Posted on 02/22/2012 6:28:04 AM PST by nuconvert
Syrian government forces killed more than 60 people on Tuesday in assaults on villages and an artillery barrage in the restive city of Homs, activists said, and the Red Cross called for daily ceasefires to let in urgently needed aid.
Activists said at least 30 people died in the bombardment of the Baba Amro, neighbourhood of Homs city, and at least 33 were killed when forces trying to crush opposition to President Bashar al-Assad stormed villages in northern Idlib province.
In Damascus, security forces opened fire on demonstrators overnight, wounding at least four, activists said. Violence has hit the capital over the past week, undermining Assad's assertion that the 11-month-old uprising against his rule is limited to the provinces and the work of saboteurs.
Activist accounts of the violence could not be confirmed. The government bars most foreign journalists from Syria.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Jakob Kellenberger said, "It should last at least two hours every day, so that ICRC staff and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have enough time to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded and the sick."
Western and Arab powers that are openly seeking Assad's downfall are preparing for the inaugural meeting of a "Friends of Syria" contact group in Tunisia on Friday.
Russia and China back Assad's own programme for reforms, which includes plans for a referendum on Sunday on a new constitution that would lead to elections in 90 days. Assad said this should satisfy demands for more democracy; his opponents said the proposals were a sham.
Russia said it would not attend the "Friends of Syria" meeting because the Syrian government would not be represented. The Russian Foreign Ministry suggested the UN Security Council should send a special humanitarian envoy to Syria.
Russia and China have faced Western and Arab criticism for blocking UN action against Syria. A former Syrian Defence Ministry auditor who defected in January told Reuters Moscow's arms sales to Damascus - nearly $1 billion last year - had increased since the start of the uprising.
Lebanon, which has tried to distance itself from the turmoil across its border, will also stay away from the Tunis meeting, its foreign minister said.
Activists said government forces launched the artillery attack on Homs after rebel fighters holding the opposition Baba Amro district blocked troops from entering. "Several shells are falling each minute," activist Nader al-Husseini told Reuters from the district, adding that at least two children were among the victims.
Another activist in the city said, "We have now at least 30 killed. One family is among them."
A third said, "Others are still buried. Today the shelling is very fierce."
The British-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces had stormed villages in Idlib province in the north of the country.
"The army stormed the village of Abdita and chased people in Iblin and Balshoon. They killed 33 people. All are civilians," the group said.
Activists in Homs said government forces backed by armour have been closing in on Baba Amro, a mainly Sunni neighbourhood, since the offensive on the city began on February 3.
Much of the opposition to Assad comes from the Sunni majority, while much of his support comes from minorities, including his Alawite sect, raising worries that violence could take on a sectarian slant and draw in neighbouring countries.
Tanks are deployed in the Inshaat district next to Baba Amro, opposition sources said. The Observatory said a convoy of more than 50 armoured vehicles was seen heading from Damascus towards Homs. A city of one million people on the Damascus-Aleppo highway, Homs has been at the heart of the uprising against Assad's 11-year rule. Residents say they are running short of medicine and food, and are massed together in crowded homes to seek shelter.
You seem to have missed the point, as you have been all thread.
People are going to be killed or brutalized there no matter who is in power. It’s just ugly, no one likes it, but many parts of the world are ugly. We are not going to go in and rebuild their society from the ground up similar to what we did in Germany and Japan post-WWII. If we aren’t going to crush them and remake their world from the ground up, we need to stay out.
I am not much of pray-er, but the Serenity Prayer applies here:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.
What makes you think we can change things there? Our wonderful success at “nation building” in Afghanistan after 10 years? Something else?
Again, you really haven’t made an argument here other than “it is terrible, we should DO SOMETHING!”
No, we should not, absent a really good reason, which so far is absent.
No, you have missed the point.
““it is terrible, we should DO SOMETHING!””
“No, we should not, absent a really good reason, which so far is absent.”
The really good reason is, we are AMERICANS. We shouldn’t just stand by and watch a dictator kill & brutalize his people. The rest of the world sits and watches. America is the greatest country in the world. We try to help - that’s who we are.
When the result on the back side is that the new regime will also brutalize the people, what is the point?
See: Libya, Egypt, Tunisia for examples.
“Why does it matter if it’s “sustained” or not?”
Because it speaks to the point that reporters may be mischaracterizing what is going on like they often mischaracterize what is happening. Haven’t you been reading the thread posts?
The fact that you care for the innocent is commendable. However, I could rattle off any number of conflicts in the world where innocent civilians are being slaughtered. Nobody seems to care too much about them.
The take home point is that this conflict is not the Untied States’ business. Like I mentioned before, if you feel so strongly, you are free to join the Free Syrian resistance or donate $$ to salve your bleeding heart. Leave me and my kids out of it.
Also, off Algezeera, several reports of heavy fighting in Homs. Several of Assad's tanks burning. Much small arms fire.
Who the heck is asking you & your kids to get involved?
“Sarkozy is now calling it an “assassination.”
Good. Cuz that’s what it sounds like it was.
Thanks for the updates
“Who the heck is asking you & your kids to get involved?”
It sounds to me like you are either a young kid or being intentionally obtuse (I vote the latter).
“Exterminating” heads of state, as you called for, doesn’t just happen magically. It involves (American) military personel risking their lives. My kids are serving.
How about you? What are you doing to serve? Are you just a bunch of talk about how ‘we have to do something’ or do you lead by example?
For the 3rd time, the Free Syrian Resistance is taking volunteers. If you feel so strongly you should show some leadership and join.
“Exterminating” heads of state, as you called for, doesn’t just happen magically. It involves (American) military personel risking their lives.”
No, it doesn’t.
I have family who’ve served and a wonderful young man who would have been a nephew who was killed in Afghanistan, thanx for asking.
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