Analysis: West doubtful of U.N. Syria peace push, no "Plan B"
By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Fri May 4, 2012 1:53pm EDT
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - As corpses pile up in Syrian morgues, U.S. and European diplomats are growing increasingly skeptical that a U.N.-backed peace plan has a chance of ending more than a year of violence that has brought Syria to the brink of civil war.
But with Russia firmly behind U.N.-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan to end the conflict between government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters determined to oust him, Western powers have little choice but to stick with it for now.
While the United States, Europe and Gulf Arab states have long said that Assad should step down, they lack any viable alternatives to the Annan plan to end the Syrian conflict, arguably the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings that erupted last year across North Africa and the Middle East.
Despite suggestions from countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar that they might arm the rebels, U.S. and European officials say there has been no systematic attempt to provide Syria's fractious opposition with weapons to carry on fighting.
Unwilling to arm the rebels and unable to break the U.N. Security Council deadlock, Western powers have no alternative to Annan's plan, which, while imperfect, is the only diplomatic effort that has had any impact on the 14-month-old conflict.
"Right now the only option that we have is to try and get all sides to cooperate to stop the violence, to allow humanitarian efforts to take place and to help the people that most need that help," said U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey.
Annan's plan requires the withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from Syrian towns, an end to all violence by Syrian security forces and rebels, and dialogue between the government and opposition aimed at a "political transition." It also calls for the deployment of an unarmed U.N. truce-monitoring force.
Syria's government and the opposition promised to comply with the former U.N. chief's peace plan but have not done so. The fighting goes on and people are being killed every day.
So far, U.N. officials and diplomats say, there has been only a slight decrease in violence since the April 12 truce was declared. The rebels, outgunned, are increasingly turning to bomb attacks to target government forces, while the Syrian army pounds civilian areas with heavy weapons.
A U.N. truce-monitoring force, called UNSMIS, is struggling to get its maximum 300 unarmed military observers on the ground. It now has around 50 observers in a country with a population of 22 million. Deployment is slow since Damascus has to issue visas. It has already rejected several Europeans.
"There is effectively no ceasefire for U.N. monitors to observe," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "The time is coming where we're going to have to call it what it is."
WHITE HOUSE LOSING PATIENCE
Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in Geneva on Friday that the peace plan is "on track" and while there have been no major signs that the Syrian government is complying with the truce, there have been "small signs.
The head of the U.N. monitoring mission, Major General Robert Mood from Norway, told reporters during a trip to battle-scarred Hama on Thursday that observers were having a "calming effect" and the army appeared willing to cooperate with the truce in a conflict that has killed thousands of civilians.
While Mood was voicing cautious optimism, a Reuters team could hear mortars exploding in the Khalidiya neighborhood of Homs at a rate of one a minute. They also reported the sound of heavy gunfire but did not know where it was coming from.
The optimism of Fawzi and Mood also contrasts sharply with a bleak assessment the White House offered on Thursday.
"If the regime's intransigence continues, the international community is going to have to admit defeat and work to address the serious threat to peace and stability being perpetrated by the Assad regime," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Annan and U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous will brief the 15-nation Security Council on developments in Syria on Tuesday. Western diplomats in New York say Annan will likely report limited progress in achieving the full ceasefire.
Annan's "natural and understandable tendency ... will be to try and keep the show on the road rather than do what would really amount to be drawing a line and a declaration of failure," a senior Western diplomat said this week.
"We will have to be hardheaded," he said. "If the government continues not to comply we will want to come back to the council for a different kind of action.
" Another senior envoy said: "If there's no progress, I think voices will increase that we ought to call a spade a spade."
Diplomats say such tough statements are not a critique of Annan and his team, who are anything but naive, but intended to make it clear to Assad that cat-and-mouse games with the U.N. observer team and Annan will not be tolerated.
One possibility for further council action would be U.N. sanctions. The United States and European powers have suggested sanctioning the Syrian government but Russia and China would almost certainly use their veto power to block U.N. sanctions. Moscow and Beijing have twice vetoed resolutions condemning Syria, though they backed the deployment of U.N. observers.
More extreme measures, such as authorizing Libya-style foreign military intervention in Syria to protect civilians, are even less likely. Russia and China oppose them and there is no appetite in the United States or Europe to jump into a war that could unleash brutal sectarian violence similar to Iraq.
"I don't see any evidence of a coherent Plan B," said David Bosco of American University in Washington. "Through the U.N., some kind of sanctions action would be the likeliest outcome. There still does not appear to be any will on the council for authorizing more forceful intervention."
As a result, the United States and Europe will use Annan's 15-day progress reports as a forum for complaining about Syrian noncompliance. They can also round up a "coalition of the willing" to impose group sanctions on Syria outside the United Nations. The so-called "Group of Friends" of Syria is one such coalition.
When UNSMIS' 90-day mandate expires in late July, the United States and its European allies will have to think hard about whether they see any point in renewing it. If the situation continues as is, U.N. officials and diplomats say it would be hard to justify renewing the mandate.
"It can't go on like this," a senior U.N. official told Reuters. "If there's not going to be full compliance with a truce, if we don't see serious progress made soon, Annan won't have any choice but to declare the mission a failure."
(Additional reporting By Michelle Nichols; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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Saturday, May 05, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
WORLD_ US expects dissident Chen Guangcheng to leave China soon
US expects dissident Chen Guangcheng to leave China soon
Comments (217)
Mr Chen initially said he wanted to stay in China, but changed his mind
The US says it expects China to allow prominent dissident Chen Guangcheng to travel abroad soon.
The US state department said Mr Chen had been offered a fellowship at an American university, and it would allow his wife and children to accompany him.
Earlier, Beijing said the blind activist could apply to study abroad - paving the way for a resolution to a tense diplomatic stand-off with the US.
Mr Chen fled house arrest last month and spent six days in the US embassy.
He left but now says he wants to go to the US with his family.
His case has overshadowed high-level US-China talks taking place in Beijing.
"Mr Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
She said the US expected Beijing to process their application for travel documents "expeditiously".
"The United States government would then give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention," the statement added.
***
Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing
“ Start Quote When Friday dawned it was unclear whether the US would help Mr Chen leave China - and whether China would allow him to go. Events moved quickly as the hours ticked by”
End Quote
US and China close to deal on Chen
***
Earlier, Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin as saying: "If he wishes to study overseas, as a Chinese citizen, he can, like any other Chinese citizens, process relevant procedures with relevant departments through normal channels in accordance with the law."
Following an annual strategic dialogue between the US and China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "encouraged" by the Chinese statement.
"Progress has been made to help him have the future he wants," she told a news conference in Beijing.
Mrs Clinton also confirmed that the US ambassador in Beijing had spoken to Mr Chen by phone on Friday, and that an embassy doctor had been able to visit him.
Media attack
The dissident is currently in a Beijing hospital, sealed off by Chinese police.
Mr Chen spent a week in the US embassy after escaping from house arrest for more than a year-and-a-half. He left the embassy on Wednesday after accepting China's assurances of his safety.
He later said that in view of the threats against his family, he had decided to leave the country.
He told the Associated Press news agency that his wife was being followed and filmed by unidentified men whenever she was allowed to leave the hospital.
China had earlier demanded an apology from the US for sheltering Mr Chen in its embassy.
One of China's main official newspapers, the Beijing Daily, accused the dissident of being "a tool and a pawn for American politicians to blacken China".
In another development, the Chinese authorities have told some foreign correspondents covering the Chen story they may lose their visas if they breach regulations again.
The police warning came after the journalists, thought to number about 20, were accused of entering the hospital where Mr Chen is being treated without permission.
Mr Chen, 40, is a lawyer who has campaigned against forced abortions and sterilisations of women under China's policy of one child per family.
The case has increasing political resonance in the US. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has said that if reports that Mr Chen had been persuaded to leave the embassy were true, it was "a day of shame for the Obama administration".
Your comments (217)
137.AndyS
4 Hours ago
Comments (217)
Mr Chen initially said he wanted to stay in China, but changed his mind
The US says it expects China to allow prominent dissident Chen Guangcheng to travel abroad soon.
The US state department said Mr Chen had been offered a fellowship at an American university, and it would allow his wife and children to accompany him.
Earlier, Beijing said the blind activist could apply to study abroad - paving the way for a resolution to a tense diplomatic stand-off with the US.
Mr Chen fled house arrest last month and spent six days in the US embassy.
He left but now says he wants to go to the US with his family.
His case has overshadowed high-level US-China talks taking place in Beijing.
"Mr Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
She said the US expected Beijing to process their application for travel documents "expeditiously".
"The United States government would then give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention," the statement added.
***
Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing
“ Start Quote When Friday dawned it was unclear whether the US would help Mr Chen leave China - and whether China would allow him to go. Events moved quickly as the hours ticked by”
End Quote
US and China close to deal on Chen
***
Earlier, Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin as saying: "If he wishes to study overseas, as a Chinese citizen, he can, like any other Chinese citizens, process relevant procedures with relevant departments through normal channels in accordance with the law."
Following an annual strategic dialogue between the US and China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "encouraged" by the Chinese statement.
"Progress has been made to help him have the future he wants," she told a news conference in Beijing.
Mrs Clinton also confirmed that the US ambassador in Beijing had spoken to Mr Chen by phone on Friday, and that an embassy doctor had been able to visit him.
Media attack
The dissident is currently in a Beijing hospital, sealed off by Chinese police.
Mr Chen spent a week in the US embassy after escaping from house arrest for more than a year-and-a-half. He left the embassy on Wednesday after accepting China's assurances of his safety.
He later said that in view of the threats against his family, he had decided to leave the country.
He told the Associated Press news agency that his wife was being followed and filmed by unidentified men whenever she was allowed to leave the hospital.
China had earlier demanded an apology from the US for sheltering Mr Chen in its embassy.
One of China's main official newspapers, the Beijing Daily, accused the dissident of being "a tool and a pawn for American politicians to blacken China".
In another development, the Chinese authorities have told some foreign correspondents covering the Chen story they may lose their visas if they breach regulations again.
The police warning came after the journalists, thought to number about 20, were accused of entering the hospital where Mr Chen is being treated without permission.
Mr Chen, 40, is a lawyer who has campaigned against forced abortions and sterilisations of women under China's policy of one child per family.
The case has increasing political resonance in the US. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has said that if reports that Mr Chen had been persuaded to leave the embassy were true, it was "a day of shame for the Obama administration".
Your comments (217)
137.AndyS
4 Hours ago
Thursday, May 03, 2012
WORLD_ Anti-Syrian regime mourners in Pictures
Anti-Syrian regime mourners in Pictures
Anti-Syrian regime mourners shout slogans and carry the body of activist Nour al-Zahraa, 23, who was shot by Syrian security forces on Sunday, during his funeral procession, in the Kfar Suseh area, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, April 30, 2012. Photo: Anonymous / AP
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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04052012
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Anti-Syrian regime mourners shout slogans and carry the body of activist Nour al-Zahraa, 23, who was shot by Syrian security forces on Sunday, during his funeral procession, in the Kfar Suseh area, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, April 30, 2012. Photo: Anonymous / AP
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
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04052012
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CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ Syria forces raid Aleppo University killed 4 students
Syrian forces raid Aleppo University; 4 killed
May 3, 2012 9:49 AM
In this picture taken during UN observer-organized media tour, a Syrian man, who covers his face to obscure his identity, speaks to UN observers about conditions in Hama city, central Syria, on Thursday May 3, 2012. Syrian security forces stormed dorms at a northwestern university to break up anti-government protests there, killing at least four students and wounding several others with tear gas and live ammunition, activists and opposition groups said Thursday. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman) (Muzaffar Salman)
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501713_162-57426909/syrian-forces-raid-aleppo-university-4-killed/
***
4 students killed as Syrian forces raid university
ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press
Updated 11:12 a.m., Thursday, May 3, 2012
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian man, left, stands in front of a building that was damaged after two bombs exploded near a military compound, in the city of Idlib, northwestern Syria, Monday, April 30, 2012. Two powerful bombs exploded near a military compound in the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Monday, killing several people and causing heavy damage, Syrian state media and opposition activists said. Photo: HOPD / SANA
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/4-students-killed-as-Syrian-forces-raid-university-3527369.php#ixzz1tqAvE6X9
***
Student terror as Syria forces raid Aleppo University
Syrian anti-government protesters gather at Aleppo University (AFP/YouTube)
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gRva3fXVVdxrWIXZgGCKylDuryUA?docId=CNG.1271019fdc406d1a4747845277086546.681&index=0
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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04052012
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CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
May 3, 2012 9:49 AM
In this picture taken during UN observer-organized media tour, a Syrian man, who covers his face to obscure his identity, speaks to UN observers about conditions in Hama city, central Syria, on Thursday May 3, 2012. Syrian security forces stormed dorms at a northwestern university to break up anti-government protests there, killing at least four students and wounding several others with tear gas and live ammunition, activists and opposition groups said Thursday. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman) (Muzaffar Salman)
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501713_162-57426909/syrian-forces-raid-aleppo-university-4-killed/
***
4 students killed as Syrian forces raid university
ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press
Updated 11:12 a.m., Thursday, May 3, 2012
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/4-students-killed-as-Syrian-forces-raid-university-3527369.php#ixzz1tqAvE6X9
***
Student terror as Syria forces raid Aleppo University
Syrian anti-government protesters gather at Aleppo University (AFP/YouTube)
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gRva3fXVVdxrWIXZgGCKylDuryUA?docId=CNG.1271019fdc406d1a4747845277086546.681&index=0
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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conbenho
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04052012
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CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ Attack on Syria university protest kills four-group
Attack on Syria university protest kills four-group
BEIRUT | Thu May 3, 2012 5:33am EDT
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces and students with knives attacked a protest against President Bashar al-Assad at Aleppo University early on Thursday, killing at least four people and arresting 200, according to activists and Internet videos.
Security forces raided the campus and fired at hundreds of students marching in support of the 14-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, the British-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The raid followed an attack on the student protesters by pro-Assad students armed with knives, it said.
Videos of an early morning protest showed students marching in the dark, as bursts of gunfire drowned their chants. Student activists also uploaded a picture of one young man killed, his shirt drenched in blood.
The Observatory, which has a network of activists across Syria, said more student protests had erupted later to denounce the overnight assault and security forces were firing tear gas.
Footage and accounts by activists are hard to verify conclusively because the government restricts media access.
Anti-Assad protests have flared at Aleppo University almost every day for several months, often led by youths who hail from rebellious hotspots such as the northern province of Idlib province and Deraa in the south, the cradle of the revolt.
There was no immediate word on Thursday's violence from the government or official media.
Aleppo, Syria's business hub, has been relatively calm during the uprising, compared to embattled cities elsewhere, but the university campus had seen frequent non-violent protests.
The revolt began in March 2011 with peaceful demonstrations inspired by a wave of Arab unrest, but has become increasingly militarized in response to Assad's violent crackdown.
In Aleppo, security forces had used tear gas and batons to disperse student protests, but have adopted tougher tactics in the last few days, prompting students to stage marches in the middle of the night under cover of darkness, activists said.
The Observatory cited student activists saying security forces had shut the university until May 12 and ordered students out of dormitories that had been used to launch protests. (Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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BEIRUT | Thu May 3, 2012 5:33am EDT
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces and students with knives attacked a protest against President Bashar al-Assad at Aleppo University early on Thursday, killing at least four people and arresting 200, according to activists and Internet videos.
Security forces raided the campus and fired at hundreds of students marching in support of the 14-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, the British-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The raid followed an attack on the student protesters by pro-Assad students armed with knives, it said.
Videos of an early morning protest showed students marching in the dark, as bursts of gunfire drowned their chants. Student activists also uploaded a picture of one young man killed, his shirt drenched in blood.
The Observatory, which has a network of activists across Syria, said more student protests had erupted later to denounce the overnight assault and security forces were firing tear gas.
Footage and accounts by activists are hard to verify conclusively because the government restricts media access.
Anti-Assad protests have flared at Aleppo University almost every day for several months, often led by youths who hail from rebellious hotspots such as the northern province of Idlib province and Deraa in the south, the cradle of the revolt.
There was no immediate word on Thursday's violence from the government or official media.
Aleppo, Syria's business hub, has been relatively calm during the uprising, compared to embattled cities elsewhere, but the university campus had seen frequent non-violent protests.
The revolt began in March 2011 with peaceful demonstrations inspired by a wave of Arab unrest, but has become increasingly militarized in response to Assad's violent crackdown.
In Aleppo, security forces had used tear gas and batons to disperse student protests, but have adopted tougher tactics in the last few days, prompting students to stage marches in the middle of the night under cover of darkness, activists said.
The Observatory cited student activists saying security forces had shut the university until May 12 and ordered students out of dormitories that had been used to launch protests. (Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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Wednesday, May 02, 2012
WORLD_ Syria army suffers deadliest day since ceasefire
Syria army suffers deadliest day since ceasefire
Syria's army reportedly suffered its deadliest day since the ceasefire when rebel fighters killed 20 troops, in the latest violation of the three-week truce the UN says both sides are flouting.
A member of the Syrian security forces peers from inside a tank in the district of Al-Waar in the flashpoint city of Homs Photo: AFP/GETTY
The Telegraph
3:09PM BST 02 May 2012
The rebels killed 15 soldiers - including two colonels - in a dawn ambush in the northern province of Aleppo, where two rebel fighters also died, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The ambush occurred near Al-Rai village, after President Bashar al-Assad's forces had "scaled up military operations" there in the days since the truce took effect on April 12, said the watchdog.
Clashes near Damascus killed six troops, while the army shelled and torched activists' homes in eastern Deir Ezzor province and regime gunfire killed a civilian in southern Dera'a, cradle of the 14-month uprising.
The latest bloodshed comes a day after the United Nations accused both the regime and its opponents of violating the ceasefire that is part of a peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
The plan calls for a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire, media access to all areas affected by the fighting, an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate and the release of detainees.
Related Articles
_ Syria: 15 troops killed in Aleppo - 02 May 2012
_ Inside Syria's broken city of Homs - 01 May 2012
According to the UN, more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since an anti-regime uprising broke out in March last year, while the Observatory puts the figure at more than 11,100.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said Syrian troops have kept heavy weapons in cities, and that both the government and rebels have violated the truce.
He also said UN members had so far only offered only 150 military observers for the 300-strong planned force and that Syria had refused visas for three proposed monitors.
But Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi denied visa requests had been turned down and said the two sides had agreed on the nationalities that could operate in the country.
"We agreed with the UN negotiating team that nationalities of observers to be mutually agreed upon ... So there is no refusal per se ... There are far more than 110 nationalities that can easily work in Syria," he told AFP.
Ladsous said 24 monitors were currently in place.
"Regarding the heavy weapons, yes, our military observers do see a number of APCs (armoured personnel carriers), for instance; they see a number of Howitzers and other military equipment in most places where they are," he said.
Syria had told the monitors the armoured carriers had been disarmed, but this had not been verified, added Ladsous.
"The important fact is that violations do come from both sides," he said while refusing to say whether one side had committed more breaches.
"All the parties need to take further steps to ensure a cessation of violence in all its forms," he said. Human Rights Watch accused the regime of committing atrocities in the eastern province of Idlib shortly before the truce took effect.
"Syrian tanks and helicopters attacked one town in Idlib after another," Anna Neistat, associate director for programmes and emergencies at HRW, said in a statement.
"It was as if the Syrian government forces used every minute before the ceasefire to cause harm," she added.
The New York-based watchdog accused regime forces of summary executions, arbitrary detentions and burning and destruction of civilian property.
In some of the incidents recorded by the global rights watchdog, children were executed by regime forces.
"The security forces also arbitrarily detained dozens of people, holding them without any legal basis," HRW said.
According to one eyewitness account published by HRW, the mother of Mohammed Saleh Shamrukh, an anti-regime protester from Saraqeb, in Idlib, had to watch regime forces take him away.
"I didn't say goodbye so as to not make him sad. He didn't say anything either. When they left, the soldiers said I should forget him," she said. Shamrukh was executed on March 25.
Another woman recounted how regime forces entered her home in the town of Taftanaz searching for her husband.
"They put a Kalashnikov to my head and threatened to kill us all if my husband did not come home," she said.
"Then an officer told a soldier to get petrol and told the children that he would burn them like he would burn their father because he is a terrorist."
She said she was finally allowed to leave the house before it was burned down on April 4 along with the houses of her five brothers-in-law.
HRW said that during the April 3-4 attack on Taftanaz, northeast of Idlib city, 19 members of the Ghazal family, including two under the age of 18, were executed by regime forces. Nine males were shot in the head or back.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said Syria's economy was likely to contract significantly in 2012 due the violence and international sanctions against the Assad regime.
burs/dv/bpz
AFP 021232 UTC MAI 12
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
03052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Syria's army reportedly suffered its deadliest day since the ceasefire when rebel fighters killed 20 troops, in the latest violation of the three-week truce the UN says both sides are flouting.
A member of the Syrian security forces peers from inside a tank in the district of Al-Waar in the flashpoint city of Homs Photo: AFP/GETTY
The Telegraph
3:09PM BST 02 May 2012
The rebels killed 15 soldiers - including two colonels - in a dawn ambush in the northern province of Aleppo, where two rebel fighters also died, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The ambush occurred near Al-Rai village, after President Bashar al-Assad's forces had "scaled up military operations" there in the days since the truce took effect on April 12, said the watchdog.
Clashes near Damascus killed six troops, while the army shelled and torched activists' homes in eastern Deir Ezzor province and regime gunfire killed a civilian in southern Dera'a, cradle of the 14-month uprising.
The latest bloodshed comes a day after the United Nations accused both the regime and its opponents of violating the ceasefire that is part of a peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
The plan calls for a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire, media access to all areas affected by the fighting, an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate and the release of detainees.
Related Articles
_ Syria: 15 troops killed in Aleppo - 02 May 2012
_ Inside Syria's broken city of Homs - 01 May 2012
According to the UN, more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since an anti-regime uprising broke out in March last year, while the Observatory puts the figure at more than 11,100.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said Syrian troops have kept heavy weapons in cities, and that both the government and rebels have violated the truce.
He also said UN members had so far only offered only 150 military observers for the 300-strong planned force and that Syria had refused visas for three proposed monitors.
But Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi denied visa requests had been turned down and said the two sides had agreed on the nationalities that could operate in the country.
"We agreed with the UN negotiating team that nationalities of observers to be mutually agreed upon ... So there is no refusal per se ... There are far more than 110 nationalities that can easily work in Syria," he told AFP.
Ladsous said 24 monitors were currently in place.
"Regarding the heavy weapons, yes, our military observers do see a number of APCs (armoured personnel carriers), for instance; they see a number of Howitzers and other military equipment in most places where they are," he said.
Syria had told the monitors the armoured carriers had been disarmed, but this had not been verified, added Ladsous.
"The important fact is that violations do come from both sides," he said while refusing to say whether one side had committed more breaches.
"All the parties need to take further steps to ensure a cessation of violence in all its forms," he said. Human Rights Watch accused the regime of committing atrocities in the eastern province of Idlib shortly before the truce took effect.
"Syrian tanks and helicopters attacked one town in Idlib after another," Anna Neistat, associate director for programmes and emergencies at HRW, said in a statement.
"It was as if the Syrian government forces used every minute before the ceasefire to cause harm," she added.
The New York-based watchdog accused regime forces of summary executions, arbitrary detentions and burning and destruction of civilian property.
In some of the incidents recorded by the global rights watchdog, children were executed by regime forces.
"The security forces also arbitrarily detained dozens of people, holding them without any legal basis," HRW said.
According to one eyewitness account published by HRW, the mother of Mohammed Saleh Shamrukh, an anti-regime protester from Saraqeb, in Idlib, had to watch regime forces take him away.
"I didn't say goodbye so as to not make him sad. He didn't say anything either. When they left, the soldiers said I should forget him," she said. Shamrukh was executed on March 25.
Another woman recounted how regime forces entered her home in the town of Taftanaz searching for her husband.
"They put a Kalashnikov to my head and threatened to kill us all if my husband did not come home," she said.
"Then an officer told a soldier to get petrol and told the children that he would burn them like he would burn their father because he is a terrorist."
She said she was finally allowed to leave the house before it was burned down on April 4 along with the houses of her five brothers-in-law.
HRW said that during the April 3-4 attack on Taftanaz, northeast of Idlib city, 19 members of the Ghazal family, including two under the age of 18, were executed by regime forces. Nine males were shot in the head or back.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said Syria's economy was likely to contract significantly in 2012 due the violence and international sanctions against the Assad regime.
burs/dv/bpz
AFP 021232 UTC MAI 12
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
03052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
WORLD_ Inside Syria's broken city of Homs
Inside Syria's broken city of Homs
The eccentricity of terror is drawn in dust-covered colours in the homes of Baba Amr.
Children play on the destroyed streets of Baba Amr
By Richard Spencer, Homs
7:02PM BST 01 May 2012
The neat blast hole in the ceiling of one family's dining room was sufficient explanation for the broken furniture and rubble with which it was filled. Wires dangled loosely. Against one wall stood a chest, its glass front shattered. But inside, the neat row of inverted Turkish coffee cups, eight red and eight yellow, sat unmoved and undamaged. There was even an intact light-bulb sitting on top.
The chest could be a symbol of the whole city of Homs, the focal point of the Syrian uprising. Parts are in good enough order, apart from painted-over graffiti. The five-star hotel that is the new base of the United Nations monitors is empty but smart and functioning.
Yet from a few hundred yards' distance comes the sound of automatic gunfire, and a two-minute drive away you are on what remains a hot front line despite the dominance of regime forces and despite the ceasefire the monitors are here to observe.
And in this compact town, the destroyed streets of Baba Amr, scene of one of the conflict's heaviest and deadliest bombardment, are a short walk away.
Along the main thoroughfares, the blackened holes of the apartment buildings stare down at the piles of broken bricks and burned out cars. Each building has its own sign of war – the smashed shutters of the shopfronts, the collapsed roof, the bedroom exposed to the daylight.
Related Articles
_ Syria: nine members of same family killed by Assad regime troops - 01 May 2012
_ 34 children 'killed in Syria' since ceasefire - 01 May 2012
_ Syria: biased West is calling for war, says regime - 30 Apr 2012
Stepping inside stirred a further eddy of dust from the crumbling concrete.
At first, it seemed like an empty film set. But we walked on, among the first journalists allowed in since the end of one of the most fearsome sieges of modern times, the few hundred residents who have not fled peered out from their broken walls.
A handful of black-clad women clustered around an outpost of the Red Crescent. A few more gathered around a man who had been allowed by the army to bring in a small selection of vegetables.
Children pointed excitedly to the ruins, their new playground, running in and out of the piles of detritus.
Few people were prepared to talk, but one man was upset enough on learning he was talking to a Briton to damn the perfidy of David Cameron, who had seemed to want to help but had "done nothing".
"He is a liar, a liar," he said. "It was just talk, talk, talk. Nobody helped us. The whole world was against us."
Another man described how he had been held in prison for 50 days – though not long enough to avoid the savagery of February's bombardment that finally drove the Free Syrian Army's Farouq Battalion from the suburb. It was a humiliating retreat which may have marked the turning point of this war.
"Every day for thirty days the shells came. They started at six in the morning and ended at eight at night. In between, there was not a minute's peace."
Ask where the FSA went, and there is a nervous silence. Some things still can't be discussed. "We lived here, they killed us, and they will kill us," said one resident, succinctly. The army SUVs and pickup trucks come in threes, driving without stopping down the centre of the road.
But it is no secret where the "armed groups" went. Many went to Khaldiyah, which touches on the city centre and which, though heavily shelled, seems a tougher nut to crack.
Walk up from the clock tower in the central square, between the governor's offices and the Lord Suites Hotel – "spotlessly clean and modern" according to the Lonely Planet guide, a comic thought now – and soon the bullets are cracking. From a side street comes the thud of a rocket-propelled grenade.
It is not clear why: there is no advance on either side, and regime officials may be right in claiming some of the firing is for show, to herald the monitors' arrival.
The heaviest shooting, though, is at night, long after the monitors have retreated to their hotel.
An army major reckons there are 4,000 fighters holed up in the suburb.
That, too, contradicts the official line that the FSA is nothing more than a handful of criminals, bolstered by foreign fighters and jihadists.
But then the official line is flexible, and perhaps has to be now the monitors are here to see for themselves. The government is now prepared to admit it shares in the responsibility for the disaster that has befallen a city where now smashed open-air cafés and rooftop restaurants speak of a more relaxed past.
The governor of Homs, Ghassan Abdul-Al, looked embarrassed as he claimed the army's treatment of Baba Amr was proportionate to the rebels' use of rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.
But he was only appointed a year ago, after his predecessor was sacked because of his initial response to the protests, and he was prepared to go beyond the standard formula that "some mistakes were made".
He hoped things might have been different if he had been in charge. "I think I might have been less aggressive," he said. "Because we see – and as you find – there is a big reason for this uprising. We did not serve the people, not as they should be."
For Syria to serve the people of Homs now seems almost impossible. Mr Abdul-Al said there were plans to redevelop Baba Amr – the reason, he said, pictures of a brieze-block wall along one side of the suburb have circulated the internet. It is not a "New Berlin Wall", he said, but merely a replacement for a protective barrier by the railway line.
Baba Amr certainly looks like a place that needs to be levelled. But before anything new can rise from the ashes, its people must be reconciled to those who reduced it to this state. That task lies beyond the building of walls.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
The eccentricity of terror is drawn in dust-covered colours in the homes of Baba Amr.
Children play on the destroyed streets of Baba Amr
By Richard Spencer, Homs
7:02PM BST 01 May 2012
The neat blast hole in the ceiling of one family's dining room was sufficient explanation for the broken furniture and rubble with which it was filled. Wires dangled loosely. Against one wall stood a chest, its glass front shattered. But inside, the neat row of inverted Turkish coffee cups, eight red and eight yellow, sat unmoved and undamaged. There was even an intact light-bulb sitting on top.
The chest could be a symbol of the whole city of Homs, the focal point of the Syrian uprising. Parts are in good enough order, apart from painted-over graffiti. The five-star hotel that is the new base of the United Nations monitors is empty but smart and functioning.
Yet from a few hundred yards' distance comes the sound of automatic gunfire, and a two-minute drive away you are on what remains a hot front line despite the dominance of regime forces and despite the ceasefire the monitors are here to observe.
And in this compact town, the destroyed streets of Baba Amr, scene of one of the conflict's heaviest and deadliest bombardment, are a short walk away.
Along the main thoroughfares, the blackened holes of the apartment buildings stare down at the piles of broken bricks and burned out cars. Each building has its own sign of war – the smashed shutters of the shopfronts, the collapsed roof, the bedroom exposed to the daylight.
Related Articles
_ Syria: nine members of same family killed by Assad regime troops - 01 May 2012
_ 34 children 'killed in Syria' since ceasefire - 01 May 2012
_ Syria: biased West is calling for war, says regime - 30 Apr 2012
Stepping inside stirred a further eddy of dust from the crumbling concrete.
At first, it seemed like an empty film set. But we walked on, among the first journalists allowed in since the end of one of the most fearsome sieges of modern times, the few hundred residents who have not fled peered out from their broken walls.
A handful of black-clad women clustered around an outpost of the Red Crescent. A few more gathered around a man who had been allowed by the army to bring in a small selection of vegetables.
Children pointed excitedly to the ruins, their new playground, running in and out of the piles of detritus.
Few people were prepared to talk, but one man was upset enough on learning he was talking to a Briton to damn the perfidy of David Cameron, who had seemed to want to help but had "done nothing".
"He is a liar, a liar," he said. "It was just talk, talk, talk. Nobody helped us. The whole world was against us."
Another man described how he had been held in prison for 50 days – though not long enough to avoid the savagery of February's bombardment that finally drove the Free Syrian Army's Farouq Battalion from the suburb. It was a humiliating retreat which may have marked the turning point of this war.
"Every day for thirty days the shells came. They started at six in the morning and ended at eight at night. In between, there was not a minute's peace."
Ask where the FSA went, and there is a nervous silence. Some things still can't be discussed. "We lived here, they killed us, and they will kill us," said one resident, succinctly. The army SUVs and pickup trucks come in threes, driving without stopping down the centre of the road.
But it is no secret where the "armed groups" went. Many went to Khaldiyah, which touches on the city centre and which, though heavily shelled, seems a tougher nut to crack.
Walk up from the clock tower in the central square, between the governor's offices and the Lord Suites Hotel – "spotlessly clean and modern" according to the Lonely Planet guide, a comic thought now – and soon the bullets are cracking. From a side street comes the thud of a rocket-propelled grenade.
It is not clear why: there is no advance on either side, and regime officials may be right in claiming some of the firing is for show, to herald the monitors' arrival.
The heaviest shooting, though, is at night, long after the monitors have retreated to their hotel.
An army major reckons there are 4,000 fighters holed up in the suburb.
That, too, contradicts the official line that the FSA is nothing more than a handful of criminals, bolstered by foreign fighters and jihadists.
But then the official line is flexible, and perhaps has to be now the monitors are here to see for themselves. The government is now prepared to admit it shares in the responsibility for the disaster that has befallen a city where now smashed open-air cafés and rooftop restaurants speak of a more relaxed past.
The governor of Homs, Ghassan Abdul-Al, looked embarrassed as he claimed the army's treatment of Baba Amr was proportionate to the rebels' use of rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.
But he was only appointed a year ago, after his predecessor was sacked because of his initial response to the protests, and he was prepared to go beyond the standard formula that "some mistakes were made".
He hoped things might have been different if he had been in charge. "I think I might have been less aggressive," he said. "Because we see – and as you find – there is a big reason for this uprising. We did not serve the people, not as they should be."
For Syria to serve the people of Homs now seems almost impossible. Mr Abdul-Al said there were plans to redevelop Baba Amr – the reason, he said, pictures of a brieze-block wall along one side of the suburb have circulated the internet. It is not a "New Berlin Wall", he said, but merely a replacement for a protective barrier by the railway line.
Baba Amr certainly looks like a place that needs to be levelled. But before anything new can rise from the ashes, its people must be reconciled to those who reduced it to this state. That task lies beyond the building of walls.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
"Xã hội chủ nghĩa" hay Xuống Hàng Chó Ngựa ?
"Xã hội chủ nghĩa" hay Xuống Hàng Chó Ngựa ?
Những thằng "đầy tớ" của cái chế độ "xã hội chủ nghĩa" của bè lũ phản quốc CƯỚP NƯỚC diệt chủng BÁN NƯỚC ĐỘC tài Độc đảng Việt gian cộng sản VN đã thật sự đưa "chủ nhân" của chúng là những người dân Việt Nam xuống hàng Chó Ngựa.
Những tên "trí đủ", "sĩ đờ", "sĩ đặc" ... mang danh "vịt kiều yêu nước" vẫn tiếp tục bơm hơi tiếp máu duy trì cái chế độ phi nhân của bè lũ Việt gian cộng sản VN nếu còn chút liêm sỉ của con người thì hãy mở mắt ra nhìn vào những hình ảnh khốn cùng như trên của người dân Việt để hiểu được hành vi đồng lõa với bè lũ TỘI ĐỒ của dân tộc là hành vi đáng ghê tởm , đáng phỉ nhổ và đáng khinh bỉ.
Tiếp máu nuôi giặc để chúng giết dân BÁN NƯỚC nô lệ giống nòi là hành vi không thể dung thứ .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Những thằng "đầy tớ" của cái chế độ "xã hội chủ nghĩa" của bè lũ phản quốc CƯỚP NƯỚC diệt chủng BÁN NƯỚC ĐỘC tài Độc đảng Việt gian cộng sản VN đã thật sự đưa "chủ nhân" của chúng là những người dân Việt Nam xuống hàng Chó Ngựa. Những tên "trí đủ", "sĩ đờ", "sĩ đặc" ... mang danh "vịt kiều yêu nước" vẫn tiếp tục bơm hơi tiếp máu duy trì cái chế độ phi nhân của bè lũ Việt gian cộng sản VN nếu còn chút liêm sỉ của con người thì hãy mở mắt ra nhìn vào những hình ảnh khốn cùng như trên của người dân Việt để hiểu được hành vi đồng lõa với bè lũ TỘI ĐỒ của dân tộc là hành vi đáng ghê tởm , đáng phỉ nhổ và đáng khinh bỉ.
Tiếp máu nuôi giặc để chúng giết dân BÁN NƯỚC nô lệ giống nòi là hành vi không thể dung thứ .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ More than 34 children 'killed in Syria' since ceasefire
More than 34 children 'killed in Syria' since ceasefire
More than 34 children have allegedly been killed in Syria since a shaky truce between President Bashar al-Assad's security forces and opposition groups took hold on April 12, the UN special envoy for children and armed conflict has claimed.
Vehicles that were damaged following blasts in Idlib Photo: AFP/GETTY
The Telegraph
3:58PM BST 01 May 2012
"Since a truce was agreed on April 12 ... and despite the deployment of United Nations ceasefire monitors, more than 34 children have allegedly been killed," special envoy Radhika Coomaraswamy said in a statement.
"I urge all parties in Syria to refrain from indiscriminate tactics resulting in the killing and wounding of children," she said.
Nine members of a single family were among 10 civilians killed in a dawn bombardment by Syrian government forces on Tuesday of a village in Idlib province in the northwest, according to a rights group, it was reported earlier.
12 troops were also killed in clashes with rebels just hours after a new UN call for all sides to respect a troubled truce.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said it was vital that government and opposition alike cooperate fully with a hard-won UN observer force as it fans out in its mission to shore up the ceasefire agreement that took effect on April 12.
Related Articles
_ Nine from one family killed in bombardment in Syria - 01 May 2012
_ Syria: biased West is calling for war, says regime - 30 Apr 2012
_ Hague: 2011 pivotal year for democracy worldwide - 30 Apr 2012
_ Syrian soldiers fire at Swiss and Lebanese skiers - 30 Apr 2012
But despite his appeal, human rights monitors reported no let-up in the violence, a day after a series of blasts condemned by Ban as "terrorist bomb attacks" killed more than 20 people.
Nine members of a single family were among the 10 killed in the regime bombardment of a village in Idlib province in the northwest, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A mortar round slammed into their home in Mashmashan village near the town of Jisr al-Shughur, the watchdog said, adding that four women and two children were among the dead.
Outside Damascus, an 80-year-old man was killed in the town of Qatna by gunfire from a minibus, the Observatory said. It cited residents as saying the vehicle belonged to the security forces.
In Deir Ezzor province in the northeast, 12 soldiers were killed in clashes with rebel fighters, the watchdog added.
One civilian was also killed during the fighting in the Busayra area of the province, in which troops responded with missile and heavy machinegun fire, it said.
Mr Ban called on all sides to work with the UN observer mission as it expands from the current advance party of 30 to a promised full complement of 300 in the coming days and weeks.
"While noting improvements in areas where UN monitors are deployed, the secretary general remains gravely concerned by reports of continued violence, killing and abuses in Syria in recent days," a statement said.
He called "for armed violence in all its forms by all parties to cease immediately and full cooperation of all parties with the work of UN Supervision Mission in Syria as it expands its presence on the ground."
Two observers are already deployed in Idlib, a province bordering Turkey where rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army have been active. There are none in Deir Ezzor.
Two observers each have been deployed in three other protest centres - the flashpoint central cities of Hama and Homs, and Dera'a province, south of Damascus and cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime that broke out in March last year.
The other 22 remain based in the capital.
In Monday's violence, bombings rocked Idlib city and the Damascus suburbs, with the deadliest hitting security buildings in Idlib.
"The blasts targeted two security headquarters, one housing air force intelligence and the other military intelligence," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The official SANA news agency said "terrorists" were behind the attacks by "suicide bombers."
State television broadcast footage of blood stains on the ground, and groups of angry people denouncing the violence and expressing support for Assad's regime.
"Is this the freedom they want?" shouted one man, standing near a woman who was carrying a child with blood running down his forehead. In his statement, the UN chief condemned what he called "terrorist bomb attacks" in Idlib and Damascus.
But the opposition Syrian National Council again accused the authorities of orchestrating the violence.
"The Assad regime is trying in various ways to mislead and distract (UN) observers in order to prevent them carrying out their work," the SNC said, calling for "an international commission of inquiry to uncover who was behind the explosions."
Source: AFP
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
More than 34 children have allegedly been killed in Syria since a shaky truce between President Bashar al-Assad's security forces and opposition groups took hold on April 12, the UN special envoy for children and armed conflict has claimed.
Vehicles that were damaged following blasts in Idlib Photo: AFP/GETTY
The Telegraph
3:58PM BST 01 May 2012
"Since a truce was agreed on April 12 ... and despite the deployment of United Nations ceasefire monitors, more than 34 children have allegedly been killed," special envoy Radhika Coomaraswamy said in a statement.
"I urge all parties in Syria to refrain from indiscriminate tactics resulting in the killing and wounding of children," she said.
Nine members of a single family were among 10 civilians killed in a dawn bombardment by Syrian government forces on Tuesday of a village in Idlib province in the northwest, according to a rights group, it was reported earlier.
12 troops were also killed in clashes with rebels just hours after a new UN call for all sides to respect a troubled truce.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said it was vital that government and opposition alike cooperate fully with a hard-won UN observer force as it fans out in its mission to shore up the ceasefire agreement that took effect on April 12.
Related Articles
_ Nine from one family killed in bombardment in Syria - 01 May 2012
_ Syria: biased West is calling for war, says regime - 30 Apr 2012
_ Hague: 2011 pivotal year for democracy worldwide - 30 Apr 2012
_ Syrian soldiers fire at Swiss and Lebanese skiers - 30 Apr 2012
But despite his appeal, human rights monitors reported no let-up in the violence, a day after a series of blasts condemned by Ban as "terrorist bomb attacks" killed more than 20 people.
Nine members of a single family were among the 10 killed in the regime bombardment of a village in Idlib province in the northwest, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A mortar round slammed into their home in Mashmashan village near the town of Jisr al-Shughur, the watchdog said, adding that four women and two children were among the dead.
Outside Damascus, an 80-year-old man was killed in the town of Qatna by gunfire from a minibus, the Observatory said. It cited residents as saying the vehicle belonged to the security forces.
In Deir Ezzor province in the northeast, 12 soldiers were killed in clashes with rebel fighters, the watchdog added.
One civilian was also killed during the fighting in the Busayra area of the province, in which troops responded with missile and heavy machinegun fire, it said.
Mr Ban called on all sides to work with the UN observer mission as it expands from the current advance party of 30 to a promised full complement of 300 in the coming days and weeks.
"While noting improvements in areas where UN monitors are deployed, the secretary general remains gravely concerned by reports of continued violence, killing and abuses in Syria in recent days," a statement said.
He called "for armed violence in all its forms by all parties to cease immediately and full cooperation of all parties with the work of UN Supervision Mission in Syria as it expands its presence on the ground."
Two observers are already deployed in Idlib, a province bordering Turkey where rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army have been active. There are none in Deir Ezzor.
Two observers each have been deployed in three other protest centres - the flashpoint central cities of Hama and Homs, and Dera'a province, south of Damascus and cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime that broke out in March last year.
The other 22 remain based in the capital.
In Monday's violence, bombings rocked Idlib city and the Damascus suburbs, with the deadliest hitting security buildings in Idlib.
"The blasts targeted two security headquarters, one housing air force intelligence and the other military intelligence," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The official SANA news agency said "terrorists" were behind the attacks by "suicide bombers."
State television broadcast footage of blood stains on the ground, and groups of angry people denouncing the violence and expressing support for Assad's regime.
"Is this the freedom they want?" shouted one man, standing near a woman who was carrying a child with blood running down his forehead. In his statement, the UN chief condemned what he called "terrorist bomb attacks" in Idlib and Damascus.
But the opposition Syrian National Council again accused the authorities of orchestrating the violence.
"The Assad regime is trying in various ways to mislead and distract (UN) observers in order to prevent them carrying out their work," the SNC said, calling for "an international commission of inquiry to uncover who was behind the explosions."
Source: AFP
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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WORLD_ Syria violence kills 23 despite U.N.-monitored truce
Syria violence kills 23 despite U.N.-monitored truce
1 of 4. A view of the damage at the site where two bombs detonated near state buildings in the northern city of Idlib in this handout released by Syria's national news agency SANA on April 30, 2012. Credit: Reuters/SANA/Handout
By Ed Cropley
BEIRUT | Tue May 1, 2012 6:53am EDT
(Reuters) - Violence erupted in two Syrian provinces on Tuesday, with a rights group reporting 10 civilians dead in an army mortar attack and 12 soldiers killed in a fire-fight with rebel gunmen as U.N. monitors sought to shore up a shaky ceasefire.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the 13-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, said nine members of one family died in mortar bomb blasts in a village in the northern province of Idlib.
In the eastern Deir al-Zor province, troops hit back with mortar and heavy machinegun fire after losing a dozen of their own to insurgents, killing at least one villager and destroying a school building, the anti-Assad Observatory added.
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed more than 9,000 people since the uprising began in March 2011.
Like other Arab revolts against autocratic rulers, it began with peaceful mass protests but a violent government response has spawned an increasingly bloody insurgency. Damascus says rebels have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and police.
A U.N. ceasefire brokered in mid-April led to a brief lull but failed to halt the conflict. Rebels starved of funding and ammunition appear to be stepping up a bombing campaign.
Explosions blew the fronts off buildings in the northwestern city of Idlib on Monday, killing nine people and wounding 100, including security personnel, according to state television, which blamed the blasts on "terrorist" suicide bombers.
Damascus has accused the United Nations of turning a blind eye to rebel ceasefire violations, although Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the Idlib blasts and a rocket attack on the central bank in the capital as "terrorist bomb attacks".
"HUGE TASK"
The United Nations now has 30 truce monitors in Syria, a nation of 23 million people, and expects to have 20 more of the planned 300-strong mission on the ground by the end of the week.
Their commander, Norway's Major General Robert Mood, has said progress is possible despite the enormity of their task.
"We will be only 300 but we can make a difference," he said on arrival in Damascus this week, but acknowledged that even a much bigger observer team could not solve all Syria's problems.
Western governments have lost patience with Assad, accusing him of breaking promises made to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that he would order troops and tanks back to barracks.
Paris has called for U.N. sanctions against Damascus, but the West can do little given the diplomatic cover Syria enjoys at the Security Council from China and Russia. Moscow says the rebels are mainly to blame for the continued violence.
Western states are wary of military intervention along the lines of last year's anti-Gaddafi air campaign in Libya because of the political, diplomatic and military complexities of tackling Syria, as well as the potential repercussions of any such venture on a volatile Middle Eastern neighborhood.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
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1 of 4. A view of the damage at the site where two bombs detonated near state buildings in the northern city of Idlib in this handout released by Syria's national news agency SANA on April 30, 2012. Credit: Reuters/SANA/Handout
By Ed Cropley
BEIRUT | Tue May 1, 2012 6:53am EDT
(Reuters) - Violence erupted in two Syrian provinces on Tuesday, with a rights group reporting 10 civilians dead in an army mortar attack and 12 soldiers killed in a fire-fight with rebel gunmen as U.N. monitors sought to shore up a shaky ceasefire.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the 13-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, said nine members of one family died in mortar bomb blasts in a village in the northern province of Idlib.
In the eastern Deir al-Zor province, troops hit back with mortar and heavy machinegun fire after losing a dozen of their own to insurgents, killing at least one villager and destroying a school building, the anti-Assad Observatory added.
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed more than 9,000 people since the uprising began in March 2011.
Like other Arab revolts against autocratic rulers, it began with peaceful mass protests but a violent government response has spawned an increasingly bloody insurgency. Damascus says rebels have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and police.
A U.N. ceasefire brokered in mid-April led to a brief lull but failed to halt the conflict. Rebels starved of funding and ammunition appear to be stepping up a bombing campaign.
Explosions blew the fronts off buildings in the northwestern city of Idlib on Monday, killing nine people and wounding 100, including security personnel, according to state television, which blamed the blasts on "terrorist" suicide bombers.
Damascus has accused the United Nations of turning a blind eye to rebel ceasefire violations, although Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the Idlib blasts and a rocket attack on the central bank in the capital as "terrorist bomb attacks".
"HUGE TASK"
The United Nations now has 30 truce monitors in Syria, a nation of 23 million people, and expects to have 20 more of the planned 300-strong mission on the ground by the end of the week.
Their commander, Norway's Major General Robert Mood, has said progress is possible despite the enormity of their task.
"We will be only 300 but we can make a difference," he said on arrival in Damascus this week, but acknowledged that even a much bigger observer team could not solve all Syria's problems.
Western governments have lost patience with Assad, accusing him of breaking promises made to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that he would order troops and tanks back to barracks.
Paris has called for U.N. sanctions against Damascus, but the West can do little given the diplomatic cover Syria enjoys at the Security Council from China and Russia. Moscow says the rebels are mainly to blame for the continued violence.
Western states are wary of military intervention along the lines of last year's anti-Gaddafi air campaign in Libya because of the political, diplomatic and military complexities of tackling Syria, as well as the potential repercussions of any such venture on a volatile Middle Eastern neighborhood.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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128.Green Tea
4 Hours ago
121.Joseph
4 Hours ago
Businesses are not going to stop opening factories in China, and people are not going to stop buying goods produced in China.
We can point fingers all we want but I guarantee the loudest people on this forum complaining about the US or UK government doing business with China own goods produced there.
55.jimmifingers
6 Hours ago
Very good for him that he was able to come out of all this unharmed
52.mtbeard
6 Hours ago
More ...
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
05052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC