Syria's negotiator Brahimi says Homs once again a 'theatre of death'
17 April 2014, 18:07 -- International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Thursday that a deal between trapped fighters and civilians in Homs city and the Syrian authorities had broken down, as government forces appeared close to retaking the besieged opposition area.
Homs, a religiously-mixed city, was the scene of early protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 and has become a symbol of the destructive nature of Syria's civil war, with many of its neighbourhoods levelled by army shells.
Hundreds of people remain trapped in the old part of the city, surrounded by government forces and pro-Assad militia. A deal agreed at peace talks in Geneva this year allowed some civilians to leave but further negotiations broke down following heavy fighting this week.
'It is a matter of deep regret that negotiations were brutally stopped and violence is now rife again when a comprehensive agreement seemed close at hand,' Brahimi said in a statement.
'It is alarming that Homs, whose people have suffered so much throughout these past three years is again the theatre of death and destruction.'
In recent months, government forces have recaptured several rebel-held areas and border towns, closing off rebel supply routes from Lebanon and securing the main highway leading north fromDamascus towards central Syria, Homs and the Mediterranean.
Geneva-3: Is there any chance of political settlement in Syria
According to some reports, the number of the Syrian civil war victims has exceeded 200,000, with civilians, including children, accounting for a third of the death toll. The UN claims the number of refugees is approaching three million. The dreadful figures will keep growing unless the international community takes extraordinary measures to end the bloodshed.
The three years of fighting have exhausted the warring factions, many cities are in ruins, but all attempts to persuade the parties to the conflict to sit down at the negotiating table keep falling on deaf ears, basically because the radical opposition, which relies heavily on external support, puts forward tough conditions. The condition No. 1 is that the lawfully elected Bashar al-Assad steps down as Syrian President. This is clearly unacceptable for Damascus.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
