the authorities and their opponents since a popular uprising against Assad began a year ago.
SANA said the Homs killings “perpetrated by the armed terrorist groups and aired by (satellite TV channels) Al Jazeera and Arabiya … coincide with today’s U.N. Security Council session to call for foreign interference in Syria”.
U.N. MEETS ON ARAB REVOLTS
The Security Council holds a special meeting on Arab revolts later on Monday and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines.
Russia and China have blocked attempts to pass a Security Council resolution condemning Damascus for its attempts to crush the rebellion, in which the United Nations says well over 7,500 people have been killed. Syrian authorities said in December insurgents had killed over 2,000 soldiers and police.
The United States has drafted a new resolution, but Washington and Paris say they doubt it will be accepted.
China sounded an optimistic note, but gave no details.
“China has actively participated in discussion about this draft resolution, and raised its ideas about revising it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Monday.
“We also support the international community playing an active role in a political solution to the Syria issue.”
China and Russia, as well as Western and Arab nations, have voiced support for Annan’s peace mission, but no common ground has emerged between Assad, who is bent on crushing dissent, and his opponents, who are determined to overthrow him.
“The situation is so bad and so dangerous that all of us cannot afford to fail,” Annan said in Damascus on Sunday.
Moscow and Beijing want any international blame for the violence to be apportioned evenly and say both sides should be encouraged to stop fighting. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have taken a hawkish line, calling for the rebels to be armed.
“The regime in Syria is committing a massacre of its own citizens,” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday after talks with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.
Westerwelle said in Riyadh: “We cannot accept the completely unreasonable continuation of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Assad regime against its own people.”
Western and Arab countries have sought to isolate Assad, but he has a few allies, notably Iran, which has invited Iraq, Lebanon and Syria to a conference in Tehran on March 18 to “support the Syrian regime against its opponents”, the pan-Arab Al Hayat newspaper reported on Monday.
Citing ministerial sources, it said “official Lebanon” had declined the invitation. Lebanon, deeply split over the crisis in its powerful neighbor, has sought to avoid taking sides.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo; Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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BBC: ’Many dead’ in fresh Homs attacks
Activists believe as many as 47 people have been killed in an attack by pro-government militia in the embattled Syrian city of Homs.
Women and children are said to among those who were reportedly tortured and killed on Sunday night in the neighbourhood of Karm el-Zaytoun.
The Syrian government acknowledged the deaths, but blamed “armed terrorists”.
The attack happened hours after UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan ended his two-day mission to Damascus.
Homs has been under assault for weeks as government forces have tried to root out rebel fighters. Parts of the city are devastated.
The main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the killings, the AFP news agency reports.
‘Burned alive’
Hundreds of families fled the Karm el-Zaytoun area of the city on Monday after reports of the attack in their neighbourhood overnight, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian activists say the victims died in appalling circumstances
One activist in Homs, Hadi Abdallah, told the AFP the bodies of 26 children and 21 women were found, some with their throats slit and others bearing stab wounds.
Both the opposition Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) and the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) put the toll at 45.
The SRGC said that some of the victims had been burned alive with heating fuel poured over them and others had their necks and limbs broken.
Mulham al-Jundi, an opposition activist and member of the SNC, said Karm el-Zaytoun was experiencing a military bombardment similar to the one seen in Baba Amr district in recent weeks.
He told the BBC government troops were firing rockets from tanks outside the neighbourhood, then going in “and killing the families who stay inside these areas”.
Reports are difficult to verify because of tight restrictions on independent media operating in Syria.
Footage posted on YouTube, said to show the bodies of men, women and children killed in the attack, made for grim viewing, said the BBC’s Jon Donnison in neighbouring Lebanon.
Both the LCC and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blame the pro-government Shabiha militia for the attack.
The Shabiha has been blamed for many of the atrocities carried out since the uprising began nearly a year ago.
Activists say their presence has allowed the government to deny any involvement in the most brutal actions against protesters.
Kofi Annan left Syria on Sunday after two days off talks with President Bashar al-Assad, saying he was “optimistic” that a peace deal could be found.
He said he had presented Mr Assad with “concrete proposals” to bring an end to the bloodshed, but gave no hint that a deal was imminent.
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Guardian: Syria: new massacre in Homs as diplomacy stalls – live updates
Follow live updates as activists claim more than a dozen people have been killed in Homs after Kofi Annan left Syria empty handed …
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BBC: Syria crisis: US and UN urge Security Council unity
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the US secretary of state have urged the international community to speak with one voice on Syria.
Hillary Clinton said that Syria’s “horrific campaign of violence” had “shocked the conscience of the world”.
Russia and China have blocked resolutions condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In Syria, activists report that at least 47 people were killed in an attack by government militia in Homs.
Women and children are among those reported to have been tortured and killed on Sunday night in the neighbourhood of Karm el-Zeytoun. The Syrian government acknowledged the deaths, but blamed “armed terrorists”.
Ms Clinton told the UN Security Council meeting in New York: “We believe that now is the time for all nations – even those who have previously blocked our efforts – to stand behind the humanitarian and political approach spelled out by the Arab League.”
In a clear reference to China and Russia, she appealed to the international community to “say with one voice – without hesitation or caveat – that the killing of innocent Syrians must stop and a political transition must begin”.
Mr Ban said the Syrian government had “failed to fulfil its responsibility to protect its own people and instead has subjected its citizens in several cities to military assault and disproportionate use of force”.
He said the Council must “unite strongly” by UN and Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan’s efforts “to help Syria pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe”.
She was speaking after British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the Security Council had so far failed in its responsibility to the Syrian people.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague: ‘The UN has failed on Syria’
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the situation in Syria remained a “grave concern” but warned that change in the Arab world “must not be achieved by misleading the international community or manipulating the Security Council”.
‘Burned alive’The attack in the embattled city of Homs happened hours after UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan ended his two-day mission to Damascus.
Homs has been under assault for weeks as government forces have tried to root out rebel fighters. Parts of the city are devastated.
Hundreds of families fled the Karm el-Zeytoun area of Homs on Monday after reports of the attack in their neighbourhood overnight, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
One activist in Homs, Hadi Abdallah, told AFP the bodies of 26 children and 21 women were found, some with their throats slit and others bearing stab wounds.
Both the opposition Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) and the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activist network in Syria, put the toll at 45.
The SRGC said that some of the victims had been burned alive with heating fuel poured over them and others had their necks and limbs broken.
Mulham al-Jundi, an opposition activist and member of the SNC, said Karm el-Zeytoun was experiencing a military bombardment similar to the one seen in Baba Amr district in recent weeks.
The BBC’s Jon Donnison: ‘The Syrian government has acknowledged these deaths’He told the BBC government troops were firing rockets from tanks outside the neighbourhood, then going in and “killing the families who stay inside these areas”.
Reports are difficult to verify because of tight restrictions on independent media operating in Syria.
Footage posted on YouTube, said to show the bodies of men, women and children killed in the attack, made for grim viewing, said the BBC’s Jon Donnison in neighbouring Lebanon.
In one video, at least 11 bodies can be seen, including at least four young children covered in blood, he adds.
‘Concrete proposals’Syrian state television accused “armed terrorist gangs” of carrying out the killings, saying the bodies had been filmed in an effort to discredit the government.
Both the LCC and the Observatory blame the pro-government Shabiha militia for the attack.
The Shabiha has been blamed for many of the atrocities carried out since the uprising began nearly a year ago.
Activists say their presence has allowed the government to deny any involvement in the most brutal actions against protesters.
Kofi Annan left Syria on Sunday after two days off talks with President Bashar al-Assad, saying he was “optimistic” about the possibility of a ceasefire, humanitarian access to affected areas and future political dialogue.
He said he had presented Mr Assad with “concrete proposals” to bring an end to the bloodshed, but gave no hint that a deal was imminent.
REUTERS: Opposition to arm Syria rebels, dozens killed in Homs
A Syrian exile opposition group said on Monday it was preparing to arm anti-government rebels with foreign help, while activists and the government traded blame for a massacre in the city of Homs.
The dozens of killings in cold blood were carried out on a weekend when U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was visiting Syria to seek agreement on a ceasefire, humanitarian access and political dialogue.
A spokesman for the Syrian National Council called on foreign powers to intervene and said the opposition group had already set up a coordinating bureau to send arms to the rebels with the help of foreign governments. He would not name the countries or the location of the bureau.
“We demand military intervention by Arab and Western countries to protect civilians,” George Sabra told reporters at a news conference in Istanbul.
“We demand establishment of secured humanitarian corridors and zones to protect the civilians. We demand implementation of a no-fly zone over entire Syria to prevent Assad from continuing massacres.”
A popular uprising against four decades of Assad family rule erupted a year ago and has become increasingly bloody as rebels fight a crackdown by security forces.
The United Nations estimates Syrian security forces have killed well over 7,500 people. The government says foreign-backed militants are behind the unrest and are responsible for the deaths of more than 2,500 members of the security forces.
“The Syrian government has failed to fulfill its responsibility to protect its own people and instead has subjected its citizens in several cities to military assault and disproportionate use of force,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. “These shameful operations continue.”
Activists in Homs and state television showed videos of bloodied bodies, their hands tied behind their backs, lying on trash-littered streets and in blood spattered rooms. Opposition groups also uploaded videos of corpses being wrapped in white shrouds as crowds lined up to pray for the dead, who are believed to have been killed late on Sunday.
“Killings of civilians must end now,” Annan told reporters in Ankara. “The world must send a clear and united message that this is simply unacceptable.”
RAPES AND SLIT THROATS
Government restrictions on media access have made it hard to assess conflicting reports by the authorities and activists of the mass killing reported on Monday.
A medical worker in Homs working in the rebel-held neighborhood of Khalidiya said activists did not find any survivors in the houses where killings took place.
“I saw two females who were raped, one was around 12 or 13 years old. She was covered in blood and her underclothes were off,” said the medic, who called himself Yazan. “One of the women was strangled; she had bruises on her neck. Some of the bodies I saw, especially the children, had their throats slit.”
Activists said militants loyal to Assad killed over 50 in a district of Homs called Karm al-Zeitoun. State news said militants committed the killings to influence the U.N. Security Council’s special meeting on Monday to discuss Arab revolts.
“The terrorist armed groups have kidnapped scores of civilians in Homs, killed and mutilated their corpses and filmed them to be shown by media outlets,” state news agency SANA said.
United Nations investigators on Monday said Syrian forces had used collective punishment against civilians and stand accused of carrying out executions and mass arrests in Baba Amr, where state forces routed rebel forces in a 26-day siege. Activists said hundreds were killed.
Syria’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva rejected the panel’s work as politicized and said al Qaeda fighters from 13 different countries had infiltrated Syria.
ASSAD “MUST STOP FIRST”
At a special U.N. Security Council meeting on Arab revolts, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Assad’s forces must stop their violence first.
“Once the Syrian government has acted, then we would expect others as well to end the violence,” she said.
“But there cannot be an expectation for defenseless citizens in the face of artillery assaults to end their capacity to defend themselves before there’s a commitment by the Assad regime to do so.”
Russia and China have blocked attempts to pass a Security Council resolution condemning Damascus for its attempts to crush the rebellion. They want both sides to be encouraged to stop fighting.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who wield heavy influence in the Arab League have taken a hawkish line, are calling for the rebels to be armed.
“How cynical that, even as Assad was receiving former (U.N) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Syrian Army was conducting a fresh assault on Idlib and continuing its aggression in Hama, Homs, and Rastan,” Clinton told the Security Council.
The United States has drafted a new resolution, but Washington and Paris say they doubt it will be accepted.
“China has actively participated in discussion about this draft resolution, and raised its ideas about revising it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Monday.
“We also support the international community playing an active role in a political solution to the Syria issue.”
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Yesmin Dikmen in Istanbul and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing byErika Solomon and Alistair Lyon; Editing by Andrew Roche)
