Syria Border Town Residents Returning After Army Ousts Rebels

KASAB, SYRIA — Residents of the Armenian Christian village of Kasab on Syria's border with Turkey began returning home on Monday, dancing, cheering and waving flags in the main square a day after the army retook the area from rebels.

The fall of Kasab to President Bashar al-Assad's forces less than three months after insurgents captured it dealt another symbolic and strategic blow to an opposition undermined in recent months by infighting and government gains.
Syrian state television has broadcast footage from the village, saying “security and stability” had been restored after the area was cleared of “terrorists,” the government's standard term for the rebels fighting to overthrow Assad.

A field commander in the Syrian army told Reuters the area including the border crossing had come under full control of government forces after they struck at rebel storehouses and supply routes and seized a tract overlooking the village.

“The terrorist groups in Kasab had two choices: flee to Turkish territory, or die beneath the blows of the Syrian army,” he told Reuters during a government-organized visit to Kasab, declining to give his name.

A Reuters reporter saw dozens of residents returning, with some kicking up their heels in the village's main square, raising Syrian flags and surveying damage inflicted on some of the village's buildings, including churches.

“We came back today because we heard the army had liberated the village,” said Sausa Nadra, a Kasab resident who had fled to the coastal city of Latakia after the rebel advance.

“There's damage, destruction, there are some upsetting things, but we're happy we were able to come back after a short time. It didn't take a long time like in other areas,” she said.

Handwritten slogans covered walls, although it was not clear who exactly had written them. “We want an Islamic state. God is greatest,” one of the slogans read.

Many of the rebels who seized Kasab in March were hardline Islamists including some from al-Qaida's Syrian branch, the Nusra Front.

In addition to its position on the Turkish border, the village was important for the insurgents because it is located in the heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, along the Mediterranean coast.

Lama Deeb, another resident of Kasab, praised the armed forces for regaining control of the village as soldiers and other security forces stood nearby.

“We thank God. May God protect our army and everyone who is holding a gun in defense of the country,” she said.

Over 160,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict, which began over three years ago as a peaceful protest movement but turned into a civil war after a government crackdown.

The war has taken on a starkly sectarian character, with the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels backed by Sunni Gulf Arab powers fighting to overthrow Assad, who is backed by Shi'ite Iran.
[voanews.com]
16/6/14

Russia, China block Security Council referral of Syria to International Criminal Court

UN, 22 May 2014 – Despite repeated appeals by senior United Nations officials for accountability for crimes being committed in Syria, the Security Council was unable today to adopt a resolution that would have referred the situation in the war-torn nation to the International Criminal Court (ICC), due to vetoes by permanent members Russia and China.

The resolution, which was backed by the other 13 members of the Council, would have given the Court the mandate to investigate the horrific crimes committed during the course of the conflict in Syria, which since March 2011 has witnessed the deaths of over 100,000 civilians, the displacement of millions and widespread violations of human rights.

“The Syrian people have a fundamental right to justice. The United Nations and its Member States have a fundamental duty to defend that right,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in remarks delivered on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon prior to the vote.

“Since the outbreak of the war in Syria, I have persistently called for accountability for perpetrators of grave human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The recent attacks against humanitarian convoys and personnel, which may constitute war crimes, add to the urgent need to see action now on accountability in Syria,” he stated.

“The Security Council has an inescapable responsibility in this regard. States that are members of both the Security Council and the Human Rights Council have a particular duty to end the bloodshed and to ensure justice for the victims of unspeakable crimes.”

In February 2013, the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry concluded that the ICC is the appropriate venue to pursue the fight against impunity in Syria.

“If members of the Council continue to be unable to agree on a measure that could provide some accountability for the ongoing crimes, the credibility of this body and of the entire Organization will continue to suffer,” Mr. Eliasson warned.

Today’s action comes less than 10 days after the Joint UN-League of Arab States Special Representative on the Syria crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, resigned from his post after nearly two years of diplomatic efforts to bring about a political solution to the brutal civil war.

In accepting the envoy’s resignation, the UN chief had acknowledged that the 80-year old Algerian diplomat had faced almost impossible odds, “with a Syrian nation, Middle Easters region and wider international community that have been hopelessly divided in their approaches to ending the conflict.”[un.org]
22/5/14
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Related:

• Syrian opposition asks for anti-aircraft arms from US. -- Washington has consistently resisted previous requests

  • Syrische Armee vernichtet Dutzende Extremisten, darunter ausländische Söldner

Renewed Syrian peace talks make little progress as concern rises for detained evacuees – UN

11 February 2014 – United Nations-sponsored talks between the Syrian Government and opposition that resumed yesterday are making scant progress in ending the “nightmare” of the civil war, the top mediator said today, calling for a quicker pace as officials voiced “deep concern” at the detention by the authorities of men and boys leaving a long besieged city.

“The beginning of this week is as laborious as it was in the first week [of the talks]…I’m urging everybody to speed up,” UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi told a news briefing in Geneva of the latest diplomatic push to end a war which has killed well over 100,000 people and driven nearly 9 million others from their homes since the conflict erupted between President Bashar al-Assad and various groups seeking his ouster nearly three years ago.

“We are not making much progress,” he said of the talks, which seek to implement the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, the first international conference on the conflict, calling for a transitional government to lead to free and fair elections, as well as to gain humanitarian access to 250,000 people who have been under siege of months or years without any aid and millions of others who have suffered the horrors of the war.
In just one example of the atrocities committed in the war, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced “great shock” at the reported massacre of dozens of civilians on Sunday in the village of Ma’an and called for the perpetrators of this and all other crimes to be brought to justice. “Such horrific incidents should be a reminder to all of the urgency of ending the conflict and launching a political transition towards a new Syria,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brahimi said the three-day “humanitarian pause,” the first of its kind, allowing people out and aid into the Old City of Homs, where 2,500 Syrians have been trapped without succor for nearly two years in what has become an iconic symbol of the suffering endured by civilians in the war’s relentless bombardments and sieges, “can be called a success.”
But he noted pointedly that it took six months to reach the accord, which has been extended for a further three days. “Six long months, to get a couple of hundred people - no a little bit more than that - about 800 people out, and a little bit of food in,” he added. “And there are lots of other places that are besieged, where nothing has happened.”
He highlighted the risks involved in the Homs operation in which aid workers and convoys were deliberately targeted by sniper and other fire that killed 11 civilians and almost completely destroyed the car of the UN country representative while he and colleagues were in it.
“We all owe it to the Syrian people, to move a little bit faster than we are doing,” Mr. Brahimi stressed, adding that he will hold a tri-lateral meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and United States Under-Secretary of State Wendy Sherman – representing the two countries which initiated the Geneva talks – on Friday.
“The people of Syria are thinking: ‘Please, get something going that will stop this nightmare and this injustice that is inflicted on the Syrian people.’”
UN agencies said 1,151 people have so far been evacuated from Homs Old City, reporting starvation conditions, with the UN human rights office voicing deep concern at the detention of 336 men and boys and warning that torture and mistreatment is a war crime.
Under the “humanitarian pause” women, children and the elderly were allowed to leave but not men over 15 and under 54 years of age. The 336 people detained, apparently not wishing to abandon their families, are in this latter category and were detained by Syrian authorities in a school on the outskirts where UN officials are present but do not attend interrogation sessions, with 41 being released today.
“It is essential that they do not come to any harm, and along with our colleagues in other UN organizations, we will continue to press for their proper treatment according to the international humanitarian and human rights law,” UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.
He stressed that prohibited acts under the Geneva Conventions include “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture, taking of hostages, and outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment,” including against members of armed forces who have laid down their arms or have been placed ‘hors de combat’ by sickness, wounds or detention.
Deploring the “disgraceful” fire targeting UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid workers delivering food and medical aid to Homs on Sunday, he warned: “It is a war crime to deliberately fire on those carrying out humanitarian operations.”
UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs told the briefing that evacuees from Homs are very weak with obvious signs of malnutrition. One man said he had survived for one week on one spoon of bulgur, while other reported eating leaves, grass, olives, and sometimes wheat flour, with the small remaining amounts of bulgur infested by insects.
She said that in January WFP dispatched enough food for 3.7 million people, leaving half a million people without any food aid due to deteriorating security. The agency, which needs to raise about $40 million every week to meet the food needs of people affected by the conflict, faces a serious shortfall and must raise $273 million to cover needs until the end of March in “a hand-to-mouth operation which requires immediate contributions.”
In an interview with UN Radio from Homs, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative Youssouf Abdel-Jelil said children coming out of the Old City “look terrified, frail and emaciated. In general, there are issues of malnutrition and also a need for vaccination for children.” UNICEF reported that evacuees say the same things about the conditions they have left: extreme cold, hunger, dirty water and constant shelling.
UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Fadela Chaib an aid convoy brought in agency medicines to treat chronic and infectious diseases to cover nearly 2,000 people for three months, as well as vaccines for polio and others diseases to cover 1,000 children. Many people were suffering from diseases including skin diseases for lack of water and sanitation, she added.
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is trying to ensure that all civilians who want to can leave Homs and is doing its “very best under the most complicated and dangerous circumstances imaginable” to ensure that as many lives can be saved as possible, spokesperson Melissa Fleming said.
More than 20,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Turkey since the start of the year in the biggest influx since early 2013, with than 500 people, sometimes as many as 1,000 to 2,000, recently arriving every day across official crossing points, she added.
 un.org
11/2/14
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Related:

• Aid convoy workers safely left Homs after being fired on - Red Crescent

• New UN airlift ships food from Iraq to 30,000 Syrians cut off on land by civil war

• Women, children allowed to leave besieged Syria city Homs

• Syrian regime and opposition agree to direct talks

Aid convoy workers safely left Homs after being fired on - Red Crescent

A joint aid team of United Nations and Syrian Red Crescent workers safely left the Old City of Homs on Saturday after their convoy came under fire as they delivered humanitarian supplies, the Red Crescent said.

In a statement on Twitter, it said one truck driver suffered a minor injury and two damaged trucks had been left inside the Old City.

Four Red Cross employees injured as trucks enter besieged Syria areas ....

Four employees of the Syrian Red Cross have been injured during the humanitarian operation in Homs, Al Mayadeen TV Channel reported on Saturday. One of the convoy's trucks has been attacked by entering the Old Town in the area of Al-Sa'a al-Jadida Square. Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi told Al Mayadeen that one of the militants' groups had violated a ceasefire agreement.

"It has not been subordinated to field commanders with whom an agreement was reached," the governor said.

The incident did not stop the delivery of foodstuffs that continued in residential areas. According to al-Barazi, the Syrian authorities wait for a bus carrying evacuated residents.

Al Mayadeen reports that the Syrian authorities allowed transportation of three tonnes of foodstuffs to Homs. The delivery will be started within hours. At present, the local authorities are coordinating an area where the U.N. convoy will proceed due the fact that the evacuation of peaceful civilians has been delayed.

The situation is calm in the city. The humanitarian operation is led by U.N. coordinator Jacob el-Helo, who said the government structures and the city authorities had made effective contribution to the office.

"I want to thank the Syrian Red Crescent courageous employees, who carried out the operation," el-Helo said.

The U.N. sources do not rule out that the agreement on a "humanitarian pause" will be extended in order to allow most people to leave the area of Al Hamidiyeh.
http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_09/Aid-convoy-workers-safely-left-Homs-after-being-fired-on-Red-Crescent-2668/
8/2/14

New UN airlift ships food from Iraq to 30,000 Syrians cut off on land by civil war

4 February 2014 – The United Nations today began a new airlift from Iraq to feed nearly 30,000 displaced people in a conflict-torn region of northeast Syria where road access has been cut off for over six months and no significant relief deliveries have arrived overland since last May.

The airlift comes as the UN World Food Programme (WFP) faces in Syria what is currently its most complex emergency globally, with challenges ranging from bureaucratic delays, insecurity on roads, the closure of major highways, and sieges imposed on civilians trapped in over 40 locations across the country due to the civil war.

“It is tragic to see the most vulnerable Syrians going hungry and paying the heavy price for a political conflict with no end in sight,” WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said as her agency’s airlift started from Erbil, in Iraq’s Kurdish region, to Qamishli, in Syria’s Al Hassakeh Governorate.

“We call upon all parties to provide us with continuous and unimpeded access across the country. WFP should be able to reach all those who need food assistance all the time.”
At WFP-chartered flight landed at Qamishli today with 40 metric tons of mixed food including rice, pasta, bulgur, wheat flour, canned food, pulses, salt, vegetable oil and sugar, the first of 10 flights that will deliver over 400 metric tons of WFP food and other items – mainly clothes, detergent and soap – for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration.

WFP airlifted food from Erbil to Qamishli in December for more than 62,000 people.
Overall, WFP dispatched in January enough food for 3.6 million people in Syria, short of its target of 4.25 million people as the governorates of Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, Rural Aleppo and Al-Hassakeh were inaccessible. The closure of the Daraa-Damascus highway has also affected the dispatch of food to parts of Daraa, Quneitra, Damascus and Rural Damascus.
Security has deteriorated in Al Hassakeh Governorate in the last few weeks, displacing large numbers of people. Recently, around 7,500 people fled clashes that erupted in rural areas to Qamishli city while others fled towards the Iraqi border.

“The road to political stability and confidence building in Syria starts with an important step: ensuring no one dies because of a lack of food or medicine or from the cold when humanitarian workers are nearby but are not allowed in” Ms. Cousin said of the three-year-old civil war. “Syrians must have their most basic needs met.”

• As hunger in Syria grows, WFP is appealing for over $2 billion to assist more than 7 million Syrians in urgent need of food aid in 2014. These include 4.25 million people inside Syria and over 2.9 million refugees in neighbouring countries.

 un.org
4/2/14

Syria: UN humanitarian chief says no progress made on access to hard-to-reach areas

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3 December 2013 – Reporting “modest progress” with the Syrian Government on speeding up visa issuance and increasing the number of relief distribution hubs, a top United Nations official said today that with perhaps 250,000 Syrians cut off from aid in besieged communities across the war-torn country, greater efforts are needed to ensure real gains on the humanitarian front.
“I advised the Security Council that we have seen some modest progress in terms of administrative procedures that had been put in place over time,” said Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, as she spoke to reporters after briefing the 15-member body on the humanitarian situation in Syria.

This is her second closed-door meeting with the Council since it adopted, on 2 October, a Presidential Statement urging the Syrian Government to immediately allow humanitarian access to relieve the plight of civilians trapped by heavy fighting, including cross-line aid deliveries.
The statement, which called on all parties to the conflict to agree on humanitarian pauses in the fighting, with special attention to key delivery routes, also deplored the escalating violence in a conflict that has killed more than 100, 000 people and driven some 6.5 million others from their homes since opposition protesters first sought to oust the Government of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.
On the implementation of the statement, Ms. Amos cited progress, for example, in the Government’s decision to grant some 50 visas on an individual basis.
Damascus has also given the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) permission to open three additional relief hubs, “but only two of these will actually be helpful to us, because the third being proposed – Al Sweida – will not allow us access into Western Dera'a, which is where the hard-to-reach communities are.”
She also noted that both the Government and the opposition had indicated who the interlocutors are for the UN to try to facilitate humanitarian access.
“However, I did remind the Council that on some of the more difficult areas – protection of civilians, de-militarization of schools and hospitals, access to besieged communities and also cross-line access to hard-to-reach areas – we have not seen any progress.
“I need the Council to continue to make it absolutely clear that targeting civilians is against international humanitarian law and that we need to do greater work to ensure that the recommendations in the Presidential Statement are achieved,” she declared.
Responding to questions, Ms. Amos said that an estimated 250,000 civilians are trapped in besieged communities, while perhaps some 2.5 million were in hard-to-reach areas – places that aid workers have been able to reach but not frequently enough to make any real headway against the overall needs.
Asked if a Council resolution – which carry legal obligations for UN Member States ¬– would improve the situation, Ms. Amos said: “My focus is on how what has already been agreed can be put into effect. Should the Council agree on a resolution, then we will operationalize that.”
Indeed, while the UN and its partners have made gains in reaching civilians across the strife-riven country, in the context of the scale of the crisis, “this is far too few to meet the needs of the people. Of course the issue is what is the best means to reach people in need? For me, the unity of the Security Council is the key here.”
Meanwhile, UN agencies continue pressing ahead with relief efforts, now rushing to fortify desperate civilians against the oncoming winter season.
Briefing the press in Geneva today, Marixie Mercado, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned: “The scale of the humanitarian response needed for the looming winter is unprecedented, as the number quadrupled as compared to the previous year.”
She explained that in December 2012, there were approximately 1.15 million children affected by the crisis inside Syria, with an additional 232,000 Syrian children living as refugees in neighbouring countries.
As the conflict approaches its fourth year, those numbers have skyrocketed to 4.3 million and 1.2 million, respectively. UNICEF has been working since early October to equip children as quickly as possible for the cold. Blankets, plastic sheeting, winter clothing and hygiene kits are being distributed, along with winterized tents and fuel to heat classrooms.
For its part, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has commenced an emergency airlift of urgently needed winter supplies to reinforce its stockpile in northern Iraq with relief items for up to 50,000 vulnerable Syrians. A UNHCR-chartered Boeing 777 landed at Erbil airport on Monday carrying 90 metric tons of relief items to help 4,400 families over the winter months, including plastic tarpaulins, thermal blankets, sleeping mats, jerry cans and kitchen sets.
“While UNHCR has adequate stocks inside Iraq to meet the immediate needs, we want to ensure that sufficient items are on-hand to address any developments,” said UNHCR's Amman-based Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Amin Awad. "The relief items we are airlifting will reinforce the UNHCR-led winterization regional response as temperatures are starting to drop across higher altitude areas in the Syria region.”
Elisabeth Byrs, spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP), told reporters that the agency dispatched enough food for over 3.4 million people inside Syria in November, mainly to internally displaced families in 13 governorates, and had reached eight more locations, which had been inaccessible in recent months.
However, she said WFP remains gravely concerned about the fate of many Syrians still trapped in conflict zones throughout the country, including around Damascus and in Al Hassakeh, where some areas have been without food assistance for six consecutive months.
WFP aims to reach 4 million people inside Syria every month, as well as to provide assistance for nearly 1.5 million refugees in neighbouring countries.
 un.org
3/12/13 
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Black Market in Lebanon: Syrian Refugees Selling Organs to Survive.

In the shadow of the Syrian civil war, a growing number of refugees are surviving in Lebanon by illegally selling their own organs. But the exchange comes at a huge cost. 

The young man, who called himself Raïd, wasn't doing well. He climbed into the backseat of the car, in pain, careful not to touch any corners. He was exhausted and dizzy. A large bandage looped around his stomach, caked with blood. Despite that, the 19-year-old Syrian wanted to tell his story.  


Seven months ago, he fled the embattled city of Aleppo, in Syria, to Lebanon with his parents and six siblings. The family quickly ran out of money in the capital, Beirut. Raïd heard from a relative that the solution could be to sell one of his kidneys, and then he spoke to a bull-necked man, now sitting in the passenger seat, smoking and drinking a beer.
His acquaintances call the man Abu Hussein. He said he's employed by a gang that works in the human organ trade - specializing in kidneys. The group's business is booming. About one million Syrians have fled into Lebanon because of the civil war in their home country and now many don't know how they can make a living. In their distress, they sell their organs. It's a dangerous and, of course, illegal business. That's why the gang has its operations performed in shady underground clinics.
Abu Hussein's boss is known in the poor areas of Beirut as "Big Man." Fifteen months ago, Big Man gave the 26-year-old a new assignment: find organ donors. The influx of Syrian refugees from the war, Abu Hussein's boss argued, made it more likely people would be willing to sell organs.

'More Sellers Than Buyers'
Lebanon has a tradition of illegal organ trading. The country has immensely rich people and a huge number of people living in poverty. And organ traffickers don't need to worry about government controls. Those are exactly the ideal conditions for organ trafficking, said Luc Noel, transplant expert at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Every year, tens of thousands of rich Arabs from around the region come to Beirut for treatment in the country's excellent hospitals. The authorities don't pay attention whether a patient flies home with a new nose -- or with a new kidney.
Previously, it was mostly destitute Palestinians who sold their organs. Then came the war in Syria, and then the refugees. Now the groups are in competition and the prices are falling.
"When it comes to kidneys, we now have far more sellers than buyers," said Abu Hussein. He added that four of the Big Man's other recruiters have brokered the sales of 150 kidneys in the past 12 months. According to Abu Hussein, other gangs are doing similarly well.
Experts estimate that 5,000 to 10,000 kidneys are illegally transplanted per year worldwide. "Many of our products go abroad to, for example, the Persian Gulf," said Abu Hussein. But Big Man also has customers in the US and Europe, he said. 

Enough to Survive On Until Spring
Raïd had no trouble selling his left kidney because he was fit and didn't smoke. He played for the Syrian national youth soccer team. During the examinations doctors told him lies evidently meant to calm him down. With a little luck, the kidney would grow back, he was told, and there wouldn't be any after-effects. In truth, live donors need to undergo check-ups for years after the operation, and people like Raïd can't afford that kind of treatment.
He got $7,000 (€5,200) for his kidney. "While I drove Raïd and his mother to the clinic, a colleague of mine was shopping with the father," says Abu Hussein. The family lacked everything: Raïd's father bought mattresses and winter clothing, a fridge and an oven, and took it all to the one room the family of eight lives in today. They have enough left over to get through the winter. And then? "I don't know," says Raïd.
Abu Hussein says everyone benefits from the organ trade. The Syrians get money and the sick -- who pay up to $15,000 for a new kidney -- get a new life. He himself wins too, he added. He gets $600 to $700 commission for every sale he arranges. That's as much as a Lebanese teacher earns in a month. 

'I Don't Care If You Die'

Abu Hussein said that in the last few months he has driven 15 or 16 kidney donors - all of them Syrians aged between 14 and 30 - to the secret clinic masquerading as a residential building. The clinic has the most modern medical equipment and doesn't want to limit itself to kidneys. "I'm currently looking for someone who has an eye for sale." Later that evening it became evident not everyone benefits from this trade. Raïd, sitting in the back of the car, was feeling unwell. His kidney had been cut out from the front, seven days ago. "I need the drugs. You said you would get me the drugs," he said to Abu Hussein who just minutes earlier had been bragging how well his organization took care of the Syrians.
But when Raïd asks for painkillers, Abu Hussein shouts at him: "Shut up. I don't care if you die. You're finished anyway."
 http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/organ-trade-thrives-among-desperate-syrian-refugees-in-lebanon-a-933228.html
12/11/13

Dramatic report: Inside the battle for Syria's ancient Christian village (VIDEO RT).

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Anti-Assad rebels have been forced out of many parts of Syria’s ancient Christian village of Maaloula, but the fighting there remains heavy, RT correspondent Maria Finoshina reports from the scene.
After arriving in the center of the village Wednesday, Maria Finoshina and the RT camera crew saw signs of a recent battle and heard shelling, but received a warm welcome from smiling and relieved Syrian Army soldiers, who said the village was freed from jihadists. The claim would later in the day turn out to be premature.


Al-Nusra Front fighters first attacked the village last Wednesday. The following seven days saw Maaloula torn between the rebels and government forces, with both occasionally gaining control over the village. 

Some residents, who claim rebels have resorted to looting, executions and forcing residents to convert to Islam, chose to join the Army to defend their village. Among them, Saba Ubeid, a store owner, said when filmed by RT in 2012 that he was sure the rebels would never come to the village. This time he was armed with a gun and fought alongside Syrian soldiers. 

“They sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill Syrian people and each other. Why? I ask the world, why?” he cried out.  “While in Europe if a citizen is simply slapped in his face, there'll be a scandal. While Syrians – how many victims, how many hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered? When it will stop?”
 http://rt.com/news/syria-chistian-vallage-fighting-766/
12/9/13 
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• In Ma’loula: Ringing Bells and Worshipers, Not Barricades and Slaughterers....

Director of the Catholic Information Center, Father Abdo Abu Kasam, said that what happened in the Syrian town of Ma'loula is the result of violence and the senseless war under the guise of democracy and freedoms.

In a statement he made to Al-Manar Website Friday, Abu Kasam wondered: "What freedoms they are seeking in a time when churches are violated and houses of worship are burnt which is supposed to be a place to build love."

"Attacking the holy sites of Christianity affects the Christian heritage and entity. Ma'loula is an ancient city which houses monasteries and not barricades, where you hear the bells ringing not the sound of guns, where people pray and do not slaughter," the Father told Al-Manar Website.

"Pope Francis has called on the international community, the G20 leaders, the United Nations and the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See to say 'stop the violence in Syria and come to establish and build a culture of peace and stand against the war which would be launched on Syria and to help its people instead' just like the Pope did when he called for a day of prayer for Syria," Abu Kasam went on to say.

Abu Kasam stressed that "war only generates war and violence only generates violence."

"Do Muslims accept the churches to be violated?", Abu Kasam asked, adding that he was waiting for an official stance of the Islamic clerics, pointing out that Islam is a religion of mercy and not of cracking, killing and slaughter.

"Come to meet for the one word to build a culture of peace among ourselves," Father Abu Kasam concluded, calling upon those who support the armed groups in Syria to reconsider their accounts and learn more on those whom they support, feed and finance.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=109459&cid=23&fromval=1
7/9/13
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• Jihadists Force Syria Christian ’to Convert at Gunpoint’...

Jihadists who overran Syria's ancient town of Ma'loula last week disparaged Christians as "Crusaders" and forced at least one person to convert to Islam at gunpoint, say residents who fled the town.

Many of Ma'loula people left after a first militant assault knocked out an army checkpoint at the entrance to the strategic town on September 4. Some went to a nearby village and others to Damascus, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) to the south.

One of them, Marie, was still frightened as she spoke of that day.

"They arrived in our town at dawn... and shouted 'We are from the Al-Nusra Front and have come to make lives miserable for the Crusaders," an Islamist term for Christians, Marie said in Damascus, where she and hundreds of others attended the burial Tuesday of three Christian fighters who belong to the public committees.

Ma'loula is one of the most renowned Christian towns in Syria, and many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

Home to around 5,000 people, it is strategically important for rebels, who are trying to tighten their grip around the capital.

Security sources stress that the Syrian militants still deploy in Ma'loula, although the militants had announced yesterday that they would withdraw from the town in case the Syrian army did not return to it.

Syrian militants were still positioned in a historic Christian town near Damascus on Wednesday, a day after they announced they were ready to withdraw, a security source told Agence France Presse.

"The army has not yet retaken Ma'loula. The battles are raging on, but (the army) is making progress," the source said.

"The insurgents till hold some positions inside Ma'loula and its surroundings," the source added.

The militant groups announced on Tuesday they would withdraw from Ma'loula, but that this was "conditional" on army troops not taking their place.

The Syrian insurgents had invaded Ma'loula last week, targeting the civilians and the churches before the Syrian army started his campaign to regain the peaceful town.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=109888&cid=23&fromval=1
11/9/13

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Russian Arms Supplies to Syria ‘No Breach of Law’ - Putin ..... one does not really need to back the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies and eat their intestines

LONDON, June 16 (RIA Novosti) – President Vladimir Putin on Sunday defended Russia’s weapons supplies to Syria saying they are in the framework of the international law.“If we speak calmly, I want to stress that Russia supplies arms to the legitimate government of Syria in full compliance with the norms of international law and we call on our partners to act in the same way,” Putin told reporters after talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday.“We are not breaching any rules,” Putin said."I think you will not deny that one does not really need to back the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies and eat their intestines," Putin said referring to a video footage of a rebel eating what appeared to be a government soldier’s heart.

“Do you want to support these people? Do you want to supply these people with arms?” Putin said adding that this has no relation to humanitarian values in Europe.Speaking on the planned international conference on Syria proposed earlier by Russia and the United States, Putin said: “I don’t think this conference is ruined.” “I fully agree with the Prime Minister [Cameron] that this is one of the most appropriate means of resolving the Syrian problem,” he said.Putin said he hoped the upcoming G8 summit in Northern Ireland “will have a positive influence” on the Syrian conflict.The US said this week that it had clear evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government had used chemical weapons against the rebels. The claim was supported by Britain, but dismissed as “unconvincing” on Friday by Russia, which is widely viewed as an ally of Syria and has vetoed several Western-backed UN Security Council resolutions aimed to pressure Assad into ending the use of force.
Russian officials have previously said they will deliver on existing arms deals with Syria involving "defensive weapons," but President Putin said recently that the S-300 sale had not been completed.
The delivery of S-300 is of significance, defense analysts say, as it is a highly capable system which would make any outside intervention by foreign air forces extremely hazardous.Updated at 22.46 with Putin's quotes. http://en.rian.ru16/6/13
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• Putin warns Cameron against arming Syrian rebels as UK weighs options.....

Russia and UK still have very different approaches to the Syrian crisis,British PM Cameron said after meeting Putin adding that the decision to arm rebels is yet to be made.Russia’s President warned against such a move citing rebels' atrocities.

"The blood is on the hands of both parties” of the conflict, not only Bashar Assad’s government but also the rebels, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stressed at the press conference at 10 Downing Street.

"I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines, in front of the public and cameras," Putin said referring to a video footage on the Internet of a rebel fighter eating the heart of a government soldier. Later however it was concluded the fighter was holding a lung.

"Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?" he said adding that it does not correspond with international humanitarian norms.

Putin also defended Russia's arms supplies to the official government of Syria saying they are "in accordance with international laws.” .........http://rt.com/news/putin-cameron-syria-summit-786/
16/6/13

----------------------------------------------Related:

• Putin: Do not arm Syrian rebels who 'eat human organs' 
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• Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin hat den Westen davor gewarnt, Waffen an die syrischen Rebellen zu liefern. "Diese Menschen essen die Organe ihrer Feinde" 

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• Outrage at Syrian rebel shown 'eating soldier's heart'

• Η Μόσχα υπολογίζει στην κατανόηση του Ισραήλ σχετικά με τα συστήματα S-300

Lavrov: Syria Government Gaining Ground, No Need to Use Chemical Arms

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was no need for the Syrian government to use chemical arms since the Syrian Army was making steady advances on the ground.
"The regime, as the opposition is saying out in the open, is enjoying military success on the ground," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters during a joint press appearance with his Italian counterpart Emma Bonino."What sense is there for the regime to use chemical arms -- especially in such small amounts?" Lavrov asked.
Russia said on Friday that US allegations Assad had used chemical weapons during the fight with the foreign-backed militants were fabricated and unconvincing.

US President Barack Obama's administration said on Thursday it would boost military support for the armed opposition as a result.Lavrov said it would be wrong for the US administration "to be sending signals" to the opposition that may scupper the chances of a peace conference being held in Geneva in the coming weeks.He added that that a no-fly zone that Washington was reportedly thinking of implementing over a part of Syria near the Jordanian border "would in either case violate international law.""We hope that our American colleagues will act in accordance with the implementation of the Russian-US initiative concerning preparations for an international conference on Syria," Lavrov said.The so-called Geneva 2 talks are aimed at getting the two warring sides at the negotiating table for the first time.www.almanar.com.lb15/6/13 -----------------------------------------

• Siria. Bonino a Lavrov: su forniture armi serve autolimitazione....

Mosca, 15 giu. (TMNews)
– La “fornitura d’armi” e’ una “questione di scelte politiche” e in particolare alla luce del proseguire della crisi siriana e dello spargimento di sangue, serve “autolimitazione”. Così il ministro degli Esteri, Emma Bonino, alla stampa italiana, dopo il colloquio con il collega Sergei Lavrov. “Per questo ho detto al mio collega Lavrov che io capisco bene gli accordi commerciali, ma in questo momento e’ una questione di scelte politiche.
Mi auguro che [da parte loro e degli altri] ci sia autolimitazione”.
http://www.internazionale.it/news/siria/2013/06/15/bonino-a-lavrov-su-forniture-armi-serve-autolimitazione/
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• Siria: Lavrov, insensato per il regime usare armi chimiche....

(AGI) - Mosca, 15 giu. - "Il regime siriano sta registrando un certo successo militare sul terreno. Che senso avrebbe per loro usare le armi chimiche, soprattutto se in quantitativi limitati?". Lo ha affermato il ministro degli Esteri russo, Sergei Lavrov che ha affrontato il tema caldo delle armi chimiche in Siria in una conferenza stampa con il ministro Emma Bonino a Mosca. Il ministro italiano ha avuto un incontro bilaterale con Lavrov preceduto da un incontro 2+2 della commissione economica bilaterale Italia-Russia. Sara' il viceministro degli Esteri, Marta Dassu' a organizzare i lavori della Commissione con una nuova visita a Mosca il fine giugno.
http://www.agi.it/estero/notizie/201306151138-est-rt10038-siria_lavrov_insensato_per_il_regime_usare_armi_chimiche
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• Εκατοντάδες στρατιώτες των ΗΠΑ αναπτύχθηκαν στα σύνορα Ιορδανίας – Συρίας...

Η βρετανική εφημερίδα The Times, η οποία μετέδωσε αυτή την πληροφορία, σημειώνει πως οι ΗΠΑ κατ’ αυτόν τον τρόπο σκοπεύουν να «στρώσουν το δρόμο για Δύση για τον εξοπλισμό των Σύριων εξεγερμένων».

Η ανάπτυξη αμερικανών στρατιωτών έγινε με το πρόσχημα των στρατιωτικών ασκήσεων, τα οποία πραγματοποιούν αυτή την εβδομάδα οι ΗΠΑ και η Ιορδανία. Μετά την ολοκλήρωση αυτών των ασκήσεων, οι πεζοναύτες θα παραμείνουν στις βόρειες περιοχές της Ιορδανίας, κοντά στα σύνορα με τη Συρία για μερικούς μήνες.

Την παραμονή, οι αρχές των ΗΠΑ δήλωσαν πως έχουν αξιόπιστες πληροφορίες για τη χρήση χημικών όπλων από τις συριακές ένοπλες δυνάμεις.
http://greek.ruvr.ru/2013_06_15/115850629/


Related:

• US Chemical Weapons Report in Syria ‘Fabricated’ – Russian MP

• ΗΠΑ "Ο Ασαντ χρησιμοποίησε χημικά αλλά ... λίγα"!

• Russia dismisses US claims of Syrian chemical weapons use....