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Syrian forces 'launch Deraa assault'

Southern city comes under attack as Homs and Hama endure ongoing bombardments, with UN assembly set to discuss violence. Last Modified: 16 Feb 2012 12:12 inShare3 Email Print Share Feedback

Artillery shelling has continued in parts of Homs for about two weeks [Reuters]

Syrian troops have attacked the southern city of Deraa, bordering Jordan, in the latest escalation in its violent crackdown on an anti-government uprising, according to activists. The attack came as the United Nations General Assembly was due to vote later on Thursday on a new resolution condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government after the UN Security Council failed to reach agreement earlier this month due to Russian and Chinese opposition. Ban Ki-moon, the UN general-secretary, said on Thursday that crimes against humanity had probably been committed by Syrian forces, echoing concerns of Navi Pillay, the organisation's human rights chief, who has called for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court. "We see neighbourhoods shelled indiscriminately, hospitals used as torture centres, children as young as 10 years old killed and abused. We see almost a certain crimes against humanity," Ban said during a visit to Austria. Thursday's resolution at the UN General Assembly is proposed by Arab states including Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as Western powers which have expressed support for protesters in Syria, including the US, the UK and France. It calls for the assembly to express grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and to back an Arab League peace initiative which calls for "a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic political system". In Deraa, the sound of explosions and machinegun fire echoed through districts under attack by government troops, the Reuters news agency quoted residents as saying. "The army bombardment started around dawn and after that exchanges of fire occurred," Hussam Izzedine, a member of the Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah, told Reuters from Deraa. "Deraa has been regaining its role in the uprising. Demonstrations have resumed and the Free Syrian Army has been providing security for protests in some parts of the city." The attack in the city follows continued bombardments and tank shelling in the cities of Hama and Homs, in an apparent drive to crush the 11-month uprising against Assad’s rule. 'Push to control lost ground' Artillery shelled parts of Homs on Wednesday for the 13th day in a row. The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist group, said at least four people were killed by army fire concentrated on Bab Amr district, an opposition stronghold. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from neghbouring Beirut, said: "Syrian government forces seem to be on the offensive, pushing back into areas where Free Syrian Amry [FSA] had taken control in the past few weeks." "They have been conducting severe seizures and bombardments in many areas in the country: Hama, Homs and suburbs of Damascus, and this morning in Deraa in the south," she said. "The FSA has been pushing back as the government forces try to re-control, especially old town of Deraa," the Al Jazeera correspondent said. "We are hearing about lot of gunfire and bombardment by the security forces, and it is very hard to verify how many people have been killed or injured because people say most communications are down. "It is obvious government seems determined, as they want to take control of all the areas they lost in the past few months." There was no comment from Syrian authorities, who tightly restrict media access to the country. An army offensive last April put down large demonstrations in Deraa, which had been provoked by the arrest of several women activists and the detention of schoolboys. Syrian opposition re-elects Ghalioun Meanwhile on Thursday, the Syrian National Council (SNC), re-elected Burhan Ghalioun as president of the bloc. His mandate as leader of the coalition, which has become the main voice of the Syrian opposition, runs to April 15. "The SNC renews its pledge to fulfil the demands of the Syrian people and its responsibilities towards them, and to ensure that none of the bloodshed has been in vain," the SNC Executive Committee said in a statement after meeting in Doha, Qatar. "The SNC’s president will have a dedicated professional team to facilitate communications between the SNC’s committees, bureaus, activists on the ground, relief workers, and support for the Free Syrian Army." Syrian security forces continued their campaign even as Assad on Wednesday set February 26 as the date for a referendum on a new constitution, which the government says will lead to multi-party elections within 90 days. But it was rejected by the opposition and the West, with the US calling it "laughable". China, which drew global condemnation when it joined Russia in vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, said on Thursday it would send an envoy to Damascus to push for a "peaceful" end to the conflict. Zhai Jun, the Chinese vice foreign minister, will visit Syria from February 17 to 18, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Russia and China have so far refused to bend to diplomatic pressure over Syria, but France said on Wednesday it was negotiating a new UN Security Council resolution with Russia, which would include the creation of humanitarian corridors to ease the plight of civilians caught up in the violence. and.... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/15/international/i002339S79.DTL Turkey says no, for now, to buffer zone with Syria By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Wednesday, February 15, 2012 (page 1 of 2) SINGLE PAGE Print E-mail Share Comments (0) Font | Size:  4 Burhan Ozbilici / AP FILE - In this June 18, 2011 file photo, refugee children shout slogans to denounce the Syrian regime inside a Syrian refugee camp just at the border in Turkey near Turkish village of Boynuyogun in Hatay province, Turkey. Turkey seethes at what it calls atrocities in Syria and says a repeat of Sarajevo, the Bosnian city that endured years of siege warfare and international dithering in the 1990s, must be avoided. Yet Turkish officials are steering clear, for now, of proposals for a "safe haven" in neighboring Syria where civilians could shelter and army defectors could re-group. IMAGES  View All Images (4) (02-15) 00:23 PST ISTANBUL, (AP) -- Turkey condemns what it calls atrocities in Syria and says the world cannot watch another Sarajevo, the Bosnian city that endured years of siege warfare and international dithering in the 1990s. Yet it is steering clear, for now, of proposals for a "safe haven" across the border where civilians could shelter and army defectors regroup. Turkey matters in the global debate about the bloodshed because of its 566-mile (911-kilometer) frontier with Syria, and because it has matured into a regional power and potential counter to Iran, a backer of Damascus. Despite diplomacy and condemnation, however, Turkey increasingly resembles an anguished observer as the death toll climbs across a once-friendly frontier. The Turks are essentially actors in a proxy conflict as hosts to Syrian dissidents, and they are also trying to amass pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad and deliver aid to Syrian civilians. Some dissidents suggest a buffer zone with foreign protection could satisfy each portfolio for Turkey. But such intervention, even with U.N. support that is currently lacking, threatens deeper sectarian and regional conflict — a prospect that may make the Turks wary. "This issue is not on our agenda at the moment," said Selcuk Unal, spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry. "We are following things very closely. We don't want the bloodshed to continue. We don't want instability to continue. We are ready for every kind of eventuality." Unal did not entirely reject the idea of a buffer zone, a sign of awareness that the crisis was difficult to predict in the long term. Visiting Washington, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said Turkey intends to lobby for aid deliveries at the United Nations and rally allies on pressuring Damascus at an international meeting on Syria. Some advocates say it's time to look beyond diplomacy and economic sanctions to steps such as arming or protecting Assad's opponents. The question is  whether some coalition of powers, presumably involving Western and Arab allies and Turkey, eventually decides on more robust action even though Russian and Chinese opposition makes U.N. approval unlikely. Bassam Al Immadi, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, described a Syrian safe zone as "a compromise between military intervention and non-military intervention" that would encourage mass army defections because disillusioned soldiers would know where to find refuge. Syrian activists say such a buffer or "no fly" zone needs the legitimacy and logistics of an international institution such as NATO, and cite the alliance's 1999 air campaign against Serbian forces in Kosovo as a case study. Al Immadi recalled discussions over whether Turkey would favor such a zone when thousands of Syrians streamed across the border last year. "All that talk disappeared and everybody denied it because of some complexities that have do with Iran and Russia," he said. "The international arena was not prepared for such a thing. I think now things have to be rethought." Proponents see a loose comparison with Libya, where NATO, acting under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians, staged airstrikes to support rebels pushing from the eastern city of Benghazi. The help allowed opposition forces to coalesce, and leader Moammar Gadhafi was eventually killed. Conditions for what some call a "Syrian Benghazi" are lacking, even if an outbreak of border hostilities or another cross-border surge of refugees upends Turkish restraint. Russia and China blocked a U.N. resolution against Assad, stripping international consensus from any eventual intervention in Syria that, while humanitarian in name, would arguably have belligerent motives. With its proximity to Iraq, Iran and Israel, Syria is in a far more combustible part of the world than Libya. And Turkey, as much as it fumes, is wary of barging into another sovereign state after years of projecting soft power through diplomacy and economic outreach.