Scores killed in Syrian flashpoint cities

AL Jazeera English Middle East

Women and children are killed by government "thugs" in Homs, activists say, as military assault on Idlib continues. Last Modified: 12 Mar 2012 06:14

Activists said at least 25 were killed in Idlib after troops and tanks moved in to crush armed opposition [Reuters]   Dozens of people have been killed in two major Syrian flashpoints, opposition activists said, hours after the UN special envoy to Syria met with the country's president in an effort to reach a diplomatic solution to end the violence. In the central city of Homs, the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) activist network said at least 45 women and children were killed on Monday morning in the neighbourhood of Karm al-Zaytoun. ”[They] have been slaughtered in a massacre by the regime’s Shabiha [thugs],” the group said in a statement, adding that 25 other people were killed in other parts of Homs. IN VIDEO Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, who was in Idlib when the assault began, describes the situation there. Syrian state news agency said the “terrorist gangs” were responsible for killings in Karm al-Zaytoun, adding that the bodies of those killed belonged to residents kidnapped by those armed groups. In Idlib, the Syrian government troops shelled areas in and around the northwestern province, as part of a campaign to crush the opposition in its stronghold along the border with Turkey. Opposition activists said on Monday that 25 people were killed in the province. In a phone interview with Al Jazeera, Abu Hani, a resident of Idlib city, described the conditions in local hospitals as shocking. "After shelling the city, security forces began a house-to-house search for activists and protesters," he said. "And soldiers have been granted complete freedom to loot everything from homes and shops." A Turkish government official said that at least 189 Syrians have crossed into Turkey since Saturday, fleeing the assault on Idlib. The official in Ankara told AFP news agency that figure was likely to increase. 'Concrete proposals' In other parts of the country, the LCC said five people were killed in the Damascus Suburbs, five in Aleppo, one in Damascus city, one in Latakia and one in Deraa. The ongoing violence comes after two days of talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Kofi Annan, the joint envoy of the Arab League and United Nations in Syria. Annan left Damascus on Sunday with no deal to stop the bloodshed. "It's going to be tough. It's going to be difficult but we have to have hope," he told reporters in Damascus on Sunday. "I am optimistic for several reasons," he said, citing a general desire for peace in Syria. Annan told reporters he had left "concrete proposals" with Assad, and called for an immediate halt to the killings in Syria, where the United Nations says Assad's forces have killed 7,500 people in a year-long crackdown on protests. "I have urged the president to heed the African proverb which says you cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail," Annan said. Syria needed to embrace change and reform, he said. "You have to start by stopping the killings and the misery and the abuses that [are] going on today and then give time [for a] political settlement," he said. Annan, who also met religious leaders in Damascus on Sunday, said the situation was "so bad and so dangerous" that all Syrians bore a responsibility to "help heal and reconcile this nation". He is expected to leave Damascus later on Sunday for Qatar. Mouna Ghanem, one of the opposition leaders who met with Kofi Annan, told Al Jazeera on the phone from Damascus that activists used the opportunity with the UN envoy to propose an international mediation group. "We explained to him the situation on the ground and the necessity to work to stop the violence immediately, and also to find ways to solve the armed conflict on the ground," she said. Ceasefire 'not enough' Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, who met Annan in Cairo on Friday, told the Arab League his country was "not protecting any regime", but did not believe the Syrian crisis could be blamed on one side alone. He called for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid access, but Qatar and Saudi Arabia sharply criticised Moscow's stance. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatari prime minister, who has led calls for Assad to be isolated and for Syrian rebels to be armed, said a ceasefire was not enough. Syrian leaders must be held to account and political prisoners freed, he declared. Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said shortcomings in the UN Security Council, where Russia and China have twice vetoed resolutions on Syria, had allowed the killing to go on. Their position, he said, "gave the Syrian regime a licence to extend its brutal practices against the Syrian people". The United States has drafted a fresh UN Security Council resolution, but Washington and Paris have said they are not optimistic it will be accepted. Despite their differences, Lavrov and Arab ministers said they had agreed on the need for an end to violence in Syria. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, will meet Lavrov in New York on Monday when the Security Council holds a special meeting on Arab revolts, with Syria likely to be in focus.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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