Meanwhile in Syria
POSTED BY: Magonsdaughter
UPDATED: Thursday, July 17, 2025 06:47
VIEWED: 4327
PAGE 1 of 3
People fleeing the central Syrian city of Homs have told the BBC that security forces are committing atrocities there.
One woman told the BBC's Paul Wood on the outskirts of Homs that soldiers had slit the throat of her 12-year-old son on Friday - a day after rebel fighters withdrew from the Baba Amr district.
She said 35 other men and boys from her area had also been detained and killed.
The government has denied the Red Cross access to Baba Amr for four consecutive days, citing security concerns.
Activists have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Electricity, water and communications have been cut off, and in recent days temperatures have plummeted and snow has fallen. Food supplies are said to be dangerously low, and many people are too scared to leave.
On Thursday, government troops backed by tanks entered Baba Amr after the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) announced a "tactical withdrawal".
A terrible fear has seized people here about what the government forces are doing now that they are back in control.
In a house we sat with six women and their 17 children. They had arrived that day. There were no men.
"We were walking out altogether until we reached the checkpoint," said one of the women, Um Abdo.
"Then they separated us from the men. They put hoods on their heads and took them away."
Where do you think they are now, I asked? The women replied all at once: "They will be slaughtered."
Although the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its Syrian Red Crescent partners have since been told they cannot enter the district because of the risk of booby-traps and mines, state TV reported it had been "sanitised" of "armed terrorist groups".
Opposition and human rights activists have said security forces and pro-government militia have been rounding up men and boys over the age of 14 who are still in Baba Amr, and then torturing and killing them.
The claims could not be substantiated, but people fleeing Homs also told our correspondent that security forces had been committing atrocities, including summary executions and cutting the throats of prisoners.
One woman, who had walked for three days to escape, said that on Friday troops had taken 36 men and boys from one area and killed them.
"My son's throat was cut," she said. "He was 12."
Her husband said he was hiding about 50m away and saw one soldier hold down their son's head with his boot while another killed him.
"I could hear their screams," he added.
Another woman said: "They took our husbands. They took them at a checkpoint. They will slaughter them like sheep."
Several men who said they had defected from an elite army unit last week told our correspondent that civilians were being targeted by security forces and prisoners were being killed.
"A lieutenant gave us the order," he said. "We were told in this operation: 'You shoot anything that moves. Civilian or military - you shoot at it.'
Our correspondent says the people of Baba Amr defied the government and now they are scattered, their uprising crushed.
An independent commission of inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council said in February that Syrian security forces had "committed widespread, systematic and gross human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity, with the apparent knowledge and consent of the highest levels of the state".
It also found anti-government groups had committed abuses, but not "comparable in scale and organisation to those carried out by the state".
The EU has said it will document alleged war crimes to set the stage for a "day of reckoning" for Syria's leaders. But Russia and China have vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions critical of the government.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Monday that Syria had approved her visit to the country and she planned to travel there on Wednesday.
She said her
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
As Mal said.. " Yeah, it's a tale of woe. Very stirring "
Syrian girl is smokin', btw.
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
This situation is really awful.
This would be a great job for the Quadruple S, enough of the people want a change, if they had a viable plan then the Quadruple S could swoop in and getter done.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
*points to the unfolding epic disaster in Libya in stern, silent warning*
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
(Reuters) - Turkish Kurd militants threatened on Thursday to turn
all Kurdish populated areas into a "war zone" if Turkish troops
entered Syria, a sign the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has
allies in Syria may be taking sides in the conflict there.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/22/us-syria-turkey-kurds-idUSBR
E82L0UH20120322
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I repeat, {{{{shudder}}}}
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Arab summit appears divided over approach to Syria =>
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hUi0BhYkbZn0Zr2VREKX
WPSE7u5g?docId=26c8391e4de74c1d888e5c0d62f66029
BAGHDAD (AP) — Arab leaders gathering here Thursday will call for Syria
to implement a cease-fire, but there's little faith that President Bashar
Assad will do anything to halt his crackdown on the year-old uprising.
That could set the stage for Gulf Arab nations, eager to see Assad's downfall,
to take stronger action on their own.
Arab governments are divided over how strongly to intervene to stop the
bloodshed in Syria ...
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
U.S. Joins Effort to Equip and Pay Rebels in Syria =>
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/world/middleeast/us-and-other-countr
ies-move-to-increase-assistance-to-syrian-rebels.html
ISTANBUL — The United States and dozens of other countries moved closer on
Sunday to direct intervention in the fighting in Syria, with Arab nations pledging
$100 million to pay opposition fighters and the Obama administration agreeing
to send communications equipment to help rebels organize and evade Syria’s
military, according to participants gathered here.
. . . . .The worst and most frequent consequence of paranoia is that it's self-fulfilling.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Annan alarmed at Syria military action =>
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ivFyrembntHVnu5G9AfD
bnv-vQGQ?docId=de03ef19ea9f4f43a40eefd42d3604b6
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — International envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security
Council Tuesday that the situation in Syria is "bleak" and expressed alarm at
reports that government troops are still carrying out military operations in
towns where U.N. observers are not present.
He expressed particular concern at media reports that government troops en-
tered the central city of Hama on Monday after U.N. observers departed, firing
automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people. Activists said
more than 30 people were killed.
"If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible," he said.
Annan echoed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who called the current situation
"unacceptable," and urged President Bashar Assad's government to immediately
implement his six-point peace-plan, which would culminate with Syrian-led talks
between the government and opposition aimed at reaching a peace settlement.
The joint U.N.-Arab League envoy said the speedy deployment of the 300-strong
U.N. observer force authorized by the council on Saturday is "crucial" to verify
what is happening on the ground and potentially "change the political dynamics."
The observer force also would provide the international community with "incontro-
vertible" information to increase pressure for a cease-fire by the government and
opposition, he said.
. . . . .The worst and most frequent consequence of paranoia is that it's self-fulfilling.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME