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U.n. says syrian helicopters fire on rebel strongholds by 123wert sdfsf
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U.n. says syrian helicopters fire on rebel strongholds |
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BEIRUT: United Nations monitors said Syrian helicopters fired onrebel strongholds north of Homs on Monday and said many women andchildren were reported trapped in the city, calling for"immediate and unfettered access" to the conflict zones. International mediator Kofi Annan also expressed grave concernabout violence in Homs and in Haffeh, a mainly Sunni Muslim townnear the Mediterranean coast, where the U.S. State Department saidit feared a "potential massacre". The U.N. observers, tasked with monitoring Annan's April ceasefiredeal which failed to stem the violence in Syria, have instead beencataloguing mass killings, bombings and clashes in which manyhundreds of Syrians have died.
The outside world, divided in its approach towards President Basharal-Assad's crackdown on a 15-month-old uprising, has been unable tohalt the violence despite broad international support for Annan'stattered peace plan. "UN observers reported heavy fighting in Rastan and Talbiseh,north of (Homs), with artillery and mortar shelling, as well asfiring from helicopters, machine guns and smaller arms," U.N.spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said in a statement. It was the first time the U.N. monitors have verified repeatedallegations by activists that Assad's forces have fired fromhelicopters in the military crackdown on rebels.
The observers "also received reports of a large number ofcivilians, including women and children trapped inside (Homs) andare trying to mediate their evacuation," Ghosheh said. U.N. observers reported that Free Syrian Army rebels captured armysoldiers, she added, calling on "all sides to stop the killingand human rights abuses to ensure the protection of civilians andto respect international law." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 50 civilians werekilled across Syria on Monday, nearly half of them in the northernprovince of Idlib. Twenty-one soldiers and security forces werekilled, most of them in rebel bomb attacks, it said. Syria's state news agency reported military funerals on Monday for26 people "targeted by armed terrorist groups as they carriedout their national duty".
A spokesman for Annan said he was gravely concerned by the latestreports of violence and "the escalation of fighting by bothgovernment and opposition forces". HOMS SHELLING Annan expressed particular concern at recent shelling in Homs,where activists said on Sunday government forces killed 35 peoplein one of the biggest bombardments since his ceasefire deal wassupposed to come into effect on April 12. "(Annan) is particularly worried about the recent shelling inHoms as well as reports of the use of mortars, helicopters andtanks in the town of Haffeh," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi saidin a statement. "There are indications that a large number of civilians aretrapped in these towns," Fawzi said, adding that Annan"demands that the parties take all steps to ensure thatcivilians are not harmed, and further demands that entry of theU.N. military observers be allowed to the town of Haffehimmediately." Last week activists said government forces surrounded Haffeh, closeto the heartland of Assad's Alawite minority, after rebel fightersseized control of a police station and destroyed five tanks andarmoured vehicles.
The U.S. State Department warned that Syrian attacks would haveconsequences. Activists say Syria's army and pro-Assad militia have committed twomassacres in the last two weeks, in the Houla region and a farminghamlet called Mazraat al-Qubeir. Syrian authorities blamed thekillings on "terrorists".
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed more than 10,000people in the crackdown on an uprising inspired by revolts whichtoppled four Arab leaders last year. Syrian authorities sayforeign-backed militants have killed 2,600 soldiers and police. Rebels have grown increasingly well-armed in recent weeks, boththrough increased smuggling of weapons and through defections ofsoldiers who bring their weapons with them. On Sunday rebels briefly seized control of a strategic army baseand threatened to fire its surface-to-air missiles at Assad'spalace, before being forced to withdraw by an army counter-attack.
The violence has divided world powers, with Russia and Chinablocking two draft U.N. resolutions which could have led tointernational action against Assad's government. Russia called on Monday for Iranian involvement in efforts to endthe conflict in Syria, putting it at odds with the United States,and said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Tehran onWednesday to discuss the initiative. "Without Iranian participation, the opportunity forconstructive international influence on the Syrian issue will notbe utilised in full measure," the Foreign Ministry said. Russia, which is resisting Western and Gulf Arab pressure to take atougher stance toward Assad, says a proposed conference would lendsupport to Annan's peace plan.
The United States says it does not believe Iran, Assad's strongestregional ally, is ready to play a constructive role in Syria.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that it was"hard to imagine inviting a country that is stage-managing theAssad regime's assault on its people.". I am a professional writer from Home Supplies, which contains a great deal of information about lion head fountain , garden water fountains, welcome to visit!
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