25 July 2012
BEIRUT: Syrian troops killed up to 30 worshippers as they were entering a mosque to attend Ramadan evening prayers in a village northwest of the city of Hama, opposition activists said Tuesday, as helicopters strafed the countrys second city Aleppo. Troops and Shabbiha left the roadblock on the edge of Sharia and crossed the main road and began firing automatic rifles at the worshippers as they were entering the mosque, Jamil al-Hamwi, one of the activists, said by telephone from al-Ghab Plain.
We have confirmed the names for 15 bodies, and it is estimated there is a similar number still to be collected from the streets, Hamwi said.
The roadblock was manned by troops backed by tanks as well as militiamen recruited from Alawite villages near Sharia, he added.
Government shelling in the southern town of Herak also killed six children Tuesday, an activist group said, taking the nationwide death toll to over 70.
At least seven civilians, including six children, were killed by regime forces shelling of the besieged town of Herak, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A video distributed by the Britain-based watchdog showed the bodies of dead children, including a young girl in a pink and white dress, lying on a blood-smeared floor.
Herak has been under shelling for 10 days, an unidentified man says in the amateur video.
The world is watching. Where are the Arabs and Muslims when these children are killed during Ramadan? he pleaded, referring to the Muslim holy month which began last week.
Where is Islam? Bashar, I hope your children will suffer the same fate, he screamed, addressing President Bashar Assad.
Before the report of killings in Sharia, the Observatory had put the nationwide death toll for Tuesday at 42, including at least seven people killed when regime forces put down a prison mutiny in Aleppo, which followed a similar rebellion at the main prison in the central city of Homs Saturday.
An inmate, who said he had managed to smuggle a mobile phone into the prison, told AFP, the situation after the security forces came in is horrifying.
They are viciously torturing the detainees who they suspect of leading the mutiny, the man said.
The opposition Syrian National Council said eight people were killed in the mutiny after Syrian forces opened fire with bullets and tear gas on the detainees ... in response to a peaceful sit-in organized by prisoners because of the great injustice of which they are victims, the SNC said in a statement.
Fighting raged in Aleppo Tuesday, with the Observatory reporting clashes between rebels and regular troops in the Sukari neighborhood and on the outskirts of Salaheddin. A spokesman for the rebel Military Council told AFP Monday that opposition fighters had liberated multiple neighborhoods of the city, including Salaheddin, as the army continued to bombard the districts.
At least 15 people were killed in violence in the province Tuesday.
In Damascus, Syrian government troops attacked the Qadam and Assali districts Tuesday, two of the last pockets of rebel-held territory in the city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian regime forces have attacked the Qadam and Assali districts, launching a wave of raids and arrests, it said.
The Qadam neighborhood of south Damascus has been the scene of frequent clashes between troops and rebel fighters.
Overnight, after a week of intense clashes in several Damascus districts, the army took control of most of the capital, activists said.
But clashes were ongoing in Qadam and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, particularly in the streets where the rebels are dug in, the Observatory said.
Over the past three days, the army has retaken control of a string of rebel districts of Damascus, including Mezzeh in the west, Barzeh in the northeast, and the upscale district of Midan in the south.
The unprecedented fighting has triggered an exodus from the city, with rebels eventually mostly withdrawing to the outskirts.
Fearing they may be caught up in the violence, thousands of residents have fled the country, with more than 5,000 Syrias arriving in Jordan in the past three days, according to one aid agency. Other internally displaced have set up makeshift camps in the capitals parks and schools.
Rebels have been emboldened in the capital cities, following a stunning bomb attack on Assads National Security headquarters Wednesday that killed four members of his crisis command, including the defense minister and intelligence chief.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday the Syrian opposition was closer than ever to victory, amid ongoing reports of senior army defections and desertions.
Al-Jazeera TV reported Tuesday that the head of the Syrian Embassy in Cyprus, Lamia al-Hariri, defected to Qatar, becoming the second senior diplomat to defect after Iraq ambassador, Nawaf Fares, publicly renounced his post and joined the rebellion last week.
The reports could not be immediately verified.
Still, with the Syrian opposition fragmented and international powers fiercely divided over how to deal with the crisis, there are real fears chaos could ensue in the country. Arab ministers Sunday offered to provide Assad and his family with a safe exit if he relinquished power, but the Syrian leader has shown no intention of doing so.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Washington would step up cooperation with the opposition in its battle to force Assad out after failing to win a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria after Russia and China imposed their vetoes.
We do believe that it is not too late for the Assad regime to commence with planning for a transition to find a way that ends the violence and begin the serious discussions that have not occurred to date, Clinton told reporters.
We are well aware that the pace of events is accelerating inside Syria, she said.
We have to work closely with the opposition because more and more territory is being taken, and it will eventually result in a safe haven inside Syria which will then provide a base for further actions by the opposition.
Highlighting the divisions within the opposition, the Syrian National Council backtracked on earlier statements Tuesday that they would accept a unity transition government led by a member of the regime.
SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said there was never any question of a national unity government, contradicting a statement by another SNC member, George Sabra, who hours earlier said the Council was ready to agree to a transitional government.
Meanwhile, the new head of an unarmed U.N. monitoring mission to Syria, General Babacar Gaye arrived in Beirut late Tuesday, on route to Damascus. He replaces Major General Robert Mood.
Copyright The Daily Star 2012.
