| Annan meets Assad in Damascus amid violence | |||
Former UN chief's mission to reach settlement in year-long crisis comes as government launches a fresh assault in Idlib. Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, has begun negotiations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus amid a fresh assault by the government on a restive city in the country's northwest. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that Syrian army tanks supported by soldiers on foot entered the city of Idlib at around 6am on Saturday, supported by artillery and mortar fire. Tanks on the southwestern edge of the city were also firing into Idlib, and helicopters were hovering overhead, they said. Annan's high-profile mission to find a political resolution under the auspices of the Arab League and United Nations has met with disapproval from the country's most prominent opposition bloc, which has said that his visit will amount to a waste of time without military pressure on Assad's government.
Some Arab League members, most notably Gulf nations, have called for arming Syrian rebels and sending an peacekeeping force. On Saturday, Qatar called for recognising the SNC as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. China and Russia, after blocking Arab and UN resolutions seeking to usher an end to Assad's rule, are now seeking to negotiate with Arab leaders. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in Cairo on Saturday to meet with Arab League foreign ministers, said Russia wants to bring about an immediate end to the violence in Syria but that the current approach from other nations was unrealistic because it only held Assad's government responsible. Two-track diplomacy Lavrov faced a tough audience, with many Arab countries angered by Russia's opposition to proposals to begin a transition from Assad's government or send in a peacekeeping force. Qatar's representative criticised Russia and China, saying they sent the wrong signal to Assad and that "patience has run out". He also called again for sending Arab peacekeepers into Syria. Assad's crackdown has not abated since army troops recently pushed fighters out of Baba Amr, an opposition district in Homs, a western city near the Lebanese border. On Friday, 54 people were killed acros the country, almost half of them during government raids in the nearby Idlib province, according to the London-based opposition activists' group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Ten people were killed by gun and mortar fire in Homs, and security forces shot dead others around the country during protests, the group said. Five more bodies were found in Baba Amr.
"Thirty tanks entered my neighbourhood at seven this morning and they are using their cannons to fire on houses," said Karam Abu Rabea, a resident in Homs's Karam al-Zeitoun neighbourhood. This week's regular Friday protest marked the anniversary of Kurdish unrest in Syria in 2004 when about 30 people were killed. Thousands of Kurds demonstrated in northeastern cities, YouTube footage showed, some carrying banners that read "Save the Syrian people". Other clips showed hundreds of protesters in the Assali district of Damascus, burning posters of Assad's father Hafez al-Assad and chanting "God damn your soul, Hafez". Speaking in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Friday, Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, said she was "struck" by the devastation she saw during a visit to Homs on Wednesday. She said she had made a request to the Syrian government for unhindered access to the worst-hit areas, but the government had asked for more time. The Syrian government had agreed to join UN agencies in a "limited assessment" of the situation, she said. The UN estimates that at least 7,500 people have died since protests first broke out a year ago. |
Saturday 10 March 2012
Annan meets Assad in Damascus amid violence
Wednesday 18 May 2011
US imposes sanctions on Syrian president alasad
| US imposes sanctions on Syrian president |
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| Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed in two months of clashes [Reuters] |
The United States is to impose sanctions on Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and six senior Syrian officials for human rights abuses over their brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
The White House announced the sanctions on Wednesday, a day before Barack Obama, the US president, was to deliver a major speech on the uprisings throughout the Arab world with prominent mentions of Syria
The sanctions are part of "an effort to increase pressure on the government of Syria to end its violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system," a US official told the AFP news agency on the condition of anonymity.
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Syria denies 'mass grave' claims , Syria mass grave
Syria denies 'mass grave' claims
Syria's interior ministry has denied the existence of a mass grave discovered near Deraa, the southern city targeted by security forces in a crackdown on anti-government protests, according to the state-run SANA news agency. |
Sunday 24 April 2011
Syrian Revolution Video,Syria Revolution Video 2011 , Video of Syrian Revoluti
Syrian Revolution Video,Syria Revolution Video 2011 , Video of Syrian Revolution
Protesters killed in Syria shooting | Syria Revolution
Protesters killed in Syria shooting
A rights group says at least nine people have been killed in Jableh, a coastal city in Syria, where witnesses told Al Jazeera that security forces opened fire on protesters.
They said by phone from the city that some of the security men were in uniform, others in plain clothes.
Thousands of security forces accompanied by "other armed thugs" besieged Jableh and indiscriminately opened fire at civilians, Abu Ahmed, a Jableh resident, told Al Jazeera.
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Another activist said the security forces ringed Jableh and started to open fire after a visit by a new regional governor who met local dignitaries in the mosque.
Monday 18 April 2011
Deaths reported in Syrian protests Gunfire and deaths reported amid more protests in Syria but identities of perpetrators and victims remains unclear.
Deaths reported in Syrian protests Gunfire and deaths reported amid more protests in Syria but identities of perpetrators and victims remains unclear.
Deaths reported in Syrian protests
Gunfire and deaths reported amid more protests in Syria but identities of perpetrators and victims remains unclear.
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Boys hold a banner in the port city of Baniyas. Protests took place in several cities across Syria on Sunday [Reuters] |
At least five people are reported dead amid fresh protests near the restive Syrian city of Homs, but the identities of those killed remains unclear.
Monday 28 March 2011
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