Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
BEIRUT -- Syrian forces fired a barrage of mortar shells at an opposition stronghold Wednesday even as the foreign minister promised the regime would respect a week-old cease-fire and withdraw troops from urban centers in line with an international peace plan.
A troop pullback is a key provision of special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point plan to end 13 months of bloodshed in Syria, but the regime has ignored last week's deadline of getting tanks and troops off the streets.
Instead, Syrian soldiers continued to pound rebellious areas with artillery after an initial lull at the start the truce a week ago Thursday, raising growing international concerns that Annan's plan will fail.
In the latest violence Wednesday, activists said regime forces fired mortar shells at the central city of Homs, killing at least two civilians and sending thick gray smoke into the air as loud booms rang across residential areas.
The state news agency also said two separate roadside bombs killed 10 members of the security forces and a civilian in northern Syria. SANA reported that six soldiers were killed and 11 wounded in a blast in the village of Mastouma in Idlib province, while a second explosion in the Aleppo region killed four members of the security forces and a civilian.
The attacks were a sign that both sides have violated the cease-fire and could prompt the regime to intensify its assault on rebellious areas. Syria's government has portrayed the uprising as a foreign-led conspiracy by terrorists and thugs.
Despite persistent violence, the international community is reluctant to declare the cease-fire dead, in part because it is seen as the only way to end bloodshed triggered by an uprising against President Bashar Assad. As part of Annan's road map, a halt to fighting is to be followed by political talks between Assad and Syria's opposition.
Other options, such as foreign military intervention, arming Assad's opponents and economic sanctions, have either been discarded or offer no quick solution. A deadlocked international community would be hard put to offer an alternative if it were to acknowledge the collapse of the cease-fire.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem insisted Wednesday that Syria is keeping its commitments. Syria will "continue to cooperate" with Annan's efforts, the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted Moallem as saying after he met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.
Syria will "honor and implement Annan's six-point proposal, fulfill its cease-fire, troop withdrawal and other relevant commitments and begin cooperation with the U.N. monitoring team," Moallem said according to the statement.
BEIRUT The United Nations Security Council is expected to authorize deploying a full mission of 250 monitors to Syria after it takes up the issue Wednesday, but Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon questioned whether even that number would be sufficient.
"I think this is not enough, considering the current situation and considering the vastness of the country, and that is why we need very efficient mobility of our observer mission," he said Tuesday.
He said he had discussed with European Union leaders whether the EU could provide helicopters and airplanes for that mobility.
Six members of a U.N. mission to monitor implementation of a peace plan began setting up headquarters in Syria on Monday, and 25 additional observers are expected to arrive in Damascus, the capital, in coming days.
Ban said U.N. military action was not under consideration.
"At this time, the situation is so complicated that we are not contemplating any introduction of military protection," he said. "This is the responsibility of the Syrian authorities."
Violence has persisted in parts of Syria since a cease-fire began Thursday, leading some to declare the peace plan a failure.
Shelling continued in the battered city of Homs, and the government has intensified an offensive in the northwestern province of Idlib, activists say. Reports Tuesday said almost 70 people had been killed, most of them in Idlib, in tank and helicopter attacks over the last two days.
One activist, Khalid Mahmoud Qbiesho, was reported killed in Idlib when a tank ran over him, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a coalition of opposition groups. Others were killed execution-style, activists said.
Meanwhile, in Paris, representatives of 60 governments belonging to the group Friends of the Syrian People met to reinforce sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime amid the 13-month uprising, which the U.N. estimates has taken more than 9,000 lives.
(BRUSSELS) Despite oft-repeated U.S. demands that Syrian President Bashar Assad step aside, the Obama administration's policy now reflects a consensus that Assad has a firm hold on power and that nothing short of an outside military strike will dislodge him quickly.
With rebel forces poorly armed and disorganized, efforts to pay them by Arab Gulf states failing, and sectarian divisions looming in Syria, the U.S. and its allies seem prepared to leave Assad where he is. Even if he could be ousted, the near future in Syria would involve civil war among ethnic groups now under Assad's boot, or a slow and bloody war with rebels or proxy fighters armed from the outside.
The U.S. has edged toward supplying the rebels with communications gear and other nonlethal aid but has ruled out either a military assault or a supply of heavy weaponry for rebel forces.
"We are at a crucial turning point," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday.
Either a United Nations-brokered cease-fire takes hold "or we see Assad squandering his last chance before additional measures have to be considered," Clinton said.
But even as she suggests further action, as she has many times before, Clinton is not expected to announce a shift in the U.S. stance during a diplomatic huddle on Syria in Paris on Thursday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said late Wednesday he believes there is an opportunity for progress in Syria and recommended the Security Council approve a 300-strong U.N. observer mission.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Ban told the council he will consider developments on the ground, including consolidation of the cease-fire, before deciding on when to deploy the expanded mission, which is larger than the 250 observers initially envisioned. The Security Council was scheduled to discuss Ban's letter and recommendations at a closed meeting Thursday morning.
The United States backs the cease-fire between Assad's forces and rebels, but the deal also represents recognition that Assad remains in control of the armed forces and holds the power to suspend attacks on civilians and rebels.
The week-old cease-fire was supposed to allow greater humanitarian and other relief to enter the country.
Syria has violated key provisions. Tanks, troops and widely feared plainclothes security agents continue to patrol the streets to deter anti-government protests, while the regime resumed its assault on rebellious Homs, Syria's third-largest city, over the weekend after only a brief lull.
U.S. officials regularly say Assad is no longer a legitimate leader, but they hold no direct leverage to make him leave, or even make him listen to international condemnation.
"Assad must step down," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said this week. "I mean, we continue to take that position. At the same time, I think, we believe that we have to continue to work with the international community to keep putting pressure on Assad."
Even relatively harsh new sanctions on Syria are a tacit admission that Assad isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And the rebels are no closer to ridding the country of him despite 13 months of fighting and 9,000 mostly civilian deaths.
BEIRUT Syrian troops armed with heavy machine guns killed dozens in the central city of Hama Monday, activists said, just a day after chanting protesters welcomed a visit by a U.N. team sent to observe a shaky cease-fire.
The day's violence, the city's worst in months, added a dangerous new aspect to the U.N. team's work: that the Syrian regime might exact deadly revenge against opponents who feel empowered by the observers' presence to spill into the streets.
Observance of the truce, which was supposed to begin April 12, has been spotty at best. The main manifestation has been a temporary halt to fighting between President Bashar Assad's troops and rebel forces in locations where observers are present.
Skepticism about the cease-fire remains high, but world leaders say the current plan to stop more than a year of hostilities might be the last chance.
The U.N's political chief B. Lynn Pascoe told the Security Council that the Syrian government is still using heavy weapons and has failed to implement the peace plan brokered by former Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Pascoe said Syria's compliance with other elements of the plan, like releasing detainees and allowing peaceful demonstrations, is "clearly insufficient."
Some details of Monday's events in Hama remained murky, though different activists said the attacks started early in the morning and stopped a few hours later after dozens of people had been killed.
BEIRUT Syrian troops heavily shelled a suburb of the capital Tuesday, and satellite imagery showed that Syria has failed to withdraw all of its heavy weapons from populated areas as required by a cease-fire deal, an official said.
The shelling came hours after rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad killed three regime officers in separate attacks around Damascus, activists and state media said, the latest violence targeting the security forces used by the government to quash dissent.
A bomb hidden in an army truck also exploded in the capital, wounding several people.
The persistent bloodshed has tarnished efforts by a U.N. team of observers to salvage a truce that started to unravel almost as soon as it began on April 12. Despite the violence, the international community still sees the peace plan put forward by envoy Kofi Annan as the last chance to prevent the country from falling into civil war in part because there are no real alternatives.
Despite the bombardment, U.N. monitors visited the restive Damascus suburb of Douma on Tuesday, their second visit in two days.
The Local Coordination Committees activist group called Tuesday's barrage the "most violent shelling" of Douma since the crisis began adding that the violence left eight people dead and more than 100 wounded. The group also said that troops shelled the nearby suburb of Harasta.
Amateur videos posted online showed smoke rising into the sky as a result of the shelling.
"We are dying," shouted Douma-based activist Mohammed Saeed through Skype. "The observers are conspiring against us. Yesterday they refused to go with us to show them where the tanks are being hidden."
Annan, who was giving a speech in Sweden and briefing the U.N. Security Council in New York, called on the Syrian government to fully implement its commitments under the truce, his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told U.N. reporters in Geneva.
"This means withdrawal of all heavy armory (weapons) from population centers and (sending them) back to the barracks. They are claiming that this has happened. Satellite imagery, however, and credible reports show that this has not fully happened, so this is unacceptable," Fawzi said.
Fawzi added that Annan is aware that when the U.N. monitors enter conflict areas in Syria that "the guns are silent," then "when they leave, the exchanges start again." He added there appear to be cases of Syrians being targeted by authorities after approaching U.N. observers monitoring the truce. Fawzi called the situation "totally unacceptable."
BEIRUT, April 25 (Reuters) - Syrian security forces shot dead four civilians on a bus in the northern province of Idlib on Wednesday, dissidents said, as international pressure built on Damascus to honour ceasefire pledges to order soldiers and tanks back to barracks.
In the latest violence to undermine the flaky 13-day-old truce, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the four were killed at a checkpoint on the main road from Aleppo to the capital.
Internet video that activists said was shot soon after the incident showed the bodies of two women and a wounded man lying on stretchers.
There was no mention of the shooting in Syria's rigidly controlled media or comment from the authorities in Damascus, which has barred most foreign journalists during 13 months of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The bus attack, occurring two days after 31 people were killed in Hama city immediately after U.N. ceasefire monitors left the area, may prompt more diplomatic pressure on Damascus.
Former U.N. Secretary-General and ceasefire broker Kofi Annan told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had failed to withdraw weapons from population centres in violation of the terms of the April 12 truce.
Syria Crisis: Kofi Annan Tells UN Syria Failed To Withdraw Weapons
BEIRUT, April 25 (Reuters) - Syrian security forces shot dead four civilians on a bus in the northern province of Idlib on Wednesday, dissidents said, as international pressure built on Damascus to honour ceasefire pledges to order soldiers and tanks back to barracks.
In the latest violence to undermine the flaky 13-day-old truce, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the four were killed at a checkpoint on the main road from Aleppo to the capital.
Internet video that activists said was shot soon after the incident showed the bodies of two women and a wounded man lying on stretchers.
There was no mention of the shooting in Syria's rigidly controlled media or comment from the authorities in Damascus, which has barred most foreign journalists during 13 months of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The bus attack, occurring two days after 31 people were killed in Hama city immediately after U.N. ceasefire monitors left the area, may prompt more diplomatic pressure on Damascus.
Former U.N. Secretary-General and ceasefire broker Kofi Annan told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had failed to withdraw weapons from population centres in violation of the terms of the April 12 truce.
Syria Crisis: Kofi Annan Tells UN Syria Failed To Withdraw Weapons
Syria Crisis: Kofi Annan Tells UN Syria Failed To Withdraw Weapons
BEIRUT, April 25 (Reuters) - Syrian security forces shot dead four civilians on a bus in the northern province of Idlib on Wednesday, dissidents said, as international pressure built on Damascus to honour ceasefire pledges to order soldiers and tanks back to barracks.
In the latest violence to undermine the flaky 13-day-old truce, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the four were killed at a checkpoint on the main road from Aleppo to the capital.
Internet video that activists said was shot soon after the incident showed the bodies of two women and a wounded man lying on stretchers.
There was no mention of the shooting in Syria's rigidly controlled media or comment from the authorities in Damascus, which has barred most foreign journalists during 13 months of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The bus attack, occurring two days after 31 people were killed in Hama city immediately after U.N. ceasefire monitors left the area, may prompt more diplomatic pressure on Damascus.
Former U.N. Secretary-General and ceasefire broker Kofi Annan told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had failed to withdraw weapons from population centres in violation of the terms of the April 12 truce.
Syria Crisis: Kofi Annan Tells UN Syria Failed To Withdraw Weapons
Where'd they dredge up Kofi Annan? He wouldn't want his nice Brioni suits to get dirty in Syria. The Syrians are really fucked
Syria Crisis: Kofi Annan Tells UN Syria Failed To Withdraw Weapons
Syria Crisis: Kofi Annan Tells UN Syria Failed To Withdraw Weapons
Where'd they dredge up Kofi Annan? He wouldn't want his nice Brioni suits to get dirty in Syria. The Syrians are really fucked
HA Good point, Kofi Annan is nothing but a corrupt empty suit and Bashar knows it, he is smiling at him.
BEIRUT U.N. observers on Thursday inspected the site of a deadly explosion that flattened a block of houses in the central Syrian city of Hama a day earlier and killed at least 16 people.
The government and the opposition traded blame for the blasts. Syrian state-run media said rebel bomb-makers accidentally set off the explosives, while anti-regime activists said intense shelling by government forces caused the extensive damage. It was impossible to independently verify the conflicting accounts because President Bashar Assad's regime, facing a 13-month-old uprising, has restricted access for journalists and other outside witnesses.
The spokesman for U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, Ahmad Fawzi, said observers visited the site but there was no immediate word on what they saw. A pair of U.N. observers is stationed in Hama, part of an advance team of 15 that is to be expanded in the coming weeks to up to 300 as part of a truce plan to end the Syrian crisis.
A U.N. official said Thursday the United Nations has so far negotiated for countries to provide 100 unarmed truce monitors to be on the ground in Syria, in addition to civilian support staff, within 30 days of the April 12 cease-fire. But he said differences between politicians and military officials in potential contributing nations have slowed the negotiations for more troops. He did not elaborate.
The official said the U.N. will announce Friday that Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood is being appointed to lead the team of U.N. observers. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made.
Amateur videos said to be of Wednesday's blasts in Hama showed a large cloud of white and yellow smoke rising from a neighborhood surrounded by green fields. In a later video, dozens of people are searching the debris, including huge chunks of cement and broken cinderblocks. Another clip shows the bloodied body of a little girl being carried through a crowd of wailing men.
The state-run Syrian news agency SANA said rebels mishandling explosives triggered a blast that killed at least 16 people and severely damaged at least six houses.
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists, said the destruction was caused by intense shelling from government tanks, and denied that rebels were responsible for the blast.
A second group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the cause of the destruction was not immediately clear. The Observatory initially cited reports by local residents that they had come under attack from regime forces.
However, the head of the group, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said he cannot be sure those reports are accurate, and called for an investigation by U.N. observers.
Syria Crisis: Hama Bomb Killing 16 Blamed On Opposition By Assad Regime
BEIRUT — U.N. observers on Thursday inspected the site of a deadly explosion that flattened a block of houses in the central Syrian city of Hama a day earlier and killed at least 16 people.
The government and the opposition traded blame for the blasts. Syrian state-run media said rebel bomb-makers accidentally set off the explosives, while anti-regime activists said intense shelling by government forces caused the extensive damage. It was impossible to independently verify the conflicting accounts because President Bashar Assad's regime, facing a 13-month-old uprising, has restricted access for journalists and other outside witnesses.
The spokesman for U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, Ahmad Fawzi, said observers visited the site but there was no immediate word on what they saw. A pair of U.N. observers is stationed in Hama, part of an advance team of 15 that is to be expanded in the coming weeks to up to 300 as part of a truce plan to end the Syrian crisis.
A U.N. official said Thursday the United Nations has so far negotiated for countries to provide 100 unarmed truce monitors to be on the ground in Syria, in addition to civilian support staff, within 30 days of the April 12 cease-fire. But he said differences between politicians and military officials in potential contributing nations have slowed the negotiations for more troops. He did not elaborate.
The official said the U.N. will announce Friday that Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood is being appointed to lead the team of U.N. observers. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made.
Amateur videos said to be of Wednesday's blasts in Hama showed a large cloud of white and yellow smoke rising from a neighborhood surrounded by green fields. In a later video, dozens of people are searching the debris, including huge chunks of cement and broken cinderblocks. Another clip shows the bloodied body of a little girl being carried through a crowd of wailing men.
The state-run Syrian news agency SANA said rebels mishandling explosives triggered a blast that killed at least 16 people and severely damaged at least six houses.
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists, said the destruction was caused by intense shelling from government tanks, and denied that rebels were responsible for the blast.
A second group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the cause of the destruction was not immediately clear. The Observatory initially cited reports by local residents that they had come under attack from regime forces.
However, the head of the group, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said he cannot be sure those reports are accurate, and called for an investigation by U.N. observers.
Syria Crisis: Hama Bomb Killing 16 Blamed On Opposition By Assad Regime
DAMASCUS, Syria A suicide bomber blew himself up across the street from a mosque in the Syrian capital Friday, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 30, state TV said. Thousands of Syrians protested elsewhere to denounce persistent violence by President Bashar Assad's regime.
The blast was the latest blow to a peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan that called for a cease-fire to go into effect two weeks ago. The truce has been roundly ignored on the ground, and the U.N. has only 15 monitors in Syria who are trying to salvage it.
Syrian cities have been hit by a wave of blasts in recent months that the regime often blames on "terrorists" trying to destabilize the country. Opposition activists usually deny that, blaming government forces for carrying out the attacks as a way to tarnish the uprising that began in March 2011.
The violence, including continued government shelling of opposition strongholds, comes despite a diplomatic push to end the year-old crisis. An uprising against Assad that began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests has morphed into an armed insurgency.
The blast in the capital's Midan neighborhood went off across the street from a mosque.
Syrian TV aired footage of white smoke billowing from under a bridge as people streamed out of a mosque. The streets were stained with blood.
State TV reported that nine people were killed and 30 wounded. Health Minister Nader al-Halqi confirmed at least eight dead and said they included seven policemen.
Midan has been the site of frequent anti-government protests in the past. In January, an explosion in the same neighborhood killed at least 26 people and wounded 63.
The anti-government protests, which usually take place on Fridays across the country, typically begin following noon prayers as worshippers stream out of mosques.
Syria Bomb Blast: Suicide Bomber Hits Damascus, Killing At Least 5
DAMASCUS, Syria A suicide bomber blew himself up across the street from a mosque in the Syrian capital Friday, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 30, state TV said. Thousands of Syrians protested elsewhere to denounce persistent violence by President Bashar Assad's regime.
The blast was the latest blow to a peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan that called for a cease-fire to go into effect two weeks ago. The truce has been roundly ignored on the ground, and the U.N. has only 15 monitors in Syria who are trying to salvage it.
Syrian cities have been hit by a wave of blasts in recent months that the regime often blames on "terrorists" trying to destabilize the country. Opposition activists usually deny that, blaming government forces for carrying out the attacks as a way to tarnish the uprising that began in March 2011.
The violence, including continued government shelling of opposition strongholds, comes despite a diplomatic push to end the year-old crisis. An uprising against Assad that began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests has morphed into an armed insurgency.
The blast in the capital's Midan neighborhood went off across the street from a mosque.
Syrian TV aired footage of white smoke billowing from under a bridge as people streamed out of a mosque. The streets were stained with blood.
State TV reported that nine people were killed and 30 wounded. Health Minister Nader al-Halqi confirmed at least eight dead and said they included seven policemen.
Midan has been the site of frequent anti-government protests in the past. In January, an explosion in the same neighborhood killed at least 26 people and wounded 63.
The anti-government protests, which usually take place on Fridays across the country, typically begin following noon prayers as worshippers stream out of mosques.
Syria Bomb Blast: Suicide Bomber Hits Damascus, Killing At Least 5
BEIRUT Two suicide bombers blew up cars rigged with explosives near a military compound and a hotel in a city in northwestern Syria on Monday, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 100, state media said.
The blasts, which also tore two large craters in the ground, were the latest setback for troubled United Nations efforts to end Syria's 13-month-old crisis. A team of U.N. observers is already on the ground to salvage a cease-fire that went into effect April 12 but has been widely ignored by both sides. U.N. officials have singled out the regime as the main aggressor in violations of the truce.
Monday's powerful bombs went off in the city of Idlib, an opposition stronghold that government troops recaptured in a military offensive earlier this year.
The state-run news agency SANA said security forces and civilians were among those killed, while state TV said that many of the nearly 100 wounded were civilians. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist network, put the death toll at more than 20 people.
Syria's pro-government al-Ekhbariya TV aired footage of the aftermath from the blasts, showing torn flesh, smashed cars, twisted debris and blood stains on the pavement. The force of the explosions tore the facade off one multistory building, shattered windows in the area and sent debris flying for hundreds of meters (yards). Pro-government websites said five buildings damaged.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. State media blamed "armed terrorists," a term it uses for rebels trying to topple the government. Activists claimed the regime was behind the bombings to discredit the opposition.
The bombers detonated their explosives near a military compound and near the city's Carlton Hotel, SANA said.
A local activist, who only gave his first name, Ibrahim, for fear of repercussions, said the two sites are several hundred meters apart and that the explosions went off within five minutes of each other after daybreak Monday.
Two members of the U.N. observer team toured the site of the bombings, SANA said. Ibrahim said the observers have been staying at the Carlton, and a pro-government website reported that the hotel sustained some damage.
Earlier Monday, gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at the central bank and a police patrol in the capital of Damascus, wounding four officers and causing light damage to the bank, SANA said.
Syria Crisis: Suicide Bombers Attack Hotel And Military Compound In Idlib
BEIRUT Two suicide bombers blew up cars rigged with explosives near a military compound and a hotel in a city in northwestern Syria on Monday, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 100, state media said.
The blasts, which also tore two large craters in the ground, were the latest setback for troubled United Nations efforts to end Syria's 13-month-old crisis. A team of U.N. observers is already on the ground to salvage a cease-fire that went into effect April 12 but has been widely ignored by both sides. U.N. officials have singled out the regime as the main aggressor in violations of the truce.
Monday's powerful bombs went off in the city of Idlib, an opposition stronghold that government troops recaptured in a military offensive earlier this year.
The state-run news agency SANA said security forces and civilians were among those killed, while state TV said that many of the nearly 100 wounded were civilians. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist network, put the death toll at more than 20 people.
Syria's pro-government al-Ekhbariya TV aired footage of the aftermath from the blasts, showing torn flesh, smashed cars, twisted debris and blood stains on the pavement. The force of the explosions tore the facade off one multistory building, shattered windows in the area and sent debris flying for hundreds of meters (yards). Pro-government websites said five buildings damaged.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. State media blamed "armed terrorists," a term it uses for rebels trying to topple the government. Activists claimed the regime was behind the bombings to discredit the opposition.
The bombers detonated their explosives near a military compound and near the city's Carlton Hotel, SANA said.
A local activist, who only gave his first name, Ibrahim, for fear of repercussions, said the two sites are several hundred meters apart and that the explosions went off within five minutes of each other after daybreak Monday.
Two members of the U.N. observer team toured the site of the bombings, SANA said. Ibrahim said the observers have been staying at the Carlton, and a pro-government website reported that the hotel sustained some damage.
Earlier Monday, gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at the central bank and a police patrol in the capital of Damascus, wounding four officers and causing light damage to the bank, SANA said.
Syria Crisis: Suicide Bombers Attack Hotel And Military Compound In Idlib
BEIRUT -- Syrian forces fired mortar shells at a farming village in the country's north Tuesday, killing at least seven people, many from the same family, according to activists.
In one video posted online, a bearded man storms into a clinic and yells, "Film me! Film me!"
Counting on his fingers, he says the attack killed his mother, sister, two of his brothers and a nephew.
"That's my son!" he says, pointing to a wounded boy with white bandages on his legs, arms and back. "That's my brother and that's my nephew!" he says, pointing to a body on the floor in a pool of blood and another on a gurney.
The fresh violence in the village of Mishmishan underlines the continual unraveling of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that was supposed to begin on April 12 but has never taken hold. The truce is part of a peace plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan to allow for talks by all parties on a political solution to the country's conflict.
The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed since an uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, prompting a brutal crackdown by government forces.
The shelling of Mishmishan, an agricultural area near the border with Turkey, also highlights the huge challenge facing a 16-person U.N. team that is trying to monitor the truce in a country slightly larger than North Dakota, where violence is widespread and often in relatively isolated areas.
Video posted online of a funeral in Mishmishan show hundreds of people marching through the village, then lining up to pray over the bodies, which lie in the back of three white pickup trucks. The videos list seven dead.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 10 people were killed in the attack, seven of them when a mortar fell on their house. The three others died elsewhere in the village, he said.
Activist claims and videos could not be independently verified. The Syrian government rarely comments on specific events in the country and bars most media from independent reporting despite agreeing to do so in accepting Annan's plan.
BEIRUT Syrian activists said government forces clashed with army defectors in the country's north on Wednesday, causing casualties and further enflaming an area near the Turkish border where rebel fighters have tried to seize territory.
An opposition group said 15 members of the security forces and two defectors died in the violence, but the figure could not be independently confirmed.
Syria's persistent bloodshed has tarnished efforts by a U.N. team of observers to salvage a truce that started to unravel almost as soon as it began on April 12.
A report by an international human rights group accusing Assad of war crimes during an offensive ahead of the truce further throws into doubt his commitment to a peaceful solution to the uprising that his government has been brutally suppressing for over a year.
Despite the violence, the international community still sees the peace plan as the last chance to prevent the country from falling into civil war in part because no country wants to intervene militarily.
Syria Troops Guilty Of War Crimes, Rights Groups Says
BEIRUT Syrian activists said government forces clashed with army defectors in the country's north on Wednesday, causing casualties and further enflaming an area near the Turkish border where rebel fighters have tried to seize territory.
An opposition group said 15 members of the security forces and two defectors died in the violence, but the figure could not be independently confirmed.
Syria's persistent bloodshed has tarnished efforts by a U.N. team of observers to salvage a truce that started to unravel almost as soon as it began on April 12.
A report by an international human rights group accusing Assad of war crimes during an offensive ahead of the truce further throws into doubt his commitment to a peaceful solution to the uprising that his government has been brutally suppressing for over a year.
Despite the violence, the international community still sees the peace plan as the last chance to prevent the country from falling into civil war in part because no country wants to intervene militarily.
Syria Troops Guilty Of War Crimes, Rights Groups Says
BEIRUT 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.
Around 1,500 students had been protesting in student quarters next to Aleppo University's main campus late Wednesday when security forces and pro-regime gunmen swept into their residences, firing tear gas at first, then live ammunition to disperse them.
The raid followed an attack on the protesters by pro-regime students armed with knives, activists said.
Student activist Thaer al-Ahmed said panic and chaos ensued as students tried to flee.
"Some students ran to their rooms to take cover but they were followed to their rooms, beaten up and arrested," he said. "Others suffered cuts and broken bones as they tried to flee."
Raids and intermittent gunfire continued for about five hours through early Thursday, he said, adding that dozens of people were wounded, some critically, and around 50 students were arrested at the state-run university.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and economic hub, has a population that has remained largely loyal to President Bashar Assad and has been largely spared from the violence that has plagued other Syrian cities.
But university students many from rebellious areas such as the northern Idlib province have been staging almost daily protests calling for the fall of Assad's regime. Al-Thaer, a law student, said the campus and dormitories have been raided before, but Thursday's raid was the most violent.
The student quarters known as the University City comprise 20 dormitories that house more than 5,000 students next to the university campus. Students there often shouted out anti-Assad slogans from their rooms at night, al-Thaer said.
An amateur video showed a large number of security forces apparently storming the dorms Wednesday night. Another showed a students protest earlier Wednesday, during which protesters shouted: "We don't want you, Bashar!"
The authenticity of the videos could not be confirmed.
