Activists: Assad Forces Kill 60 in Syria's Homs, Hospitals Overwhelmed - Voice of America

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Photo: Reuters Wounded men are seen in the Sunni Muslim district of Baba Amr in Homs, Syria, February 8, 2012.

Syrian rights activists say government forces have bombarded the rebellious central city of Homs for a sixth day, killing at least 60 people and leaving makeshift hospitals overwhelmed as divided world powers struggled to end the violence.

The activists said Thursday relentless government shelling and rocket strikes on Homs were creating a worsening humanitarian crisis, with rebel-dominated neighborhoods lacking water and electricity and running low on basic supplies. They said the onslaught that began early Saturday has killed hundreds of people, making it the deadliest attack on Homs of the 11-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.

U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch said those responsible for "horrific attacks" on residential neighborhoods "will have to answer for them."

VOA spoke with a Syrian activist in Homs who goes by the alias Abo Emad to conceal his identity. He said Syrian security forces are not letting up on their assault, adding that even walking one block from the building where he is hiding can be deadly.

“Everyday is worse than the day before," he said of the government assault. "More deaths, more casualties, more injured people, more destroying buildings every day.”

Abo Emad said there is very little access to mobile phones or land lines. He added that hospitals are overflowing with injured people and there are not enough doctors or medical supplies to care for the wounded.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London told Alhurra TV that sporadic shelling is affecting parts of Homs, including Khaldiyeh and Bayadah, but that the heaviest onslaught is on the Baba Amr district, where conditions are extremely difficult.

Government forces are focusing on Baba Amr as it has been a center of the opposition.

In an opposition video, Muhammad al Muhammad, a doctor who is treating the wounded in Baba Amr, urged Syrians and the world community to protest the shelling attacks. He pointed to five children who appear to be wounded and called on Syrians to take to the streets to protest.

VOA cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the video's contents.

U.S. President Barack Obama called for an end to "outrageous bloodshed" in Syria in his latest condemnation of Mr. Assad's crackdown on the revolt. He was speaking Thursday after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Mr. Obama has agreed to work with Washington's European and Arab allies to organize a group of nations known as Friends of Syria to explore ways of further isolating and pressuring the Assad government to stop the violence. Western and Arab nations decided to try to form the group after seeing Russia and China block their efforts to pressure Mr. Assad through the U.N. Security Council.

Moscow and Beijing vetoed a Western and Arab-backed Syria resolution on Saturday, the second time they have done so since October. Both powers said they do not want the Council to take sides in a domestic conflict and create a possible pretext for foreign intervention in Syria.

Video footage from Homs

Arab League foreign ministers were preparing to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss their next moves in the crisis. Officials said the ministers will discuss whether to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of Syria and whether to send a joint Arab League-United Nations observer mission to the country.

In other developments Thursday, Libya said it ordered Syria's top envoy and embassy staff to leave the country within 72 hours. Germany also said it is expelling four diplomats from the Syrian Embassy in Berlin after authorities arrested two men suspected of spying on Syrian opposition groups.

Rebel Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, who heads the loosely-knit Free Syrian Army that is fighting government forces, called the Syrian regime a tyranny and asked for help to defeat it.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, says the Syrian government is trying to retake Homs in hopes of crushing the popular revolt at a key hub.

"They have been bombarding the city for the past six days," he said. "The bombarding is so heavy that it is clear that it is setting the stage for a ground offensive. The regime has made up its mind on conquering Homs, because they feel that if they conquer Homs, much of the uprising in the country will abate.”

Wire services and VOA reporter JulieAnn McKellogg contributed to this report.

 

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Activists at Syrian 'national dialogue' call for end to violence - CNN International

Syrian officials and delegates attend the national dialogue meeting in Damascus on July 10, 2011.NEW: "The bloodshed needs to stop. ... Excessive force is unjustified," one activist saysSyria's vice president says the meeting is a step toward creating a "democratic nation"Some government opponents criticize the Damascus University meetingSyria's foreign ministry summons U.S. and French ambassadors

(CNN) -- Activists speaking at a Syrian government-sponsored "national dialogue" meeting Sunday criticized recent crackdowns by the country's security forces, calling for an end to violence against protesters.

Syria's vice president hailed the Damascus University meeting between officials and members of the opposition as a step toward creating a "democratic nation."

"We hope that at the end of this comprehensive meeting to announce the transition of Syria to a pluralistic democratic nation where all citizens are guided by equality and participate in the modeling of the future of their country," Vice President Faruq al-Shara said in opening remarks at the meeting, which was broadcast live on state television.

Syrian activists say that security personnel have assaulted unarmed protesters during months of anti-government demonstrations that erupted nationwide in mid-March. The Syrian government has claimed armed groups are responsible for the violence at the demonstrations.

Several speakers at Sunday's meeting called on Syria's government to change its tactics.

"The bloodshed needs to stop. Yes, there are unauthorized protests, but is it a reason to use unjustified and excessive violence? The use of all types of excessive force is unjustified," said Qadri Jameel of the opposition Front of Change and Liberation.

Syrian researcher Al-Tayyeb Tizzina also criticized the use of force and asked for violence to stop in order for the dialogue to succeed.

"The establishment of a political society requires the immediate start of a process dismantling the police state that is dominating Syria," he said.

Al-Shara acknowledged that a surge of violence in Syria precipitated Sunday's meeting.

"We have to admit that without the big sacrifices that were presented by the Syrian people, from the blood of their sons, civilians or military in more than one province, city and town, this meeting wouldn't have happened," he said.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the meeting included members of the opposition, independent activists, youth leaders and academics.

But some opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime have criticized the meeting, saying the government is trying to quiet widespread unrest without making meaningful changes.

Demonstrators protested the meeting in nationwide "no dialogue" marches Friday.

"Any dialogue must be based on the base of (al-Assad's) stepping down from power," said a statement from the Change in Syria Conference, an opposition group which called for al-Assad to hand over power to the vice president at a meeting in Turkey last month.

Sunday's dialogue meeting began as Syria's foreign ministry summoned the U.S. and French ambassadors and accused them of interfering in internal affairs when they visited Syria's fourth largest city without permission last week, state media reported.

The ministry told the diplomats that their visit to the city of Hama violated the Vienna Convention, according to SANA.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford visited Hama as part of what the State Department called an

effort to show American support for Syrians fighting for democracy. He was in Hama early Friday and departed.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland issued a blunt rebuttal to similar Syrian government accusations Friday, calling claims that Ford's visit was inciting protesters "absolute rubbish" and saying she was "dismayed" by the Syrian government's reaction. Nuland said that the U.S. Embassy had notified the Syrian Defense Ministry before the visit and that Ford's car was waved through a security checkpoint.

France's ambassador to Syria, Eric Chevallier, also visited Hama Thursday and spent the night, the French government said, meeting with wounded people and their families and medical staffers at a hospital.

Al-Assad issued a decree appointing a Hama provincial governor Sunday, a day after firing the existing leader after a series of peaceful demonstrations there, including a massive anti-government protest last Friday.

Activists and Human Rights Watch have reported many arrests and deaths in a fierce government crackdown in the area. Citizens have called a general strike in the city.

Diplomatic tensions over Syria also flared in Washington last week, with the State Department summoning Syrian Ambassador Imad Mustapha Friday.

The State Department said Mustapha was called "to express a number of our concerns with the reported actions of certain Syrian embassy staff in the United States."

The statement, issued in response to a question taken at Friday's daily briefing, said the State Department had received reports that Syrian mission personnel had been conducting video surveillance of people participating in peaceful demonstrations in the United States.

"We are also investigating reports that the Syrian government has sought retribution against Syrian family members for the actions of their relatives in the United States exercising their lawful rights in this country and will respond accordingly," the statement said.

CNN's Yousuf Basil and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

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