Syrian opposition: Homs a 'disaster area'

AL Jazeera English Middle East

Syrian National Council calls for international action to "stop the massacre" in Homs as reported death toll mounts. Last Modified: 07 Nov 2011 16:56

Walid al-Moallem, Syria's foreign minister, said the US had encouraged armed groups [EPA] Syria's opposition has called for international intervention in the city of Homs, one of the focal points of the country's uprising, calling it a "humanitarian disaster area". The appeal, issued by the Turkey-based Syrian National Council, comes as activists reported that at least five people were killed in the central city on Monday in an ongoing crackdown by security forces. At least 17 people had been killed in Homs the day earlier, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees activist network. In a statement, the Syrian National Council urged the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation and the Arab League to act "to stop the massacre committed by the regime." It also called on the international community to send "Arab and international observers, instantly, to the city of Homs to oversee the situation on the ground, and prevent the regime from continuing to commit brutal massacres." The Arab League has called a meeting in Cairo next Saturday on what it calls Syria's failure to implement a peace plan, announced by the body last week following talks with Syrian officials. The League said the meeting was called because of "the continuation of violence and because the Syrian government did not implement its commitments in the Arab plan to resolve the Syrian crisis." Walid al-Moallem, Syria's foreign minister, meanwhile criticised the United States for urging suspected gunmen not to hand in their weapons to authorities under an amnesty offer, Syrian state media reported Monday. "Syria considers the US call an encouragement for the armed groups to pursue their criminal acts against the Syrian people and state," state television quoted al-Moallem as saying. According to the reports, al-Moallem made the criticism in letters to his counterparts in Russia, China, India, South Africa, Brazil and the Arab League. On Friday the Syrian government announced details regarding a week-long amnesty period, beginning on Saturday, calling on "citizens who carried weapons, sold them, delivered them, transported them or funded buying them, and did not commit crimes, to hand themselves into the nearest police station." "The interior ministry assures that those who turn themselves in...will then be freed immediately and it will be considered a general amnesty," state media said. However, in a press briefing in Washington DC, Victoria Nuland, US State Department spokesperson, advised Syrians against turning themselves in. "I wouldn't advise anybody to turn thmselves in to the regime authorities at the moment," she told reporters.

Source: Agencies

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