CRISIS IN SYRIA (merged)

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Syrian army 'using children as human shields'
By Barney Henderson, and agencies8:11AM BST 12 Jun 2012

Syrian troops are using children as young as nine-years-old as human shields, forcing them to ride on top of government tanks to deter opposition attacks, a UN report has stated.
The report said children were being tortured in detention, forced to fight, made victims of sexual violence and executed.
The UN's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict named Syria as one of the worst offenders on its annual "list of shame" of conflict countries.
"In almost all recorded cases, children were among the victims of military operations by government forces, including the Syrian armed forces, the intelligence forces and the shabiha militia, in their ongoing conflict with the opposition, including the Free Syrian Army," the report stated.
Human rights groups estimate that about 1,200 children have died during the 15-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, whose brutal crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests has been widely condemned.
"Rarely, have I seen such brutality against children as in Syria, where girls and boys are detained, tortured, executed, and used as human shields," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special representative for children in armed conflict.

Government forces rounded up dozens of boys aged eight to 13 before an attack on the village of Ayn l'Arouz in Idlib province on March 9, the report said.
The children were "used by soldiers and militia members as human shields, placing them in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel into the raid on the village," it said.
Quoting witnesses, the UN report said Syrian military and intelligence forces, as well as pro-government Shabiha militiamen, surrounded the village for an attack that lasted more than four days.
Among the 11 dead on the first day were three boys aged 15 to 17. Another 34 people, including two boys aged 14 and 16 and a nine-year-old girl, were detained.
"Eventually, the village was reportedly left burned and four out of the 34 detainees were shot and burned, including the two boys aged 14 and 16 years," the Children in Armed Conflict report said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the report had uncovered one of many "grave violations" against children.
The Syrian government, and its allied militias, was one of four new parties added to the UN's list of shame – along with organisations and political parties in Sudan and Yemen.
The list includes 52 parties in 11 countries, ranging from the Afghan national police and the anti-US Haqqani network to the Lord's Resistance Army in central Africa, Sudanese armed forces and various Darfur rebel groups.
The report said children in Syria as young as nine had been victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence and use as human shields.
Schools have been regularly raided and used as military bases and detention centres, the report said.
The report was completed before the Houla massacre on May 25, when 49 of the 108 victims were said to be children, some as young as two and three, who were shot in the head or had their skulls smashed with blunt instruments.
"Most child victims of torture described being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, whipped with heavy electrical cables, scarred by cigarette burns and, in one recorded case, subjected to electrical shock to the genitals," said the UN report.
At least one witness told investigators he had seen a boy of approximately 15 succumb to repeated beatings.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the UN Security Council should impose an arms embargo and other sanctions on the Assad government over its violations against children.
HRW quoted the Syria Violations Documentation Center, a network of Syrian activists, as saying that at least 1,176 children have been killed since February 2011.
It also said there were "credible allegations" that armed opposition groups, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are recruiting children as soldiers.
It was reported early on Tuesday that a mortar round hit an anti-government demonstration in Deir el-Zour, in the east of the country, killing at least 10 people.
Activists say more than 13,000 people have been killed since Syria's crisis, the worst in decades, began in March 2011.

bb1 wrote:

BBC News:16 June 2012 Last updated at 13:29

The head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) says the mission has been suspended because of escalating violence, agencies report.

On Friday, the Norwegian Gen Robert Mood said there appeared to be a "lack of willingness" from Syria's government and opposition to seek peace.

He also said violence had intensified in the preceding 10 days, putting his unarmed observers at significant risk.

Earlier, activists said troops had been shelling parts of Homs and Damascus.

At least seven people were killed overnight in Douma, an eastern suburb of the capital, while at least 18 others died in violence elsewhere, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

In a statement announcing the suspension of UNSMIS operations, Gen Mood said: "The observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice."

Civilians 'suffering'

The mission's 298 military observers and 112 civilian staff are in Syria to verify the implementation of the six-point peace plan negotiated by the UN and Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, which included a ceasefire.

On Friday, Gen Mood told a news conference in Damascus that after the mission began on 29 April there had been a lull in violence, "brought about willingly" by the government and rebels.

But he warned: "Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying, again willingly by both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers."

"The Syrian population, civilians, are suffering and in some locations, civilians have been trapped by ongoing operations."

The general noted both sides had accepted Mr Annan's plan, but said: "There appears to be a lack of willingness to seek a peaceful transition.

"Instead there appears to be a push towards advancing military positions," he added.

Gen Mood warned that the UN mission was not open-ended and would be under review as it neared the expiry of its current mandate in July. But he hinted that it should be strengthened in numbers and equipment.

The UN says at least 10,000 people have died since pro-democracy protests began in March 2011. In April, the Syrian government reported that 6,143 Syrian citizens had been killed by "terrorist groups".

bb1 wrote:Merging with Syria sticky

BBC News:

17 July 2012 Last updated at 10:54
Syria: Assad regime 'ready to use chemical weapons'

Nawaf Fares: Chemical weapons 'may have been used'
The most senior Syrian politician to defect to the opposition has told the BBC the regime will not hesitate to use chemical weapons if it is cornered.

Nawaf Fares, ex-ambassador to Iraq, said unconfirmed reports indicated such weapons might have already been used.

The comments were made as clashes were reported in Baghdad Street, central Damascus, and fighting spread in suburbs around the city.

Syria peace envoy Kofi Annan is due to hold talks with Russia's president.

Russia is a key ally of Syria and the meeting comes amid mounting pressure for tougher international action against the country.

Syria has been in turmoil since March last year when an uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad began.

Nawaf al-Fares does not look at first glance like a man who has just defected from a regime he calls "murderous criminals". Neatly dressed in suit and tie, he was until last week Syria's ambassador to Iraq and is the most senior diplomat to defect so far from the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Sitting now in a luxury hotel in the Gulf state of Qatar, he piles one accusation after another against the regime he served for 34 years.

He accuses his former masters - without offering proof - of colluding with al-Qaeda to carry out mass-casualty bombings on its own citizens to discredit the opposition. He says the regime, if cornered further, "will not hesitate to use chemical weapons".

This is a serious allegation from a defector with some inside knowledge, but Mr Fares is not a scientist nor a soldier. And his words have disturbing echoes of the sort of claims being trumpeted about Saddam's mythical WMD in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Nawaf Fares does of course have a vested interest in discrediting the regime which he has just deserted.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due in Beijing for talks with the Chinese leadership, which has joined Russia in vetoing sanctions.

Diplomat efforts come as UN officials complained of huge obstacles put in the way of its aid operation in Syria.

'Wounded wolf'

Syria is known to have a significant stockpile of chemical weapons. There have been growing concerns in neighbouring countries and among Western governments about the security of such weapons should the regime fall.

Asked if he thought President Assad might use chemical weapons against the opposition, Mr Fares told BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner in an interview in Qatar that he would not rule it out, describing Mr Assad as "a wounded wolf and cornered".

"There is information, unconfirmed information of course, that chemical weapons have been used partially in the city of Homs," he said.

Mr Fares's claim that Sunni Muslim militants in al-Qaeda are collaborating with a regime dominated by those from the minority Allawite sect will surprise many.

Challenged on his view that al-Qaeda was collaborating with the regime despite this, Mr Fares said: "There is enough evidence in history that lots of enemies meet when their interests meet."

He added: "Al-Qaeda is searching for space to move and means of support, the regime is looking for ways to terrorise the Syrian people."

Mr Fares told the BBC's Frank Gardner that Mr Assad would be removed "only by force"
Mr Fares is the most prominent politician to defect since the uprising against President Assad began.

He has held senior positions in the ruling Baath Party and powerful security services, and served as governor in several provinces.

'Elements of blackmail'

Violence is continuing to spread across the country and in the capital Damascus as rebels - now better equipped and more organised - confront the army and government-backed militia.

Witnesses say the capital is currently seeing the biggest military deployment in the 16-month uprising.

Clashes were reported in Baghdad street, central Damascus. AFP news agency said machine-gun fire was heard in nearby Sabaa Bahrat square, site of the country's Central Bank.

Activists reported continued clashes on the south-western side of the city, and said fighting had broken out on the other side, at Barzeh and Qaboun. Attack helicopters were seen there firing rockets for the first time since the uprising began.

Ten people were killed in Damascus altogether on Monday, they said, fewer than in the restive cities of Hama and Homs to the north.

State media gave little prominence to the fighting, but said security forces were pursuing remnants of a "terrorist gang" in Nahr Eisha.

The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Beirut says that while the fighting is significant it does not yet pose a direct threat to the main centres of regime power.

"It doesn't occur to any Syrian, not only me, that Bashar al-Assad will let go of power through political interventions... He will be ousted only by force," Mr Fares said.

Mr Fares was dismissive of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's current visit to Russia, saying success there was "impossible".

"Several months have passed and... the regime hasn't implemented a single article of (Kofi Annan's) plan."

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told the BBC's Kim Ghattas that she hopes Russia can be convinced of the need for a UN resolution mandating tough sanctions on Damascus if it fails to comply with Mr Annan's peace plan.

"The Russians are very clear - they don't want to give any opening for force that could be used," Mrs Clinton said.

"And we've said: Let's not jump to conclusions, let's see if we can't bring the full weight of the Security Council... to bear so that we can find how much that moves the ball forward," she added.

Mrs Clinton said the US "was working very hard to try to have a managed transition" but that the clashes in and around Damascus showed that the end of the Assad government was "a matter of time".

Russia and China have blocked two previous UN resolutions that condemned President Assad's government for the continuing violence.

Syria's uprising has entered uncharted territory after rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad killed three of his top security chiefs in a devastating bomb attack in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday – the single worst loss for the government in 16 months of increasingly bloody struggle.

Mass defections of soldiers and a rampage by pro-regime militiamen were reported in the capital amid a swirl of rumours, including one that Assad's wife, Asma, had fled to Russia and another that troops were being issued with gas masks, raising fears of the use of chemical weapons.

The president's whereabouts was also unclear, with one unconfirmed report that he had been wounded and left Damascus for Latakia on the coast.

bb1 wrote:I just hope the cure doesn't turn out to be worse than the illness, Sabot.

Lamplighter wrote:Excerpt from the Guardian

Syria's uprising has entered uncharted territory after rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad killed three of his top security chiefs in a devastating bomb attack in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday – the single worst loss for the government in 16 months of increasingly bloody struggle.

Mass defections of soldiers and a rampage by pro-regime militiamen were reported in the capital amid a swirl of rumours, including one that Assad's wife, Asma, had fled to Russia and another that troops were being issued with gas masks, raising fears of the use of chemical weapons.

The president's whereabouts was also unclear, with one unconfirmed report that he had been wounded and left Damascus for Latakia on the coast.

It's Assad's sister's husband. LL

bb1 wrote:These ones are bothering me, Sabot, as a fair number of them don't seem to be fighting for democracy, but for their tribe to be in power.