Heavy Fighting Continues in Syria
by Edward Yeranian, Lisa Schlein June 12, 2012
CAIRO - Syrian forces continued to attack rebel strongholds Tuesday, with activist groups saying mortar shells hit anti-government protesters in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, killing 10 people as fighting raged elsewhere.
The attack on the town close to the Iraqi border came hours after a car bomb killed a dozen people there.
In the western town of al-Haffeh, activists say hundreds of rebels are facing a continued tank and helicopter-backed assault. The helicopter attacks - confirmed by the U.N. on Monday - are regarded as a significant escalation by government forces. In all, activists say at least 34 Syrians nationwide died in violence on Tuesday.
United Nations spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said Tuesday that U.N. monitors who had travelled towards al-Haffeh to investigate reports of clashes found it too dangerous to enter. The United States fears Syrian forces are planning to massacre civilians in the town.
Clashes began last week when security forces began their attempt to capture the strategic Sunni Muslim town, located near the port city of Latakia and the Turkish border - and used by rebels as a smuggling route for people and supplies.
Contact group
A spokesman for international envoy Kofi Annan, Ahmad Fawzi, said Tuesday that an international "contact group" will meet soon to discuss how to pressure Syria's government and opposition groups to implement the U.N.-Arab League envoy's tattered peace plan.
"What is lacking is implementation and that is why we count on these member states with influence on the parties during this meeting and as a result of this meeting to put irrevocable pressure on the parties to implement the plan and stop the killing and begin a political transition," he said.
No venue, date or list of participants for the meeting has been set.
The contact group meeting has been in doubt because of Western opposition to Syrian ally Iran's involvement. The Iranian foreign ministry Tuesday welcomed a Russian proposal for Iran to be included despite strong reservations from the United States, France and Britain.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he continues to hope for a peaceful solution.
"I don't think we can rule out options but the only option we are advocating and trying to bring about at this moment is the implementation of the Annan plan and a peaceful transition in Syria," he said.
But former U.N. official Mark Malloch-Brown, who worked closely with Mr. Annan at the U.N., said that Syria is on the verge of, if not already in, a state of civil war.
“The difference between civil war or near civil war is at times like this so slight, that the distinction almost loses meaning," he said. "But the fact is, hits by the [pro-government] Alawite militias on innocent civilians in Sunni villages, have now prompted tit-for-tat hits against Alawite civilians in other parts of the country. So you have got the whole escalating process of sectarian on sectarian violence which is really the essence of a civil war.”
Child victims
On Monday, the United Nations accused Syrian security forces and pro-government "shabiha" militias of committing serious rights violations against children, including using them as human shields.
The report also said children have been "victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence."
The U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said the U.N. Security Council should impose an arms embargo and other targeted sanctions on the Syrian leadership in response to the abuses described in the report. It said Syrian children are paying a "horrendous price" in the conflict.
Analyst Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, said that it appears the Syrian government is losing control of large parts of the country.
"The insurgency has spread throughout the country and the regime is now frantic," he said. "They are doing all they can do in order to redress the situation and the only way they know how to react is brutally and they don't mind bringing the country to civil war."
Syrian state TV said on Tuesday that government forces near the port city of Latakia were "chasing bands of terrorists" who were "destroying government buildings and terrorizing local residents." The report also said that "armed terrorists" stopped two buses carrying civilians near the Lebanese border.
VOA's Mark Snowiss and Andre De Nesnera contributed to this report from Washington. Schlein reported from Geneva.
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